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Headed for “Home”

21 Dec

After almost 8 years of living outside of West Virginia, I still refer to it as “home.”  I think it will always feel like it’s “home” but I really need to try not to call it that around Nia.  It totally confuses her when I say “When we get home…” She looks at me all crazy and says with a little miss thang attitude – “But we are already HOME Momma!”

With that said, we are headed for “home” tonight and I’m getting really excited!  Family, friends, presents and possibly some snow for the kids to enjoy!  We even bought them some boots, just in case!

Wild, Wonderful West Vir-Gin-I-A here we come!  YEEHAW!
 

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RSVP By December 25

17 Dec

Nia is really getting excited about Christmas – but not just for the typical “I’m going to get a mountain of presents” reason.

She’s been working hard over the past few nights – planning for the special day. The floor of her room is covered with crayons and bits of construction paper.  The only thing I helped her do is spell.  Just take a look –

"Jesus Is Birthday Love Nia"

"Mary Is Birthday Love Nia"

Isn’t it sweet how she writes the word “is” because she thinks that’s what we say when we make something possessive?  It’s not Jesus’ Birthday it’s “Jesus Is Birthday.”   When I saw that was what she was doing, I tried to teach her about the apostrophe.  It kind of worked – but she still wanted to put the word “is” in there.

"God's Party (Is) Love Nia"

Sure, she may have some of the facts wrong but still – I just couldn’t get over how sweet it all was.

Oh and, I think you’re invited to the party. 🙂

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Zombiefied

5 Dec

Could a music video be brainwashing our baby boy?

I don’t know what it is about this particular song/music video, but every time Nate sees it he freezes and stares.  I mean, it’s a catchy song (the singer is “Feist” and the song is “1234”) and the video is filled with dancers wearing colored shirts but he loves it so much he asks “Again?” or “More?” each time it ends.  Watching it over and over and over…

I just find it so funny and cute that I had to share it.  Enjoy!

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nia’s post

3 Dec

hi.  i want to play my computer games from pbskids.org and disney’s little einsteins but my mom is making me do this instead. she is holding my hand and making me stab the keyboard with my finger.

it doesn’t hurt but i want to play something else!  maybe if i tell her over and over again that i want to play little einsteins she will let me!

to be continued…
 

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Successful Santa Visit!

3 Dec

The only tears that were shed were mine!

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Kinda Cool

28 Nov

When I was pregnant with Nia, I used the pages from a desk calendar to write my letters to Andrew while he was overseas. That way, he would know what happened to his Lady and his Bean on any given day. I recently found the letters and read through them. On one of them, I told Andrew that while I was watching the Grammy’s, Bean was going nutso in my belly during the song “Clocks” by Coldplay. What makes this “kinda cool” is because she absolutely LOVED that song when she was a baby. Anytime she would cry or get fussy in the car, we would play “Clocks” and she would totally chill out as soon as she heard the opening piano.  We would play it over and over and over again. It’s a good thing Andrew and I both really like the song.

The power of music. Gotta love it.

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Don’t want to jinx it but…

28 Nov

We’ve spent two days at the Y and have had two days without any violent incidents!

One lady who watches Nate told me she would never write him up because she knows he’s not a mean kid.  She says the only time she’s ever seen him act aggressive/rough with another kid was when the kid tried to take a toy he was holding.  I even talked to the lady who wrote him up about how stressed I am about the whole thing because I wouldn’t know what I would do if I couldn’t go to the Y.  (Here’s where I feel sorry for myself because I have no friends here since Monica moved away.)  She told me there are kids who are far, far worse than Nate and that I really shouldn’t worry about it. That’s semi-comforting but I still can’t help but be a little worried.

As far as what Andrew and I have done to break Nate of his bully behavior, well, I don’t really know for sure.  We’ve been putting him in his crib for timeout EVERY time he pushes or hits, even if he’s just playing.  (And I’m happy to say the amount of time he’s spent behind bars has significantly dropped.)  I also make him say (try to say) “sorry for pushing/hitting” to Nia and I tell him “no push” and “no hit” and have him repeat it to me right before we go into the Y.

