Little Brother Attacks

I may have failed to mention that Skywalker has been spending the summer with us, but that is the reason that my hair has been looking oh-so-good lately. She has a very expensive flat iron and she lets me borrow it every morning. Isn’t she a little sweetheart?

Of course, ya’ll know that no good deed goes unpunished. Every morning, I style my hair in front of the bathroom mirror. When I’m done, I unplug the flat iron and put it on the stove in the kitchen to cool. This makes Hubby very happy as he is constantly worried that one of us girls will burn the house down because we forgot to turn off a curling iron.

As usual, I forgot to clean up after myself when I got home from work. During the course of Little King David’s explorations last night, he found the knobs on the stove. As luck would have it, he turned on the gas burner that Skywalker’s flat iron was resting on.

Don’t you just love the smell of melting plastic?

The good news is that the flat iron still works. Although I feel guilty, Skywalker is very understanding. She is as accident-prone as I am, as evidenced by the flatiron in the toilet incident just a few months ago. I won’t embarrass her by sharing the details of that story, but you can imagine.

Breaking Point

I realized that we reached our breaking point last night when Hubby and I sat at the kitchen table arguing about our problems with David yet again. We constantly debate whether or not his behavior is normal. He doesn’t sleep through the night. He fidgets constantly in his sleep. He screams himself to sleep at night. He is so active that he never stops moving all day long. He can’t sit still in a shopping cart or high chair. Going to church is a weekly nightmare with him.

We’re frustrated because it’s so hard to explain to people what we are dealing with. Folks are often likely to tell us that “he’s just being a normal toddler.” It’s exasperating to hear that he is just a normal toddler because we are constantly arguing about his behavior and frustrated to the point of tears.

I was starting to think that we were horrible parents until my Dad came for a visit from Florida. I recently had a phone conversation with him about our use of a harness when we take Little King David out in public. He refuses to sit in a shopping cart or stroller, so we use the harness to give him a little more freedom and opportunity to release some of his energy. My Dad was appalled that I would leash my child and we had a very heated debate about it. After spending only one day with my darling son, my Dad apologized and told me that he understands now that my beautiful baby is very active and can’t possibly sit still. He suggested that David might even be hyperactive.

Although it was disturbing to hear that David might actually have a medical problem, it was also a relief to hear from someone that has years of experience with young kids that what we are dealing with is a little intense. Maybe we’re not just weak and inexperienced parents after all.

At this point, we have concluded that we have a parenting and discipline problem, a behavior problem, a medical problem, or all of the above.

I’ve made an appointment to talk with his pediatrician. We’re video-taping his behavior, both good and bad, so she can actually see what is going on. We plan to explore our options with a developmental pediatrician or psychologist for an evaluation. I’m searching for a family counselor that specializes in discipline issues with young children so Mommy and Daddy can get some help.

I’ve also called our daycare teacher and asked her to babysit next Friday night so Mommy and Daddy can go on a date. We’ve only had a sitter twice since David was born and we’re realizing know that we are sacrificing far too much just because Mommy feels guilty taking advantage of friends and family that have offered to babysit.

The frustration of parenting a toddler can sometimes be overwhelming, but I’m finally realizing that all we need to do is ask for help.

Weaning Pains

After only five days of weaning, I’m happy to report that Little King David finally slept through the night!

As sad as Mommy has been that our special nursing relationship has come to an end, I am ecstatic to once again find the sleep that I haven’t known since the day he was born.

I was still ecstatic when I realized that I still had frozen breastmilk in the freezer. Then my ecstasy faded dramatically when I realized that it is expired.

Gotta love the hormone roller coaster.

Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness

I know that’s the name of a Smashing Pumpkins album, but it seems like an appropriate title for this blog post all about my current state of mind. Besides, I wanted something a little more dramatic than a title like, “Weaning My Persistent Toddler.”

I have been breastfeeding Little King David for 1 year, 4 months, and 2 weeks. Our nursing relationship started off a little rough, but got better with time. I found breastfeeding to be a very painful experience for at least the first month. A visit to a lactation consultant confirmed that our latch was perfect. Her only advice was that fair-skinned folks sometimes have a tendency to be sensitive, which wasn’t encouraging, but we stuck it out. At two weeks postpartum, I had a nasty bout of mastitis that brought me to tears every time David ate. Ahhh, memories….

I went back to work when David was 6 weeks old and I pumped everyday until his first birthday. He started drinking whole milk at daycare and we were only nursing at bedtime and in the middle of the night. He still liked to nurse at naptime if Daddy wasn’t around to put him to bed. I enjoyed our cuddle time.

We considered weaning him months ago because he is a booby addict and becomes more and more persistent as he gets older. I knew it would be more difficult to wean a 2 year old than a 16-month old, so we decided to bite the bullet and go for it this week.

Daddy has taken over the bedtime rituals and the middle-of-the-night cuddle time. David hasn’t nursed in four days. He does occasionally ask for “Num Nums” and tries to rip my shirt off, but those episodes are becoming less and less frequent.

Despite our weaning success thus far, I feel incredibly and indescribably depressed. Our nursing sessions were our special cuddle time and I really miss cradling my big baby in my arms. I miss the way he loved to stroke my hair gently while he drifted off to sleep at night. I miss his soft face against my skin.

My baby is a big boy now.

Excuse me while I go wipe my tears…

Desperation

Can you recall a time when you felt like everything was about to come crashing down around you? Some days, I take a look at my life and wonder why I was in such a rush to grow up.

