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So last nights post was too lengthy, so I share this story today.
This is e and his special lollipop treat.
Potty training e was actually rather easy. I've written about this before. I was more nervous about it than he was, worrying about when I would find the time. I didn't have to reward him with special these and that's, for him it was more about the games we'd play on the potty.
What I did start doing though is giving him a special treat if he came home in the same underwear as he went to school in. I thought it would be a nice reward for an accident free school day. I bought these lollipops at Trader Joes. They are colored with natural ingredients like turmeric for the yellow and beet juice for the red. No yellow #4 crappies!
Anyway, he loves them... We also sing the song together... You know the song where at the end of it you make the pop noise in your cheek?
This photo is of him having his lollipop while watching The Bee Movie while I cook dinner. When I asked him if it was watermelon flavored he just looked at me and said... e: "Noooooo! It's not a watermelon Mommy!"
Tonight has been full of fun. So much so that this post will be a collage of it all.
First, I will start with the end of the evening. I'm doing this so that I can properly script our evenings prayers. When e and I say prayers we always start with giving thanks and end with blessing family, friends, pets or even perhaps his toys around the room. The routine is such that I say the thank you part and he names the names. Well tonight was different, e asked to say the thank you part and I say the names. It went a little something like this...
e: thank you Jesus for I like that I'm better, I feel better. And I took a nap at Daddy's house. And I saw a dinosaur. /saying to me/ your prayers? yeah? Okay.
me: Daddy
e: Good, okay
me: Mommy /his same response/Elliott.../and on and on/
See, last night was a Daddy night and when I give thanks I always say for a nice time at Daddy's house. So his version was remembering that he slept there and then taking it further to remembering (giving thanks for) the weekend at the Science Center and making a dinosaur at Build-A-Bear. And the "okay" part, he's been saying this a lot lately as to give confirmation that it was a good thought, suggestion, comment etc. And I always say "good" after he names a name so that's where he got that part.
It's just so sweet to hear him and then to know that he's caught on to giving thanks before we launch into our needs and wants. I'll have to record him sometime, narrating it just doesn't give it justice.
Earlier this evening was the first time I heard him ask me "so, what do you think about that?". It was to a line-up of the evening; when we were to play, eat dinner and so forth. He placed it all nice and neatly into his own order of favorites and then asked me my thoughts. Pretty cute.
After dinner he decided he wanted to take pictures. Not the kind on the computer but with my camera. It was sitting out, grabbed his attention and so I decided to coach him on proper handling and shooting. Here are a few he took...
Lastly, I had to catch on camera his maternal instincts. You would think I have another baby in my belly and I've been preparing him for a sibling. He's been taking to his animals and now a baby doll so much and caring for them so intently. I can't help but watch him and get a little melancholy that I can not give him a brother or sister now. I would truly love to e.
We can pray to Jesus, "what do you think about that" ? ; )
I believe the camp was a success. I am very thankful to all the OneBlazers who helped and all those behind the scenes!
This is a photograph of the installation (that is currently up for the rest of the week) along with the entire team of helpers and my students.
Once the installation is down, I will salvage some pieces to make a permanent piece. I will also complete the (ever-so-late) piece from last year. My hope is that every year we create a work of art that will forever hang on the walls of Jubilee.
Enjoy!
(Click on the title...it will take you to the audio)
Ok, this was too silly to pass up.
e was home sick today and we were getting a little stir crazy. This is what we did for fun.
Enjoy!
P.S. I repeated it twice at the end if you missed it.
...meet Ewan Fish.
Although e's Birthday isn't for several months, I have managed to finish his Birthday shopping and gave him one of the two presents yesterday. Ewan Fish is an early Birthday present. Because of my continued guilt of e not having a pet at Mommy's house (e has Lola at his Daddy's house, a miniature Dotson) I bought him a Beta fish.
Yesterday I had to go see my printer and next door is a pet store. I got in my car, thought about it, drove away discouraging myself and then backed up the car to go in and make the purchase. Yes, that pet store was going nowhere but I felt the need to buy him a fish.
I was able to pick up e from school early. Excited, I showed him his surprise in the car after he was unsuccessful at guessing. First it was "a special treat?" then "a shirt?" so wa-la I pulled out his new fish. After discouraging him to hold the bag of water in the car, I put it back in the front seat safely with me and asked him to think of a name for his new pet.
After awhile I asked him if he had decided on a name, he said:
"Probably I name him Ewan Fish."
Me: "Your new fish's name is Ewan Fish?"
e: "Yes, that's a very nice name."
So welcome Ewan Fish to our family.
So this morning...guess what I woke to...
This morning I got up quietly, tiptoed to the shower and managed to bathe without a child peeping in. Shortly thereafter I heard a little voice "Mommy", I went into his room and there he was with a huge grin on his face. I went to him gave him lots of love and said "Good morning".
Just then he started doing acrobats, yes, a little leg here and kick-out there. I commented "Wow, those are some stretches!" He started to giggle and then arabesqued off his bed to show me another which was a leap on one foot. e: "Look at this one Mommy".