All we can do is keep doing what we’ve been doing and hope it all sinks in to that tiny hard skull of his.

 

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Nia’s First “Musical”

20 Nov

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Serving Time

18 Nov

Before it was even noon today, we’d already put Nate in time out five times for hitting or pushing Nia.  It’s been so ridiculous and so frustrating and frankly, I’m really sad and exhausted over it all.  He even pushed a little girl (like 15 months or so) at the mall’s soft play area yesterday!  As soon as we saw it we jumped up, grabbed him, told him “NO SIR! No pushing!” and didn’t let him play anymore.  Before we left, he went over to her, hugged her and said “Orry” but none of that really matters to me if he keeps pushing and hitting.

I’ve read that all of this is a “normal/typical” toddler stage and I’ve read time out is the way to go – I just hope and pray it works.  It’s funny because some of the advice on the online websites I’ve visited say things like, “children under 2 should not watch tv.”  Well, that’s great.  How do I undo that?  Besides, Nia watched plenty of tv before she was 2 and she never hit/pushed/bit anyone plus, she’s super smart so I can’t say that tv is to blame for his actions. It’s not like he’s watching Ultimate Cage Fighting (well at least not more than 30 minutes a day – I’m totally kidding if you don’t know that).  I mean, his cartoons are Curious George and Go Diego Go – all those are teaching him to do is speak like a monkey, make messes and want to wear a “Rescue Pack”.  (He really does all of those things.)

All of this has me feeling a little timid about taking him back to the Y this week.  I know I can’t live my life like that but I just don’t want to chance us getting the boot.  I even thought about telling the ladies to get me as soon as he does anything that way it will be even more of a punishment and he doesn’t get written up.  I can’t believe how stressed out all of this is making me.  Hopefully, he will grow out of it (like all the websites say he will).  In the meantime though, I have a feeling he’s going to be spending a lot of time behind bars.

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Criminal Record before Age 2

16 Nov

Today, Nate got “written up” while being watched at the YMCA and I don’t blame those ladies one bit!  He is just so rough!  Everyone says, “He’s just a boy” but I’m so tired of hearing that excuse.  I know that there are some little boys who would never even think about pushing a 15-month-old little girl down one time let alone THREE!

The ladies who watch the kids at the Y are so nice and the one who wrote him up gave him 2 chances before even putting him time out.  Apparently, every time they put a child in time out they have to write it up and after three write-ups they basically boot the kid out of child watch.  I would be so super bummed if that happens.  I love being able to go there – not only for me but also for the crazy little man.  He really loves to play there.  In fact, every morning after we drop Nia off at school Nate says, “I play?”  He gets all mad at me when I tell him “Not today sweetie.”  We both enjoy spending a few hours a week at the Y and it would be such a shame if we lose the luxury because he plays too rough.

I know he was just playing and that he didn’t push the little girl down in a mean way because he and Nia constantly wrestle and shove each other, laughing the whole time.  Andrew and I are working on breaking him of the rough-housing but it’s really hard to punish him every time he runs at Nia and they both scream and laugh.  He even told the little girl “Orry” but I don’t think he even understands what that really means.

I just never thought I would be that mother.  The mother of the bully.  The mother of the victim was so nice about it.  She was in there as I went to pick him up and she was telling me that her oldest was a biter and that I shouldn’t feel so bad about it because lots of kids go through the “rough” stage.  I’m not sure if she knew that Nate was taking his “rough stage” out on her daughter – I’m sure I would have got a much different response.  If she did know maybe she was so nice because she saw that I genuinely felt bad about the whole thing.  Now, we just have to get the boy to understand that he needs to chill – but after all, “he is a boy” right?

“I’m Tougher than You Dad!”

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