Hubby and I are feeling the pinch lately. This summer, we are remodeling the bathroom, replacing the roof, fencing the backyard, and replacing the driveway. Since we obviously have cash to spare, now would be a great time for the car to need service. Miraculously, the muffler went on our sedan this weekend. The baby doesn’t mind because he loves vroom vrooms and the Saturn sounds like a stock race car now, but it seems to be getting on Daddy’s nerves just a little bit.

So, the Baby Addict is desperate for cash and that’s what led me to discover Pay Per Post. You already know how much I love to blog in my spare time, so doesn’t it seem appropriate that I should get paid for the hobby that I love?

Pay Per Post is a legitimate website that connects blog writers to advertisers. Bloggers do not pay a fee to join and never pay a fee to participate. All assignments are voluntary and you choose how often you accept an assignment. Personally, I created my Pay Per Post account about six months ago, but I was too lazy to post anything until now. Now that I’m desperate for cash, I’ll be paid $20 for this post and the funds will be sent directly to my Paypal account. How easy is that?

And there is no reason for my bloggy readers to fear that my blog will become a billboard because Pay Per Post requires each assignment to be preceded and followed by a post consisting of normal content. That means that you will be assured to find the usual ramblings here that you have come to expect from me.

Feel free to visit the Pay Per Post website and learn more for yourself!



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Thinking Too Hard

As you can see from my absence, it was obviously a mistake to think that I should take an accelerated course for my college degree program this summer. Obviously it would be a mistake to assume that a class about thinking should be easy because I have been thinking for over 28 years already, so what could there possibly be to learn?

I have spent the last several weeks trying to read the ramblings of Plato, Aesara of Lucania, Rene Descartes and William James. I know you don’t really care what I’ve been reading, but I’m hoping that Google will find the names of these philosophers so that the next poor soul that skips the readings and tries to find brief summaries of their work on the internet will find me and realize that they are not alone.

I must have been feeling over-confident when I registered for this class, or I must have forgotten that I have a toddler at home, that I work full-time, that we are remodeling our bathroom and replacing our roof this summer, or that the bonus daughters spend the summer with us, or that we were going camping, or that my Dad was coming for a visit, or that I need to clean my house and buy some groceries before we all starve.

The good news is that I have a final exam this weekend and then I am done with this class. Once that is over, I’ll finally have time for more important things.

Like blogging.

Wordless Wednesday: 1st Corn on the Cob

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Confession

Women love to complain about stupid things their husbands do. There is a certain camaraderie to be found in the trials and tribulations of marriage, and I think that is what compels us to gripe.

You may be expecting a ranting post about my husband’s incompetence, but what you will actually get is a confession of a stupid thing that I did that caused a stupid argument that is ruining my day. I need to purge because I just have this feeling that when nothing is right at home, then nothing is right in the world. I’d talk to my husband about this, but he is mad at me right now.

The morning started innocently enough.

Maybe because I was the only person awake.

I woke up 30 minutes later than I planned. I still had enough time to get ready for work and leave the house on time, but I wouldn’t be able to get ready at a leisurely pace. Since being on time for work is an issue that I struggle with daily, this wasn’t too promising, but it wasn’t an emergency yet.

I took a shower and woke up Hubby so he could shower when I was done. He asked me if Little King David slept through the night again. He did sleep through the night. Four times in a row! Hubby asked me if I checked to make sure he was alright.

I immediately envisioned my precious baby strangled by his beloved blankie, lying blue-faced in his crib while his negligent mother pranced around her closet wondering what to wear.

I crept into his dimly lit room to check on my little wonder. He slept soundly in his crib. I started to wonder if he was sleeping too soundly. Was he breathing? I watched and waited. I couldn’t see his chest moving because he was sleeping on his tummy. I gently placed my hand on his back.

His little head popped right up and his eyes slammed open.

Damn it.

I scooped him up, marched into my bedroom where Hubby was still rubbing sleep from his eyes, and exclaimed,

“GREAT!! THE BABY IS AWAKE. THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I KNEW IT WAS A BAD IDEA TO CHECK ON HIM. NOW I WILL BE LATE FOR WORK. I NEVER SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO YOU.”

Oops.

So, Hubby is not exactly speaking with me this morning.

To make matters worse, he helped us get ready for work and daycare this morning and I actually got to my desk EARLY today.

I’m such an idiot sometimes.

Does this ever happen to you?

Wordless Wednesday: Family Portrait

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Missing In Action

Before you begin celebrating at the apparent demise of my blogging hobby, please be assured that I have not given up the past-time that I love. We were simply on vacation last week and I didn’t have the decency and common courtesy to tell you that before we left!!

As you are well aware, gas prices are incredibly ridiculous, so we chose to stay close to home this summer. Skywalker suggested a camping trip, so that’s exactly what we did.

Our plan was to spend five days camping about ten miles away from Grandma’s house. We chose to camp close to Grandma just in case there was an emergency and we needed comfortable shelter or a warm meal. That may sound ridiculous, but if you knew the details of our last camping trip, you would understand.

Our first family vacation nine years ago was a camping trip. Queen of Sheba was nine years old and Skywalker was four years old. We borrowed some camping gear from Hubby’s friend because we were poor back then. The vacation included a thunderstorm that flooded our campsite and a skunk INSIDE our tent in the middle of the night. That vacation ended with us checking into a Motel 6 at 2:00am.

Maybe that explains our reluctance to do it all over again.

This vacation was slightly more relaxing than that first camping trip so many years ago. David absolutely loved living outside. The toddler that has an average of one tantrum per hour at home had absolutely no tantrums at all during our camping trip. The toddler that fights naps with all the willpower he can muster actually slept for three hours each day while camping.

I’m tempted to sell our house and live in a camper.

Tempted, but not quite convinced.

I still don’t like mosquitoes.