Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

Driving around town and seeing the bright yellow school buses brings back fond memories of my childhood. I loved the bus stop. It is where I met most of my neighborhood friends and I loved sitting in the back bouncing all around. It also lets me know that school is back in session. The school districts in our town started two weeks ago which seems a bit early to me leaving not much of a summer to enjoy. Jack started the full time fall session of preschool last week. He was so excited and ready to take on the world.

I am excited for Jack to start school, too. It not only gives me a semi-break in the mornings, but will allow me to spend some quality time with baby Tate. Jack attended a summer session that was more of a mother’s morning out/play time. I wanted him to experience what school was about and get him used to what the next year would be like. The three year old classes go five days a week. I was a little apprehensive about sending him all five days since this is the first time he has ever been enrolled in any kind of organization. After speaking with friends, all of them said it is a good idea to send him every day. This would allow him more social interaction, learning and getting in the routine for Kindergarten. It hasn’t been quite a week since he started so I’m going to see how he adjusts. I think he’ll do just fine and amaze us every day.

I attended an open house the day before school started. The kids met their teachers and played while the parents went to a meeting to learn about all the information the school has to offer. I was a little overwhelmed with all the rules and regulations that both children and parents must obey. I am assuming every school has to be cautious in what they do. It is a very well liked school with a great curriculum and wonderful teachers. You may remember a post of mine back in February about how my husband and I waited in line for four hours starting at 4:30am to get our son registered. I hope this school lives up to our expectations.

Two weeks ago, our family sent us on our first Andrew-free vacation. Andrew had a blast being spoiled rotten by his grandparents. While his parents enjoyed getting away and spending time together, we also missed him terribly.

When we pulled into the driveway at my parents’ house, Andrew came right over. His face lit up as he screamed “MOMMY!” and threw his arms up in the air so I could scoop him up. As soon as I went in for the kiss, he literally jumped out of my arms and covered daddy’s face in kisses.

The ENTIRE ride down to our house, Andrew was sobbing. He begged for his grandparents. Told us he didn’t want to go home. That it was no fun at home. He didn’t want anyone other than Nana to put him to sleep.

Andrew was a little stand-off-ish for a few days after that, but by the end of the week, it seemed like we were finally forgiven for going away.

Unfortunately by the end of the week, we took off again. This time we went down to Virginia on Friday night for a wedding. Andrew returned to the fun house with Nana, Papa, Alli (my sister) and Rosie (their dog that Andrew has declared to be his). We met up on Sunday morning for brunch.

Andrew refused to look at us. He clung to my mom’s neck like it was a life preserver. He wouldn’t sit next to anyone but Nana. Wouldn’t talk to anyone but Nana. I couldn’t even bribe Andrew into a smile with new trains or Lightening McQueen stickers.

Again, the entire ride home he bawled and screamed that he wanted Nana and Papa, not Mommy and Daddy.

I won’t lie. It stung. I missed the little guy like crazy. I know he missed us too. But instead of embracing us when we got back, we were in the dog house for leaving him in the first place. Maybe that’s normal for kids…but it’s still real hard to take.

Early Monday morning, about 20 minutes after I finally got to sleep, Andrew woke up screaming for me. It was the first time in awhile he woke up in the middle of the night. Part of me wanted to let him cry himself back to sleep, but I also knew he just needed to see we were still there.

I ended up spending the next four hours asleep in the rocker at the foot of his bed. It made for a long right for me, but maybe it helped him feel a little more secure. At least I’d like to think so… Maybe it’ll even get me out of the dog house sooner rather than later.

Well, after 4.5 years, I think my little boy is completely potty trained. He has had NO accidents in weeks (maybe even months now). It is funny how worried I was for a few years about him pooping in the potty. Now I barely flinch as he yells (as he is running) “mama, I gotta poopy – now!”. This is a good thing since he begins preschool in several weeks!

I think we, as parents, naturally worry. I remember when Brady was 21 months old and barely said 4-5 words. This is hard to believe now – as he talks nonstop, everywhere, to everyone, all the time! But back then, I was convinced he had a speech delay. I even had a local service evaluate him. Turned out that he was ahead in nearly every area, but speech was a bit delayed. But it was nothing that required any special services.

Then there was the worrying a few months later about him having to move into a new house – - again, I underestimated my little man. We had some big changes with the divorce and living with Mamaw and Papa. And even then Brady adjusted fine and I worried for no reason. So it shouldn’t surprise me that I worried about potty training for so long.

I am slowly learning that worrying is a part of parenting. But you can’t allow the worrying to overshadow current victories, activities, and everyday life. So to those parents out there worried about speech delays, late walkers, adjusting from a crib to bed, potty training, night training, whatever challenge you are facing. You are not alone. Worry if you must, but enjoy your day, your “present.”

Motherhood seems to require more and more “stepping back” as your child spreads his or her own wings. This summer alone, I realize how much Brady has let go (or I have stepped back). He has started to jump into the pool and allow his head to go underwater (with a lifejacket), Last week I dropped him off at My Gym for the first time without his best buds: Morgan and Ben. I expected a meltdown, since he hasn’t gone without one of them in years, but to my surprise…. Brady was fine.

