The Silverware Heist

Holy Cow moment ?:  Where has all the silverware gone?  I wonder to myself where in the world have all my spoons disappeared too as I try and eat cereal with a fork.

I was standing in the living room diligently sorting through baby clothes.  What can my new son wear vs. what needs to be donated, tossed, or kept in a box that I will never open again BUT swear I need?  While I got teary eyed over my daughters tiny newborn outfits I hear a familiar rattling.  Metal on metal jingling.  Creeping around the corner of my kitchen I don’t see anything, but I do hear the noise louder.  Then I hear the thunk of a drawer closing.  I move a little slower into the kitchen and around the island to see the tiny culprit.  My toddler, bless her little self, is holding a spoon and dipping it in her cup of water. 

What should go through my head is the concern that my child is growing independent.  I should be worried that she is taking things upon herself.  Instead I feel relieved that I now know where all the silverware is going.  I never knew that I would need to worry about silverware being used to eat cheese, water, crackers, and whatever else a toddler deems worthy of adult eating utensils.  I sigh.  One more thing to note of your child.  Normal everyday items that adults forget to see the value in will soon become a toy.  You silverware will be abducted and re-purposed for hitting your stove, eating water from a cup, and something to bang on your wooden table – usually the fork with pointy side down.

Holy Cow the excitement through a  child’s eyes.

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Where is Your Sock Now?

 Holy Cow Moment #?:  Socks are disappearing quicker then an oreo in my toddlers hand – and that’s fast.

How does a child take off a sock one minute and the thing disappears the next.  I can’t blame the dryer monster or the sock Nomes.  I saw her do it.  I saw her remove the sock after meticulously planning and then I turned my back for one second and it was gone.  Maybe I am raising Houdini? Maybe not.  All I know if that a child can somehow lose things right before your eyes. 

Holy cow having kids costs a lot.  Not just for the food and clothing they need, but for everything they lose too. Grrr

What did you kid lose that made you scratch your head? Did you ever find it?

I've Got my Love to Keep Me Warm ...

Holy Cow Moment#:  I hate the idea of leaving my kids and it's worse on those cold winter days. 

It’s snowing and all I want to do is crawl into bed holding my little girl and ignore the world and it’s problems.  Okay – my husband can cuddle too.  The point is I don’t want to leave.  Snow days are made for hot cocoa and Christmas movies.  Cuddling under blankets and snuggling with loved ones.  But, alas, instead I am at work.  Trudging through the snow was not my idea of a good way to spend two hours this morning.

The one thing that I never expected was the fear of my own death.  Not the fear of dying, but the fear of accidentally leaving my child.  This new fear has made driving seem more treacherous and worse yet it has made me realize why I have such a hard time with leaving my child to anyone else. 

It isn’t because there aren’t people that I trust.  There are a select few – you know who you are.  But rather, it’s because I don’t want to let her down.  I hate the idea of not being there when she needs me.  I almost think I have a fear of abandonment myself and therefore I can’t leave her alone more than necessary.  Does this make me a bad parent?  I guess it depends on who you ask.  My child does go to daycare so it isn’t as if she will never get away from me. But after I get her, why would I waste time by sending her off to someone else instead of being a mommy and interacting with my kid if I have the choice?

Everyone has their own parenting strategies and no one is really wrong.  So don’t judge me and I won’t judge you. 

Child Donation

 Holy Cow Moment #?: I survived!!!

Last night was one of THOSE nights. The nights where you really consider child donation or even putting them up on ebay.
 
It was one of those nights where I had too much to do and not enough me to go around.  The second we got home was supposed to be for dinner and baking.  Instead the cookies didn’t turn out – anyone know why cookies go paper thin straight from the fridge to the oven??  Anyway from there it was cranky baby central.  I figured I was lucky that she ended up going down for a nap – for 20 minutes.  Then it was go time while I still had to come up with a cookie recipe for one of those awful cookie exchanges.
 
Let me just say that I normally love everything holiday until someone says “please bake 7 dozen cookies” and you barely know them as it is.  Yeah. 
 
From there my little wonder wanted to dance to the musical ornaments on the tree.  Cute right? Well unless you want to bake – I use the term want loosely. After coaxing her to allow me to leave the tree party I attempted to get her to eat and maybe watch a movie.  That worked for about… oh 10 minutes.  Dinner ended up on the floor mostly.  Now she is going to help me.  Oh goody.
 
Pulling out the stool so she can climb to counter height seemed like a great option, except she wanted to be held.  Have you ever cracked an egg with a baby in one arm?  About twenty minutes later the new dough is ready to go so I force my child to stand on her own two feet – I know I am awful.  I heard all about it. 
 
From here it is a balancing act of getting cookie balls onto cookie-sheets while holding her back to get them in the oven.  After that I have 8 minutes to get another batch ready – or I can clean up the yogurt that was just sprayed around the kitchen. Choices, choices.  After that I have to again restrain child from hot oven and then remove her from the stool that she has now gotten her head stuck in. The night just continues like this for two more hours.
 
By 10 cookies are baked, I am beat, and my child is still running circles around the dogs – who by the way are exhausted even.
 
Merry freaking Christmas days.

PJ Quota

Holy Cow Moment ?:  I am running out of time, laundry detergent, and sanity.

Last night was a three jammie night.  I just stand and shake my head. That’s right. Three.  Here I thought the infant stages were bad when blow outs happen, A LOT.  Now is the toddler vs. anything she can get her hands on.

First pair had the footie part dunked into the dog water.

Second pair had a sad ending with some chocolate milk.

Third pair made it to bed but barely.  I had to de-crumb it after said toddler wolfed down four blueberry muffins. 

Lucky for me PJ’s at toddler size won’t take up much room in the wash.  In fact I can do all her clothes in one load – even if she wore three jammies, two outfits, and a millions pairs of socks – in one day. 

Does this just sum up my life right now or what! 

Toddler Bed 2, Daughter 0

Holy Cow: My baby Is growing up.

My daughter is officially in a toddler bed… okay “in” might be the wrong word.  She sleeps in her big girl bed for most of the night and then will fall out.  One night she made a noise and fell back to sleep next to the rocking chair curled in a ball.  Another night mom wasn’t as lucky and the poor kid was awakened and scared herself.

She has oddly transitioned to her new bed fairly well.  A little fighting here and there but she does well over all. She appears, so far, to stay in bed until we come get her if she wakes before us.  Which of course she usually does.  One more step in getting ready for baby number two.  Aside from not always staying next to me in the store and needing to be potty trained, I’d say we were in good shape.  Over Christmas we will officially get Number 2’s room ready.  At present my daughters room went from busy to crowed when we moved in the toddler bed.  We will be removing the crib this weekend.

So tricks to getting your kid to sleep in her own bed?  Well patience in one.  We started out with letting her ‘play’ with her bed before she was put to sleep in her crib.  Slowly that turned into letting her fall asleep on my lap and laying her in her big girl bed until she woke up.  Naps were key.  We didn’t try nights until after a week of naps had been successful.  After another few days of successful nights in her bed with her already asleep I started to transition her to the bed awake.  This was a little more difficult and involved some crying.  But in the end the subtle transition paid off. 

Anyone else have any tips to share on transitioning a toddler to their “Big Kid” bed?