Category: Kids/Parenting

Tips, tricks and adventures in parenting two kids.

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Mother’s intuition

A few weeks ago on a Saturday, Hayden woke up in a pretty good mood. But within an hour or two, he was moping around. His Yo Gabba Gabba wasn’t keeping him entertained, and nothing seemed to hold his interest or assuage his melancholy.

“I think he’s going to throw up,” I told Ryan.

Without going into great detail, within an hour Hayden proved me right.

Hayden hasn’t been sick that often, but his disposition when changes so dramatically, it’s pretty easy to tell. Maybe it isn’t a mother’s sixth sense.

Today, to take another example, Hayden wasn’t overly interested in his new favorite show, Super Why (which he calls “Super”). He whined for his milk, but only took a sip. He came moping over to me at the computer and asked to sit on my lap. Hayden is not a snuggly child, really, but he cuddled up to me. (The baby enjoyed pushing against him at this point. Hayden said he couldn’t feel it, though.)

I wrapped him up in my blanket (BLANKETS IN JUNE!!) and he maneuvered to make himself most comfortable on my lap. His head felt a little warm.

Finally, he lifted his head and said, “S’eep me.” It was 11 AM.

I confirmed that he wanted to go lay in his bed, where he has been quiet (and presumably sleeping) for the last half hour.

Poor kid.

Categories
Kids/Parenting

The battle of the wills: naps

Since my son was about four months old, I have been a self-proclaimed nap nazi. Hayden has been very compliant with this, even during difficult transitions (3 to 2 naps, 2 to 1 nap).

And, most unfortunately, it’s beginning to look like he wants to go from 1 to no naps. I refuse to believe that a boy of 2 years and 4 months (today) gets enough sleep by sleeping 12 hours at night and none during the day. And, indeed, he’s often quite grumpy and more difficult to put to bed at night when he hasn’t had a nap.

But after several letting him sit in his dark room for hours while he refused to sleep with increasing frequency, I finally gave up. Last Thursday, there was no mention of napping in our house. No move toward the bedroom. No screaming and thrashing to avoid a nap. Friday, same deal.

Granted, this wasn’t a great thing, since mostly this involved him watching television instead. And, also me freaking out because I just mentally can’t handle the idea of not having a break (and by “break” I mean mostly time to work) during the day.

I have a deep need for a certain amount of silence and time alone on a daily basis. The prospect of not getting this—plus no time to work at my job, let alone the little pet projects that keep me sane and happy—was enough to bring me to tears.

And then . . . Saturday, he was rubbing his eyes and yawning in the afternoon. Sunday, he threw a fit in the afternoon. We put him to bed and he fell asleep.

And I knew I needed to institute a “quiet time” for Hayden.

So today, I put him in his bed and told him he didn’t have to take a nap. Rather than crying and trashing, Hayden seemed to think this was fun. I brought him some books to look at and left the light on, but closed the door most of the way and turned on the fan.

I had to go back to help him twice over the next hour—once because he’d dropped a book and the second time because he wanted new books. Let me say that again: he wanted new books. Not to get out. I brought him more books and he was mostly quiet for an hour.

And when I went to check on him, he’d tossed all of his books, his pillow, his blanket and his two stuffed animals out—and was fast asleep.

I know it’s too early to draw a definite conclusion, but maybe I was pushing him too hard. (Knock on wood!)

Categories
Kids/Parenting

JUTAASFJKL;;LPHFXZl’

(Hayden sat down to do some worky yesterday and yes, created this post. He only got as far as the title, but I’m pretty impressed. I’ll make a blogger out of him yet!)

Categories
Kids/Parenting

The growing vocabulary of a growing boy

The Haydicon and the dictionary of Haydenese continue to grow—and change. As he learns new words and sounds, he grows out of some of his old “baby talk,” and it’s sad to see it go. For example, “nanee” (candy) is slowly becoming “tanee” (which is a little strange, since he can pronounce a c/k sound, but only does for certain words).

