Christmas in November

So, the in-laws winter in Texas and they like to get out of town as soon after Thanksgiving as possible. They won't return until sometime in April or May. So, we had Christmas with them today. We had a ton of fun. The boy was definitely more into it this year than last year. He loved to open gifts and loved playing with all of his new toys and everyone and gave lots of hugs and kisses and thank you's. He loved everything he got...especially the...front end loader. Battery powered scooping, here we come!!!

He got a ton of stuff (no clothes!!)...the loader, a cascading roadway, melissa and doug puzzles and a puzzle rack/holder (thank you), congo bongo monkey (he's in the foreground of the photo), "career" hats (police man, construction worker, race car driver, and fireman), paints (so he doesn't have to use daddy's acrylics anymore...what a mess that is), a new laptop & some cars and trucks. I'm not sure if that's all...but that's the stuff that is sitting in the middle of my livingroom to deal with tomorrow.

Now mommy needs to find some time to go through old toys and get some stuff out of here. Yippee for me.

Insulation, Organization and Manipulation

It's the holidays. That is for sure. Saturday morning after hubby got home from work (his last night of night shift for TWO MONTHS - YIPPEE) we headed to Target for family holiday photos. We actually didn't have to wait - as we have the past few times - and our photographer was absolutely wonderful. She got the boy smiling as big as can be and got him to sit when and where she needed him to. He was a great little instruction follower...which is not typical. Our photos turned out great too!

We returned home so hubby could get some sleep as his brother and daughter (our niece) were coming over in the early afternoon. I kept the boy up so he could play with our neice for a while. He went down for a nap at 2:30, without a fight. Since that's about an hour and half after normal naptime, he was exhausted, and didn't fight eventhough his cousin and uncle were still there.

His cousin is 11 and while he was napping, she organized all of his toys on our first floor! Categorized, organized and just plain neat! It was incredible. Of course I told her she did not have to do this, to which she replied "I loooove doing this". I said "You're hired!!" Within minutes after the boy woke up, there was disorganization everywhere, but I was able to enjoy some chaos free time.

While she was organizing, her dad was walking thru the house to give advice on insulating. Hubby started the insulating prep work today. Next up...insulation! WOW! No more $500 monthly heating bills? Are you kidding me?

Saturday night, I was able to get away and enjoy dinner (El Camino, natch) with a friend who I lost contact with 6 years ago, who I have recently reconnected with via Facebook. We had a great time catching up and it was great to get out. I was home by 9:15pm though. Ha ha. She has 2 boys - age 4 and 18 months - so we'll have some upcoming playdates, which is always exciting!

Sunday we headed to Adrian for a family get-together. Relatives from down south were in town so we (about 25 of us) headed to Family Kitchen for a late lunch. We went to great-grandma and grandpa's house before lunch so we could play and visit for a while since lunch was scheduled for 2pm (naptime) and we knew we wouldn't likely be able to stay too late without a nap. The boy was a trooper. Impressed everyone with his vocabulary and eating skills. He insisted upon eating part of my salad, and everyone was astonished that he liked salad. He also ate some fruit and nut mix at great-gma and gpa's house, which seemed to surprise everyone as well. He was pretty wound up toward the end (he had a brownie, which didn't help matters), but he was still a good boy. He fell asleep within the first 5 minutes of the ride home.

Dinner consisted of cheese ravioli's and grapes. Lately, he thinks it is ok to sit on the table. (He only does these things at home, thank goodness). Witness sitting on the table, sans pants, eating cheese raviolis.

The $130 Answer

I realized yesterday that the reason I can't make WW work for me is because I can't even force myself to journal. As an x-lifetimer, I know - oh so well - what the tools are and how they work. I know what things you HAVE TO do in order to succeed with WW. I weigh in and attend the meetings weekly. That's really the only tool I use. I don't weigh or measure my food. I try to calculate my points in my head. I don't ever journal. I rarely drink all the recommended water. Etc. I do, however, only bring 10-12 points worth of food to work with me every day, so daytime is no problem. Dinnertime is not usually a problem...it's after the boy goes to bed where I get into trouble. Munch, munch, munch.