In the beginning of his life, I nursed him and rocked him to sleep. Eventually I stepped back, Brady weaned himself, and I stopped rocking him to sleep when he was only a few weeks old. Then there was the “Edgar” stage. Edgar was his monkey backpack (aka harness). Brady was a runner! Edgar was the only way we could keep him safe with us. So although we got some glares regarding our “backpack,” it worked well for us. Then we entered the preschool years, I stepped back as he joined more classes, tried out a few new sports/activities, and finally consistently pooped in the potty – yeah!!

But the biggest way I have had to step back was in his playtime. I have noticed recently (probably since turning 4), I am no longer Brady’s playmate and mama. Now I seem to mainly be just mama, he wants his “friends” to play with. While I realize this is the normal progression, it still took a bit of adjusting. Don’t get me wrong, there are still times when Brady wants me to play trains, read stories, or build a moon sand castle. I try to savor every second of those activities, because before long – he will be onto the next stage of his life.

I often think that childhood requires moms to step back a little at a time. Finding the balance and knowing WHEN it is time to step back is the hard part. All we can do is try our best, follow our child’s lead, and enjoy this ride.

When I was little, I can remember going down to Florida every year over my winter break. We’d spend part of the week with my grandmother at her place, and we’d spend the rest of the time down in Disney.

We used to go to the Turtle Back Zoo and every year. You’d get a different colored key each year shaped like a different animal. If you inserted the key into the special player in front of the animals’ pen, it would tell you all about them. My sister and I would always fight about who got to use their key to hear about the animals.

Sesame Place. The Land of Make Believe. The Big Apple Circus.

There are so many places that I loved to visit when I was little. I can’t wait to be able to share those same things with Andrew. But the question is, when will he be old enough for it?

Is it worth spending the money to take him to these places when he may not be old enough to appreciate it? Will he even remember that we took him to these places if he’s too young? Will it be a total disaster?

My mom and I took Andrew to his first movie in the movie theater over the weekend: Toy Story 3. We were prepared for it to be a total disaster, ending with a complete meltdown and us rushing Andrew out of the theater.

We were pleasantly surprised. He did great! Well, other than the fact that he wasn’t heavy enough to weigh the seat down and the seat kept folding up on him. (In comparison, my purse WAS heavy enough to weigh down the seat. How scary is that?) He loved the movie and I loved being able to take him.

Maybe the little guy is old enough for all the fun things we want to do with him. So…how does Disney sound over winter break?

The owner of daycare always tells parents not to blink. I thought it was strange advice the first time I heard it. I don’t think I’m alone in that assessment because he follows it quickly with, “They grow up so fast, if you blink, you miss something.”

My little guy is fast asleep on my shoulder as I write this post. He had an amazing time up in Maine with daddy, grammy, and papa last week. He got to see moose. He flew in an airplane. Rode in a boat. Ate lots of ice cream. Played on a playground.

And that’s just the little bit I managed to pry out of him while he was running around my parents’ house, stuffing himself with Os and racing his trains around the kitchen.

Even though he was only gone for the better part of a week, I feel like I missed so much! Andrew came back from Maine pacifier free. I still don’t know how hubby broke him of the habit.

Andrew’s trying to read books. So far we’re working on “that’s not my puppy” and “caps for sale.” He combines “no more monkeys jumping on the bed” with the parts of the book where the peddler is yelling at the monkey to give back the caps. It’s so cute, but very hard not to laugh.

He’s talking up a storm and making more sense with most of his sentences than he did before he left. And he’s got one heck of an arm for a two year old…

I’m so happy to have him back. I’m even thrilled to have him snoring in my ear right now. And more than ever right now, I’m reminding myself not to blink because I’d hate to miss anything else!

The time has finally come… Jack is in his new big boy room!  Last week, Jack’s new bedroom furniture was delivered.  It took about a month to arrive, and Jack asked just about every day when his new “room” was going to come.  The delivery guys were very kind and patient.  Jack watched them carry in each piece and assemble everything.  Jack was even lucky enough to help drill in a bolt.

This was just as exciting for me, since I love to decorate. I have been buying new bedding and other odds and ends.  The décor of this room is trains, of course.  I couldn’t bring myself to making it a “Thomas the train” room since Thomas seems to be taking over our house.  I must draw the line here.  This is a vintage train inspired themed room.  With a few more items to add to the walls his room will be finished, and I can start decorating the new nursery.  We are down to 3 months before the baby arrives… YIKES!

Jack was so excited to sleep in his new bed.  He loved his striped sheets and couldn’t believe how BIG his bed seemed.  He has so much room to spread out.  He quickly realized what a great trampoline it made, too.  I thought for sure he would sleep in late every morning now that he has this nice comfortable bed, but I was wrong.  Undoubtedly, he is a morning person and I’m going to have to face that fact.