Here are some of his latest Haydenisms:

turkey i’ saw (“Turkey in the Straw,” the song the ice cream truck plays)
yedder (letter, by extension, anything that is rectangular)
yunt/yunch (lunch, namely, a sandwich)
Whissers (Whiskers, the cat)
dasses (glasses)
tontack (this morning he had to put in his ‘tontacks’ This involved fiddling with his fingers, then nearly touching his eyes.)
dama (pajamas)
dip dip (zip zip; not to be confused with “dip dip dip,” ranch dressing)
fum? (I wonder who it’s from, always in conjunction with a letter)
sum (thumb)
hrends (friends, who the letter is from)
hridge (fridge)
dum (drum)
pain (plane)
owie (a hangnail/snag on my nail/broken nail, or regular owies)
tain (train)
tassel (castle)
belt (belt or bell)
fah me (follow me)
sose (close)
tick (kick; how we turn out the lights before bed)
winkle sar (twinkle star, and yes, that is its “proper” name)
tissies (kisses)
toas’ (toast)
toesies (toes)
tanee (candy, evolved from “nanee,” though the two are currently in what we linguists call “free variation” (he uses them both))
tandle/tannel (candle, this is evolved from “nandle/nannel/nanu”)
tout (cut)
messy? (What’s missing?)
nunners (another)
nummer (number)
gedder (together)
ay yub it (“I love it!”)
pug (plug, usually as “puggit”)
hrink (drink)
sert (shirt)
sorts (shorts)
pats (pants)
c’ock (clock, especially cute when someone asks him a question about time, since he knows to mention the clock)
wight! (Usually repeating whatever you’ve just said, such as “C’ock, wight!” in a very encouraging tone)
yewwow (all colors)
geen (second guess for all colors)
hware (square)
seerkle (circle)
pizza (triangle. And pizza.)

I hate making these lists because I know that I’ll always forget something. Most days I just wish we had a camera on the child all the time, so finally everyone in the world could understand what an adorable little boy he is—and especially his adult imitation. It’s getting pretty good!

Categories
Kids/Parenting Ryan/Married Life

Move over, Daddy

As I’ve mentioned before (probably several times), Hayden is a very particular, meticulous little guy. Naturally, he was deeply disturbed to discover that one of the fluorescent bulbs in our kitchen had given up the ghost argon.

Every time we turned on the lights, every time he looked up at them (and this light is visible from the kitchen, living room, family room and dining room, so this was a lot), Hayden informed me anew “Night! Night! B’oken! B’ake it!” (Light! Light! Broken! Break it!, for those who don’t speak Haydenese).

If you’ve ever had a two-year-old, you know—this can get old very quickly. Finally, I told Hayden a week ago that Daddy would fix it soon. This placated him for a while, though he would often remind me “Daddy pits it.”

After four or five days, though, this excuse began to wear thin with Hayden. This week, when I told him Daddy would fix it soon, he looked at me. “Mommy pits it,” he nodded solemnly.

Apparently the kid knows who gets things done 😉 .

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Uniquely Hayden

It seems like there are fewer milestones as children get older. Hayden’s now over 2 years old, so it makes little sense to celebrate each “monthiversary” anymore. (Woot, 27 months!)

Hayden as photog, 26 monthsAt the same time, when I look at my little boy, I’m always surprised at how much he’s grown up—he’s a little tiny person!

Soon after we found out that we were expecting this baby (29 weeks!), one night I turned to Ryan and said, “We’re going to have to start all over again.” And while I’ve dreaded having to start all over again with sleep training, nursing, weaning, eating, teething and all the other stuff that’s not so fun, I didn’t mean that. I meant that we were going to have to start all over again getting to know another little person. It’s amazing how much Hayden’s personality comes out and is developed more every day.

Here are a few of the things that are uniquely Hayden to me:

He’s a very meticulous guy—he likes for things to be in their place, and if they’re not, this is a good enough reason to throw a fit. He wants the book to be closed and stay closed; he wants the toy box lid to go all the way down or all the way up and stay that way. If there’s a piece missing to a toy, he needs it (NOW!).

He remembers all kinds of things—I let him watch Nora the piano playing cat a couple months ago, and he came up to me at the computer earlier this week, asking for “Tiddy pia’o?” Three days ago, we watched a video of funny cats, and now every time he sees the fan on, he tells me about a kitty in the video that was flung around by a fan.

He picks up mannerisms from television shows—he wails “MAAAAAAIW!” (mail) from Blue’s Clues, he “sink, sink, si-i-inks” with Blue’s Clues, he’ll look at something and ask “Hm…. meesing?” (missing), after Mark Mothersbaugh’s drawing segments on Yo Gabba Gabba.

He ‘knows’ that there’s a baby in mama’s tummy. He ‘knows’ it’s his sister. He ‘knows’ her name will be “Bebecca” or “Bebetta,” depending on the day. He’ll still be in for a pretty big shock, of course.

He builds “Towers” and “Tastles,” with his blocks; he loves to play with his “tain” (train).

It’s hard to remember a time when he couldn’t go throw something away or ask for things (with or without whining) (though he does seem to have a tough time articulating exactly what he wants). It’s hard to imagine a cooler kid (but we’ll give the new baby a fair shot 😉 ).