On the way to my meeting yesterday, I thought "Hey, I wonder if I can use e-tools (which is FREE with my monthly pass membership) on my BlackBerry?" I sat thru the meeting, drove thru McDonald's for my Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with LF dressing, and headed back to work. I looked online. Sure as shit...mobile e-tools. So, I logged in via my BlackBerry and immediately started journaling. I journaled every bite I took yesterday. Turns out I used 6 of my flex-points without even a second thought. Hmm. This, too, could be why I can't lose any weight.

I joined WW 13 weeks ago. At approximately $10 per meeting, I have spent $130 to come to this conclusion. I have also spent $130 to lose 3.8 lbs. Sometimes, I am just plain dumb.

So, onward and upward. I've journaled everything today, it's easy as pie. That CrackBerry is in my hands or in my pocket during all waking hours, so if I can't make a mobile journal work, I should just throw in the towel. I have a renewed sense of excitement for WW. I'm ready to do this. I have 24 lbs to lose to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. Sad but true. My goal is to have that off by my birthday. Completely doable. I'd like to try to get another 20-ish off by the boy's 3rd birthday. Whew.

I'm going to the gym on hubby's "off" days, and as soon as he goes back on day shift, I will be able to go more frequently. Realistically, I can bring the boy with me since I paid extra for the Kids Klub, but after he had that meltdown (6 months ago?), I just haven't had the heart to bring him back.

I have been searching for a couple long sleeve, feather weight, layering tees with exaggerated long sleeves for months now. You know, the kind that come half way down your hand (or longer)...I love it! I did run into one by Splendid, but opted not to spend $58 on a t-shirt. At least, not until I lose the weight. I popped into H&M (always a fave for disposable clothing) to see if I could find something for family photos on Saturday. Not only did I find something for photos...I found the exact long (exaggerated) sleeve tees that have been consuming my [clothing] thoughts for months. And at $12.50 each, I bought 3. I would have bought more, but they only had 3 larges. I'm wearing the purple one today and l-o-v-e it. Yippee!!!

I have been suffering from back pain for evah. We're getting a new matteress for Christmas, so hopefully that will help. I'm searching for a chiropractor downtown who I can visit during my lunch break. And I just bought some Turmeric (herbal supplement)...the lady at Claudia's assures me it will work. I also bought some detox tea...just for shits and giggles.

I just found out that a friend's husband passed away on Sunday. This is a high school friend who I have recently connected with via Facebook. He battled colon cancer for 2 years. They have 3 little kids. I am so very sad for her. Life is too short and you just never know when someone you love will be taken from you. Cherish those you love.

Two and a Half

Oh my goodness, little man. I cannot believe you are 2 and a half years old today. I can't even begin to explain how much love I have for you and how much you have changed my life.

You are a sweet and strong boy. You have recently become a Mamma's boy, big time. You choose me over Daddy frequently and demand my undivided attention. You frequently tell me you love me & you give me lots of kisses and hugs. Just the other day while I was giving you a piggy back ride, you hugged my neck so tight and without any prompting, said "Mmmm. I love you SOO much mommy". I melted.

Your vocabulary is incredible. You can and will repeat anything I ask you to, and occassionally I can't understand you, but for the most part...you speak as clear as can be. One day I asked if you could say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". You shook your head and replied with a simple "Nope". So, I guess there are limitations. Otherwise, you understand pronouns, you know all the words to a dozen or more songs - songs that I had no idea you knew, you have known your abc's and the abc song since long before you turned two and you still love to say them and to sing the song, you count to 16, you have memorized several books, you know a lot of colors and many shapes, and you love to tell daddy all about the things you and I see and do when we're out and about. Especially if we see contstruciton equipment or a train.

You are ridiculously outgoing and love to talk to everyone. When kids don't speak back to you, you tell me they are "sad". You have been known to ask them what is the matter, or you ask if they are sad. It's a little embarrassing. You think the lobsters are the grocery store are sad too, and I agree. A parent at a halloween party last month thought you were 3 1/2. He said your vocabulary was amazing and was surprised that you know so many different shapes (really?). He also said that mommy was doing a great job. That made me proud.

Aside from your incredible smarts [beaming with pride], you are incredibly fearless when it comes to playing on jungle gyms and the like, but are terrified of things like the "shower". You love to take a bath, but if I tease that I am going to turn on the shower...you look at me, terrified, and say "No Mommy, No, not the shower". It's really bizarre. You have recently started talking about monsters. The dining room light was off the other night and you told me there was a monster in there. You then tip toed into the bathroom and whispered "come on mommy, let's hide from the monster". So, we hid in the bathroom for a while before sneaking into the dining room to confront the monster. He was a silly monster, not a scary one, so we were ok.