This new room marks yet another milestone.  My baby is growing up.  Soon he’ll be three and off to preschool and before I know it high school.  Time really does fly when you are having fun!

Recently, Jack has taken on another obsession with Play-Doh.  He first played with it a long time ago and didn’t know what to think of it, except eat it.  It was put away in the crafts bin and never looked at until a few weeks ago.  He came across it when I made him a new drawer in our kitchen with all of his art supplies accessible to him.  Now, it’s the only thing he wants to play with indoors.  His choo choo trains are in the picture too, because he runs those through the Play-Doh and pretends it is snow, mud, rain or something spilled all over them.  I am a bit of a neat freak with some things, so of course I gasp when the Play-Doh is all over the rug, lodged in between the trains and other toys on the scene at the time, and especially when I find little tiny pieces all over the rest of the house and car.

This past weekend we were getting ready to go to his friend, Parker’s Birthday party.  He has been talking about this party ever since we received the invitation in the mail.  It was a train themed party so that made it even better.  It was held at a local gymnastics gym so I was actually excited about it myself.  About an hour before the party, Jack was playing with his Play-Doh.  I was getting ready and Jack walked in and told me “Mommy, Play-Doh in my nose”.  I quickly examined his nose seeing if there really was anything in there.  Sure enough there was a small piece lodged pretty far back.  It never fails that things like this happen when daddy is out of town and I’m the only one around to solve the problem.  I tried everything I could to get it out, tweezers, massaged it, I even made him smell the pepper shaker to sneeze.  At this point he started to get scared and cried.  I felt awful, but I knew if he cried and his nose ran that maybe it would force it out.  Luckily, he sneezed a few more times and eventually most, if not all, of it came out.  I think he learned his lesson about putting things up his nose, maybe (fingers crossed).

Jack had a blast at the party and met some new friends.  He was given a party favor bag that had some goodies in it.  The first thing he pulled out was a Tootsie pop and the second thing was another container of Play-Doh.  I had to laugh to myself that this stuff is now just going to be around for awhile and I need to get used to it.  I must say that I loved it as a kid so now it’s his turn to have fun with it!

I’ve heard about little kids hitting the stage where they ask “why” about everything. They make it look so annoying on TV, depicting children endlessly asking “why” and parents rapidly losing their cool as they struggle to figure out explanations for everything from “why is the sky blue” to “but WHY do you say so.”

If I’m being honest, I live in fear of that stage and my own ability to keep my cool as I’m repeatedly peppered with the same question over and over again.  Repetition is a great tactic for trying to aggravate a witness. I’m just not looking forward to being the witness on the receiving end of that line of questioning.

But maybe it won’t be that bad. Andrew has always been a curious little boy. He loves to read about Curious George and all the adventures the curious little monkey gets into.

We’ve hit a stage where Andrew asks “What’s that?” about everything in sight. We’ve gone on tours of the house (ours, my parent’s, or anyone else’s that we happen to be inside) answering questions about virtually every item inside. On the way to day care in the morning, he excitedly asks, “WHAT’S THAT MOMMY?” about whatever he sees outside the window. Going through the mall has become an extended adventure, with our curious little guy stopping to ask “what’s that?” about stores, shoes, clothes and especially mannequins. He’s still not sure what to make of those.

Last night on the way home from school, he points out the window and starts playing the “What’s That?” game. After questioning mounds of snow, billboards and the grocery store, Andrew turned his attention to the local bank branch. “That’s a bank, sweetheart.” I told him. “That’s where people put their money.”

Andrew cocked his head thoughtfully before responding, “I want money too.” I couldn’t help but laugh…and share this story with everyone. Maybe the “whys” won’t be that bad. The “what’s thats” have been pretty entertaining.

Andrew’s vocabulary is growing every day. The things that he says are amazing. He knows words for things I know I didn’t teach him, so I have to give a lot of credit to the awesome teachers at daycare…

Andrew knows his name, although he has decided to pronounce his last name “Nick-a-Nick.” Not because he can’t say the name correctly. It’s just because he likes it better this way.

He sings along with his favorite songs with remarkable accuracy. Although he is still a bit off with Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” He just runs around singing “Hello Best Shot. AWAY!” (Okay, it’s way cuter when you see it. I promise!)

But we’ve also reached the stage where we really have to watch what we say around Andrew because he repeats EVERYTHING. Sometimes it’s really cute.

I had to yell hubby’s name in the mall so he’d hear me and for about 2 weeks after that, he went from being “daddy” to “BRIAN.” Andrew couldn’t just say the name. He had to yell it like I did in the mall. Hubby was less than pleased and I tried very hard not to laugh…

But other times, it’s not so cute. Andrew has repeated a few words that should not be in a 2 year old’s vocabulary.

Maybe I shouldn’t be confessing to the world that occasionally I slip up and curse within ear shot of my little guy. But I’m not perfect and so far, those words haven’t stuck in his vocabulary. It’s all part of the learning process… Him learning what to say. Us learning what not to say. And both are equally important.