Now that's what I'm talking about! These are the mornings that erase a good week of disobedience!
e has been displaying a lot of separation anxiety lately. I've noticed this "other personality" coming in along with the back left molar. I'm hoping I can just blame it on the tooth and once it's in say goodbye to the attitude...one can hope.
The truth is it just might be a phase that comes with the ever-so-close age of 3. If so I might be whining A LOT in my entries, I'll apologize now to those of you who pop in from time to time. Thankfully I am blessed with beautiful Mothers who will write me words of encouragement and send me to other blogs where my issues seem like a walk in the park. A little ruthless that we get pleasure from other Mothers with the same if not worse parenting issues but in all serious, to know you are not alone...so much comfort! (...hey, guess what, I'm winging it too!)
Tonight was a good night after I literally wrestled him to the ground in laughter cause all I was hearing was whining and for me to pick him up. "Mommy hold me!" It was either that or me in full on tears. We were home, him and me, home, me here going nowhere and yet I needed to "hold him" as I walked to the bathroom and even better, then he wanted to sit on my lap as I peed! e in full on tears mode as I tried to use the restroom. So I picked him up, body slammed in on his bed and began to tickle until he begged me to stop.
After dinner and a bath we crawled in bed early for plenty of snuggle/quiet time. This is where I truly enjoyed hearing all about his day, reading books and prayers. Story 1: Apparently today a little girl named Zarya "yelled" at him not to play with her house but he "wanted to". We read a few books one in particular where you have to find the set of items within a picture. e is really good at this, he is very detail oriented and when locating the images it went a little something like this..."this is probably going to be hard to find, ah! here it is" pointing to it correctly in 2.2 seconds. Probably is his new word that he really enjoys using. For another example: "I probably need to play some more" or "I probably can't clean that up right now". Perhaps I should speak to his level and tell him that "Mommy is probably about to loose her marbles if he doesn't do as he's told".
I love you e!
Double click on the title of this entry to hear e singing his song...several times.
This is a test to see if I properly linked e singing his ABC's! Here it goes!
but it's my blog.
There are days (like today) where I find it so hard to be a single Mommy and full-time professional. My morning went a little something like this...
Waking up a little late due to two 5 minute snoozes. Thinking I can jump in the shower cause e isn't up yet. Right as I'm about to step in I hear him (he slept in a little), I think I'll go ahead and jump in anyway and pray for patience with his morning milk. I'm in, he's at the shower not happy that he is without milk PLUS the water is ever so slightly touching him. I scurry only to get razor burn cause you can't scurry a good shave and hop out to get him some milk.
My getting ready time is fast, I think we're in good shape to actually get to school and work on time since yesterday I was way off. I get his shoes on. Why should I get his shoes on? Why should I put his clothes on? Why thread his belt? He is completely capable of clothing himself. BUT if I do this we will not hit our "time" to get out the door. He then continues to prolong potty time insisting that his body isn't "telling him". Which by the way, he is listening so well to his body (I know several people who could take note). His potty training is, well, perfect. He takes such ownership of it so I can't force the issue. Well, not forcing means off-schedule.
As we stepped to the potty our timing was already thrown and the kicker...I undid HIS belt. Melt down #2 (I'm calling no immediate milk #1). And this is what made me so sad, he SHOULD be allowed to undo his belt. He shouldn't be rushed to get from here to there. I'm all for schedule (as all of you who will read this know) so it's definitely not a case scenario where e is ruling the house. Times like "do it for him" vs. "let him do it himself" shouldn't even be in question but they are due to the reality that there isn't another I can beg to help while I work at getting presentable and e works on being independent.
Then in my rushed state opening the door, he yells from the bathroom "don't leave me Mommy", this isn't acceptable! NOPE! Never should these words ever leave his mouth. So I stop lean down to his level and ask him to come to me. Because he thinks he's in trouble he's dashing every other direction. After hollering about punishments and choices he comes so that I can stop to talk to him about understanding I'd NEVER leave him. I realize he's probably not meaning it the way it sounds but kinda is so I just strongly felt it needed some attention.
Then rain. Yes, after our talk he started crying about wanting to ride his bike and not going to school and then he saw rain. Are you seeing the sensitive pattern yet? Anyway, rain equaled running equaled me holding him equaled more crying cause he wanted to run himself and then all the way to school he whined about the entire morning and all I kept saying was for him to use his "big boy words". I had to ignore so much of the tantrum and this just made my eyes well-up even more.
They were all little things adding up between a Mommy and a little boy. A Mommy who is working full-time and a little boy who sometimes just wants to stay home and play. Me too e, me too, sometimes I wish I could just stay at home and play too!
I love you e!
Ok...so just as I finished this I received this from e's Daddy:
I know you've been comforted already, but.... he knows you're there for him even when things get rushed. It would be sad if your everyday was this way, but it's not at all. Routines get rushed at times and if anything it's a good life lesson for E to be flexible...
My reply:
You’re right. It’s not all the time and there are lessons to be learned even in the times of “rushed”. Good stuff...I am so thankful we are doing this together. Really, it’s not how we planned it, it’s not ideal...We’re doing good.