You are incredibly S T U B B O R N, too. Last week after we got home from the sitter, you discovered the remainder of your blueberry muffin from breakfast (yes, it was left out all day - sue me) and ran over to it, grabbed it, and said "yummy". You took a bite and threw the rest of it across the room and said "YUCK!". Your dad and I told you to pick it up. You said "No!". So, we sat you on the floor next to the yucky blueberry muffin and sat on the floor with you instructing you to pick the damn thing up. You refused. We put a bowl on the floor for you to put the muffin in. We instructed you to put the muffin in the bowl. You went thru phases of tears, pouty lip, looking around distracted, flicking the muffin, scooching away, etc. After over 10 minutes of sitting there NOT picking up the muffin, we decided to give you a timeout. After 2 1/2 minutes in timeout, we plopped you back on the floor next to the muffin, where we went thru another round of your phases. After another 10 minutes, your dad took your hand, put it on the muffin and instructed you to pick it up and put it in the bowl. He put your hand on every piece of muffin and you picked it up and put it in the bowl, while sobbing. After all pieces were picked up and in the bowl, you jumped up, grabbed the bowl and exclaimed "I will throw it in the garbage!" Your dad and I looked at each other, puzzled. Wasn't that what we have been trying to do for the past 22 1/2 minutes?

You eat. Boy, do you eat. Everything. There are very few things that you dislike or won't at least try. Although you are starting to pretend that you don't like certain things, but I ignore your protests and you end up eating said things. We don't eat out often, but El Camino is your favorite restaurant! You love healthy stuff like fruits and veggies - you especially love salads, you drink gobs of milk, but you are also a junk food junkie. I think as long as we make sure you are getting more healthy stuff than junk, it's ok. And hopefully you have your dad's metabolism. You can't sit for long, so dinner often consists of you in and out of your chair. You have never had juice or pop and have never asked for either of them, and I'm going to try to keep it that way for as long as possible.

You love cartoons and will sit and watch your favorites, but you are also on the move a lot. If you sit for 10-15 minutes at one time, it's amazing. But you love Scooby, Wubbzy, Thomas, Bob, Mickey & Word World. I refuse to pay big bucks for cable, so we have accumulated a nice stack of dvd's. Sometmes these dvd's are as important to me as they are to you. I'm not ashamed to admit that I encourage you to watch them when I need to get lunches packed in the morning, or get dinner cooked, or do any other sort of chore that's difficult to do with you underfoot. If there is something other than cartoons on the TV, you don't particularly care. You rarely demand to watch anything. You ask, but if I tell you no, you're usually ok with that. You would rather "vroom" your trucks around the house or cook something up in your kitchen.

You're wearing 2Ts, although most of them are too short, and sort of big around. You weigh around 31 lbs and are about 37 1/4 inches tall. You're tall and thin. It's funny, you are so thin in the morning but by the end of the day - after all you eat eat eat - your belly is round and bloated. You wear a size 8 shoe. One of your friends who is 3 months older than you wears a 5, and another friend who is 5 years old...wears a 10! So, uhm, I think you're going to have some mighty big feet! You don't like clothes or shoes, so you spend most of your time running around in a diaper. You love to wear my shoes though...and especially my Harley boots or Ugg boots, because they are big and clompy.

You have 3 "loveys"...a ratty old burp cloth that you call "tag" because you love the tag on it, a blanket that used to be silk on one side and flannel on the other, but the silk is long gone - this is your "blankie", and you have Bubbles the Blabla kitty - called "kitty". You are also still addicted to your pacifier - "ninny" - but we really only let you have it at nap time and night time. And you are usually ok with that. I keep telling you we are going to give all the ninny's to the babies soon, and you tell me "no, we're not giving the ninnys to the babies".

You love trucks! The bigger the better. And if it makes sounds and/or lights up, it's even better. You know that when we go to Target, that I will buy you a new truck. Probably not a great habit that I started, but I enjoy making you happy. You have a little bit of interest in coloring...but you usually can't sit long enough. You do like to paint...probably because it's so messy. You are the king of messy. You like dinosaurs and other animals, and you frequently take them for rides in your big trucks, your shopping cart, your wheel barrow or for piggy back rides. You still won't "pedal" your bike. You prefer to be pushed around in it.

