Mama Tried

Life with a Two Year Old

Is so far not that different, although Nathan is going through a phase where he is very DRAMATIC and almost adolescent, especially if you do something like look at him when he doesn't want to be looked at. (I am perhaps not a very good mom, because when he is especially riled up and turns my face away so I can't look, I laugh.)  He is also going through a phase where he ends each meal by throwing everything as far as he possibly can, and that is probably my biggest challenge with two. If that is my biggest challenge over the next year I will have things pretty good, but I suspect there is more in store.

His current favorite books are Blue Train, Green Train (which he thinks is a masterpiece and totes around everywhere- I have not read it all as he prefers to read it himself, thank you very much, but I understand it involves choo choos and tracks) and Caps for Sale (which he thinks is possibly the funniest book ever written- for some reason the word "caps" is hilarious and just repeating that is enough to set him off laughing. By the time we get to the monkeys he is usually on the floor in hysterics).  Apart from reading, though, his main interests remain basketball and choo choos.  We have his two year appointment tomorrow and I am a little anxious about what the doctor will say about the fact that he still doesn't string two words together regularly- he knows and uses a lot of words, and will sometimes say "More _____" (more choo choo, more cheese, etc) or "Mama shoes/Dada shoes," but doesn't really use verbs or anything. Probably nothing as his speech is progressing regularly, but we'll see.

Unborn child wise, I passed my glucose test on the first time this pregnancy, and got my Rhogam shot today complete with official card to carry around attesting to that fact. (In case the maternity police pull me over and want to make sure I'm not swimming in antibodies?) I have about twelve weeks to go, which seems like a long time, but that doesn't stop me from realizing this time around Jeff works two hours away from home, and I have a two year old, and so now I spend all my waking hours worrying that I am going to go into labor at 10 AM and Jeff will be at work and Nathan will freak out and I'll have no plan and wind up having the baby in the bathtub with only Nathan and Buster to help out.  So I need to work on my backup plans for labor, obviously. (I am hoping I get induced like last time- it was all so orderly- which means I probably won't.)

What a Year

Gratitude List

This morning was really truly awful in every possible annoying way. But not in any tragic or permanent way, fortunately, so by this afternoon I was able to shake it off (naptime helps) and Nathan left his tantrums behind.  For that I am very grateful, as I was fearing tantrum was just his new permanent state of being. Other things I am grateful for:

-getting to introduce Nathan to his first ladybug.  Watching his eyes as the ladybug crawled over his hand and up his arm was one of those moments that make everything worthwhile. When he said "Hi!" to the ladybug, though, that was the killer.

-hearing Nathan "read" from my weekly calendar, which he picked up like a book. "Car car! Choo. Track. Choo Choo. Cookie." Yes, my week as planned by Nathan.

-hearing Nathan burp very loudly and then announce, "BURP!" I didn't know he knew that word.

-seeing Nathan read Pat the Bunny for the millionth time and for the millionth time press his nose right up to the mirror because that's how Judy looks in the mirror.

-watching Nathan patiently put each and every one of his train cars onto his Little People school bus. "Choo Choo! Woun' and woun'!"  He was very particular about where they all sat.

Tantrums or not, the days when I have so much uninterrupted time to just enjoy Nathan's company are coming to an end soon, and I need to appreciate them while they are here!

Disneyland

Mickey, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

For Nathan and Parker (his one year younger cousin)'s birthdays (they are a month apart- Parker just turned one, Nathan will be two in 2 weeks), Grammy took us all to Disneyland. I was a little unsure of how Nathan would do but it was awesome.

Nathan thought the bus from our hotel TO Disneyland was awesome, in fact, and did not want to get off. ("Woun' an' woun'?!?" he cried.) That would be the theme of the two days, since Nathan did not ever grasp that getting off one ride meant we would be going to do another, equally fun ride. But fortunately the lines were very short. Nathan loved ALL the rides we went on (Grammy took him on Autopia since they don't let pregnant ladies drive the cars) except the Haunted Mansion, which was an obvious mistake (he immediately turned to me and said, "All done!" the second we got in the car) and the Jungle Cruise, which was a less obvious mistake- the elephants and hippos were TOO realistic and he was quite sure they were coming to get him.

But he loved all the boat rides, and the Disneyland Railroad (he could have stayed on that for two days straight, in fact), and even some of the other rides once we told him they were choo choos too.

My favorite moment, though, was waiting in line for the Astro Orbiter. I made a mistake and referred to it as an airplane and the 7 year old in front of me politely told me it was, in fact, a rocket. "You know, for going to outer space and visiting other planets." I asked what planet we would be going to and he gave me the most withering stare I have ever received. "It isn't REAL." Ha!

Also, the trip confirmed that the MBUD is not the stroller for you if you are folding up your double stroller often. Fortunately I knew that before I bought it. But Nathan loved it and esp. loved having Parker in the seat next to him. (And, if you are ever stroller shopping, Disneyland is a great place to see a variety in action.)

In other news, I bought this crib for the new baby. I was going to get the MALM dresser in blue, as well, but I must have dreamed that they make it in blue as I couldn't find it. Then I couldn't decide what dresser to get instead (all I know is that Nathan's dresser was WAY too big and I kept losing things- I want a small dresser with just the current size clothes in it as there is plenty of storage space for the other stuff in the closet). And I totally forgot I wanted to look at rocking chairs, too. So the nursery is nowhere near being done- good thing I have three months to go.

Taken for a Ride

Nathan would have sat here all morning., originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

As you can see, we went with the Mountain Buggy Urban Double. (We have generous grandparents and eBay to thank for that.)

I made the mistake of taking it out of the box in front of Nathan- he had picked out the red on eBay (I wanted blue) and apparently recognized his new stroller. He wanted to get in it before the wheels were even on it and when I couldn't take him out RIGHT THAT SECOND (the wheels took me all afternoon to figure out how to inflate- not Mountain Buggy's fault, I am a moron and once I figured out how to use the pump it was cake. Also it was raining.) he threw a fit of massive proportions. Possibly the biggest tantrum I have ever seen in my life.

That was kind of exhausting, because last week he learned there was a TV show about choo choos, and we had made the mistake of Tivoing 2 episodes of Thomas, and so all week I've also been fending off "Choo Choo! CHOO CHOO!" tantrums when I won't turn on the TV. (Sometimes playing choo choo with blocks solves the problem. Sometimes reading about choo choos does it. Usually reading at the airport page in Cars and Trucks and Things that Go does it, and I am so sick of that page.) (Also, one of the episodes has a scene where Thomas drives onto a bridge that is not attached to the track and races into a pond- he does not even go under water, but that scene is so terrifying that Nathan lost his pants while scrambling to hide behind me the first time he saw it. So we only have one Thomas episode, that we watch twice a day, and it is killing me. I miss the Wonder Pets.)

But anyway. This morning was sunny, and we took the stroller out for a test spin. Nathan likes the extra seat to store his sippy cup. I LOVE having one handed steering and air tires while negotiating bumpy parts in the sidewalk and holding Buster's leash. I may look like a moron pushing a double stroller with one child in it, but it is so much easier than my single stroller that is what I will be doing on any long walk.

I'll let y'all know how I feel about it after I am pushing two children in it on a regular basis, but right now it is love at first push.