The other day Grandma came over around lunch time and spent the day and evening with e. As you'll see later in the post, they had a ton of fun. After a full day of play it was time for bed. Grandma learned quickly e's routine and if there was a part she would stumble on he was quick to correct her. As she tucked him in he asked about me, he would ask "is Mommy home yet"? Grandma shared with e that she would see to me coming in and giving him a kiss goodnight when I came home.
When I got home I heard all about their adventures and after Gran left I tiptoed into e's room to give him the promised kiss good night. After watching him sleep I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. To my surprise this little boy of mine who was just in a very deep sleep woke with a big smile on his face, said "Hello Mommy" and then quickly fell back to sleep.
I have to say, although it was a very simple moment, it was one of my most favorite moments with e. It was so special.
Love you e.
____________________________________________
And some...
e had a great 4th with his Daddy where he took a boat ride in Forest Park and watched fireworks in Webster Groves, both "firsts".
The boat ride left quite an impression on e. A new game he played with Grandma was called "boat". It requires a quilt a bit of leg strength and if you fall out they'd holler "man overboard". e was quick though to share that you don't do that in a real boat.
Grandma tried teaching e some "knock, knock" jokes. It went a little something like this, "knock, knock, who's there, Mr. Hunt".
Ella Mowery: "What's that on your nose Jodi Hertz?"
Me: "Decoration Ella."
Ella Mowery: /as she takes off her princess ring and puts it on her nose/ "Look at my decoration."
Bryan (Ella's Father),
If you are reading this...I hope you are having a great time in England (while I'm having lots of fun with your family and inspiring your daughter)!
Your decorated friend,
Jodi Hertz
Today started an extra long holiday weekend for the 4th. We were given today off in addition to tomorrow so I filled our day with lots of fun!
Visiting with Louise on Tuesday we planned on getting the boys together. Although it's been quite sometime since I had a four day week, I still very much miss having a full day with e. We met Louise, Ewan and Anya at the coffee shop early. Louise and I had yummy lattes and the boys played with all the toys. Afterwards it was time for the library where they were having story time.
e and I occasionally read a great book titled "Library Lion". This was a fun book to reference going to the library. We reviewed all the rules of the library like, no running and no roaring loudly. Anyway, we arrived along with many other children Ewan and e's age and younger. They had not only many fun books to read but a parachute. We played games with the parachute and read a couple books aloud. I was so proud of how e participated and listened.
After all the fun at the coffee shop and library we went back to Louise's house for lunch and rest. She fed us well (as always) and after the boys went down we had fun sipping tea, eating yummies and catching up.
Ewan and e play so well together. I continue to feel so blessed that their friendship is growing strong. Being in a place in my life where a sibling is not yet in my cards, it's so fantastic to see a brotherhood developing within the boys...very special!
Thanks Louise, Ewan and Anya for making this day a happy one! Oh, Happy Day!
You might want to grab a cup of tea or coffee it might be a long one...
So this weekend was quite special. e started off having a LaLa and Pop day on Friday and then Saturday I picked him up early from his Daddy's house to head to IL for a family reunion. The reunion was for my Grandma, my Mother's Mother. She had many siblings so it was a rather large crowd of people I don't remember ever meeting. It was a nice gathering with many thoughtful touches. They made sure there were activities for the children and for the adults a slide show of photographs that could be copied in addition to a scanner so that people could copy photographs that were not a part of their collection.
My Aunt Pat from CA and Uncle Charlie and Aunt Janice from FL made it putting a huge smile on my Mother's face. Her home was full of people just as she enjoys. It was e's first time meeting both Uncle Charlie and Aunt Janice. He took to them quickly and they both fell in love with his charm.
Now back to the reunion for some sweet e moments. The ride to southern IL was all the nap e got so with a not-so-rested boy and not-so-"organic" foods he wasn't the best boy ever. The sugar in his system along with lack of sleep made for many threats of "punishments". However the good always out weighs the bad because after a couple of adults made their way up to the karaoke machine e wasn't far behind them. I noticed him patiently watching and then he took Grandma's hand and asked nicely if he could have the microphone.
As the crowd settled down to listen and as I held the camera e began to sing his ABC's. After the cheer it was if he couldn't get enough so song number two was Jesus Loves Me, it went a little something like this..."Jesus loves me yes I do". His encore, ABC's again then he said thank you and ran into his proud Mommy's arms!
Sunday was a restful day because I couldn't shake this nasty cold. The family was kind to take e so that I could get lots of rest. Because the day was a lazy one, e was back on schedule with very good behavior. The day consisted of resting and visiting. After too many cough attacks I decided to take advantage of the additional helpful hands and called off from work for Monday. We spent another night at Grandma's house and rested again on Monday. It was great to lounge around and visit with the family.
Some additional fun moments this weekend:
- After e didn't get his way to go play outside because it was raining he proceeded to tell me that he "needed his exercise".
- For a majority of the weekend we were lions crawling around on the floor and roaring.
- We got to watch cable. Tarzan is new on our movie list now.
- I received a wonderful new film camera from my Uncle a Pentax Spotmatic which will act as a backup to my Pentax K1000.
I will post pictures after I get them developed...yes, developed...I'm still a fan of film vs. digital! I was anxious to use my new camera.