You are extremely exhuberant in all that you do. You love to push mommy's buttons, and trust me, you know every single one of them. You are very sweet and equally sassy. (It's ok for a boy to be sassy, right?) You are quite possibly the cutest child I have ever seen. I'm shocked that you don't have an agent yet.

We bought you a piano for your 2 1/2 birthday. You are drawn to piano's immediately upon entering a house or business that has one. So, mommy found one on ebay. The best $35 I ever spent! You love it! And we love you. Happy Two and a Half, big boy!

Harmless toys?

This thing. This Polaris Ranger RZR caused us to spend over an hour this morning at Toys R Us. Why did I take him to Toys R Us, you ask? Well, because we were in the mall parking lot at 10:30am...and, damnit, they don't open until 11am! So, I looked around for something to do...and spotted Toys R Us. I thought it might be fun. It was...at first. We did the typical thing...up and down the aisles...the boy tells me he "needs to see [such and such]", so I get it for him, he plays with it for a few minutes and decides he "needs to see" something else.

We turned the aisle and came upon this thing. "Lemme out, mommy, lemme out, I need to drive it" he exclaimed. Harmless I thought. 30 minutes later, he is still "driving" it. I tried everything to get him to move. This thing retails for $599. Needless to say, I don't think he is getting this for Christmas. I finally convinced him to head up front for a ride on the plane.

On our way up front, he spotted a train table/set. We played with that for another 15 minutes or so. We had planned to get him one for Christmas, so I'm glad he liked it as much as he did.

Damn the mall for opening late on Sundays.

Clothes

The daily battle to get the boy dressed seems to be getting a little better. Why? Because I just let him do it. He picks his pants and shirt, chooses which coat to wear (last year's winter coat which still fits, or a tan jacket), and which shoes (frog boots, brown shoes, dinosaur shoes [which are almost too small] or black shoes).

Today he choose: Camoflage pants, a red & gray long sleeve tshirt with a crane [construction, not the bird] on it, the orange and blue winter coat, green frog boots and at the last minute put on his camoflage Elmo hat.

My child is a fashion plate. We're all about style around here.

Warm?

Bath time. It's always an adventure. The boy has SO much stuff in the tub with him...it's quite hilarious. There's hardly room for him! There are foam numbers and letters that stick to the sides of the tub, no less than 5 cars/trucks, 2 ducks, 2 measuring cups, a spoon, and 2 squirt toys. And we always use the duck washmit. Among other things, he likes to fill it up in the faucet...well...as much as you can actually fill up a washmit. Tonight, after I turned off the water (we have to let it run the entire time he's in there - of course) he grabbed the washmit and said "Turn it back on mommy, I want hot water". I shook my head no. "cold water?" Again, shook my head no. "Warm?" Again, no. "Please mommy, I want warm water!" I didn't turn it on but thought my son was pretty amazing...asking for Hot, Cold and then Warm water. He's such a smarty pants.

Yes we did

You did it, my man. You did it. What an incredible day and an incredible journey. You have an incredible task ahead of you. You inspire me. And, it's evident that you inspire our nation too.

Change we can believe in.

Congratulations.

Amazing.

I am crying tears of joy.

GoBama

I voted this morning. Some of my anxiety is gone. The waiting game begins...

I'm sitting on pins and needles.

Thankfully I'm wearing new underwear.

Halloween

Well, you all know I'm not a fan...but I suppose it's not about me. So, we went to Adrian to see all the grandparents and thought we'd take the boy to a couple houses (his friends next to my parents house) for trick-or-treating. He loved to say Trick-Or-Treat and Happy Halloween, but he didn't want any candy from anyone. I guess that's good. So, we didn't bring home any candy other than what the grandparents put together in special Halloween gift bags - which also contained books, trucks, play-dough, non-candy snacks, a Handy Manny roller backpack, and other goodies. My thighs thank you!Since he fights all clothing, we decided to just dress him in his Bat Man jammies. I was even able to sneak the cape on him when he was busy playing with his new bulldozer! I'm not sure if he thought he was Superman instead of Batman though...because he tried to move a big truck in my parents driveway. Man of steel. And of course, there's no such thing as a posed picture with this kid - he's got way to much to do and see, so here are some action shots!