Dexter

holiday cheer photobliggy

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Somehow, one way or another, we managed to have no plans this weekend.  Nothing but a Saturday morning haircut for Theo.  The only other goal was to see Santa and get the boys their Christmas ornaments.  When I was little I got a new, personalized brass ornament every year with my name engraved on it.  I don’t know where you get those anymore, but I wanted to carry on the tradition in our own way. 

By the way, Theo is so funny with the decorations.  We have the big Christmas tree in the living room.  One little Christmas tree in each of their bedrooms.  A strand of lights on the entertainment center and small paper lanterns hanging beneath the mantle.  We have a lighted ceramic snow house that R’s grandma painted.  A string of snowflake LEDs around the sliding glass door in the kitchen.  When we get home from anywhere…every light must be turned on.  Nothing else can be done until every bulb is glowing. 

Decorations Inspector Theodore, reporting for duty.

We got the presents wrapped and the new ornaments hung.

Apparently everyone Theo sees on a regular basis has been singing Jingle Bells to him.  He’s decided it’s his all-time favorite song, ever, in the history of songs – Christmas or not – and he thinks it’s hilarious when anyone sings those silly words.  He laughs and waits til you finish before shouting “More! Again!” I think this is the first song I have heard him actually sing.  His voice gets so soft and sweet.  Jinkle bells! Jinkle bells! Jinkle bells! Hey!
One other little thing about that boy.  I sing Rock-a-bye Baby to Dexter some times while sitting in the glider with him.  Theo followed me into Dexter’s room Saturday and started pushing the glider back and forth, softly singing Rock, Rock, Rock, baby.  My heart might have turned into goo a little bit right then.   
Alas, despite my very best blackmails and bribes, Dexter just refuses to ssslooow down. 
Hey guys, I’ll just be standing around somewhere if you need me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Holy crap, I love these kids.  Have I ever mentioned that?
I would say our Santa visit was pretty successful.  I always thought I would make my kids sit on his lap, no matter what, just for the sake of a good funny photo, but I think I had a change of heart.  There was a little girl, maybe six months or a year older than Theo, that was throwing a fit because she was scared.  She was doing that real UGLY cry.  You know the one.  You’ve seen it.  Her mom was trying to put her on Santa’s knee and the poor child must have had mommy magnets on her hands and feet, because none of those appendages would part ways with the mother.  I felt super sorry for her – I don’t think I could make my kid do it if he was that upset.
Theo sank right into Santa’s pillow belly and could have stayed all night.  Dexter did fine at first, then started panicking a little.  Never cried though. 
 Better than last year.  Remember Theo’s blank stare? (Same Santa, did you notice?)
Just a couple more, then I’ll wrap it up.
Finally, it was Sunday afternoon. Dexter was lying across my lap smiling and being silly when, lo and behold, there it was.  The culmination of all that drooling and gnawing and the answer to those poofy swollen gums I had noticed on Friday. 
A line.
(disregard the dried, crusty baby food.  I bet you don’t look so hot in an extreme close-up either)
Little Desser (Theo’s current pronunciation) is getting teeth.  The next few days nights should be hell interesting.  All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, huh?  Man, I wish I had known.  Wouldn’t have bought you so many presents, kid. (Lies). 
less than a week til Christmas!
~C~

jimi hendrix said it best

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
 when he said:

Wild thing.



You make my heart sing.



You make everything.

 
Groovy.

 I have been calling Theo my little wild thing here lately, and rightfully so.  He is something else.  I love asking him, “Theo are you crazy?”
“I cwazy.”
“Theo are you silly?”
“I sih-yee.”
“Are you wild?”
“I while.”
“Are you happy?”
“I hat-tee.”
This right here?  This makes my heart sing.
.
My babies, playing together.
My babies, plotting against Niko together.
My babies, digging for toys together.
My baby, crawling.
My baby, in Santa jammies. 
Because it really is the small things in life, you know what I mean?  I find myself feeling full of joy for no reason at all sometimes.  No reason other than what you see in these pictures.  Everyday things.  The little things.  The wonder in their eyes.  Their fascination with ordinary things.  I find myself getting really excited about future Christmases – those precious few that they do believe in Santa.  The mornings when they stand by the bed, begging us to get up and open presents. 
Yeah.  I think that will make my heart sing, too.
~C~

hey Dexter – stop breaking my heart.

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I’ve talked before about how I think, no I’m pretty sure, like there’s a really good chance, that we’re done having babies. 

Having that feeling of semi-certainty (it’s really more certain-feeling than I’m making it sound … I’m just having a hard time with it today), makes days like yesterday even harder. 

2 days before Dexter’s 6 month birthday, he got up on his hands and knees for the first time.  2 days before his 7 month birthday, he figured it out and crawled.  Really, really crawled.  Officially crawled.  One hand and knee together, then the other.  And again, and again, and again.  And there he was.  Crawling. 

In the moment, I cheered and yelled for R to grab the video camera.  I’m not sure if we got any footage of him doing the real deal or not, but we at least filmed him on the day it happened.  Then, something else happened.  The stinker crawled right over to me, where I was sitting on the couch, and grabbed my pajama pant leg and began pulling himself up.  I yelled for R again, “he’s gonna do it! Come here!”  And there he was.  Standing.   

He did that twice and did the real crawls maybe 5 or 6 times. 

Theo was 9 months old before he crawled and about 9 months and 2 days old before he pulled up.  Obviously, I knew it wouldn’t be long til Dex started doing that once he really started crawling.  I just didn’t expect it to be minutes.  With Theo, I had a nervous breakdown when he didn’t meet every milestone right on time with boatloads of enthusiasm.  With Dexter, I’m begging him to slow down.  He’s my last baby (probably) and I want him to stay that way as long as possible. 

Not gonna happen.  I was fine with the crawling and pulling up, we all knew it was coming soon since he’d been practicing and perfecting his moves for the last month.  I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

Dex barely napped all day.  I guess he was too excited about his newfound independence because every time we put him down – swing, bed, in the carseat on the way to Target – he slept, but only for a few minutes.  By 745, I knew he had to be exhausted.  So I nursed him.  I cuddled him on the couch.  He was distracted by the tv, so I took him to his room and rocked him (or tried).  We just put his Christmas tree up in his room and he was mesmerized by the lights (damn LEDs are so bright, aren’t they?)  I held him tight and rocked back and forth, back and forth.  He stared at the lights and tried to wiggle free from my arms.  I rocked harder and held him tighter to no avail.  My head was pounding so after about 10 minutes I said to him, “Dexter, I give up.  You’re stronger than me tonight,” and laid him in his bed.  I patted him a couple of times and walked away, fully expecting him to start fussing.  I turned his monitor on and waited for his cries, my signal to go back in and try again. 

Nothing.

(But silence). 

10 minutes later I poked my head in his door and squatted down to look between the slats in the crib.  No movement.  I crept in, closer and closer, until I could see his eyes.  And there he was.  Sleeping. 

I went back out to the couch to report my findings and a wave of sadness swept over me.  My baby didn’t need me anymore.  I told R that I remember feeling like I won the lottery the first time Theo went to sleep on his own without fussing.  This time it felt more like someone stole the wind from my sails.  I want my baby to stay a baby, but it ain’t happening.  Man.  This whole babies-growing-up-real-fast thing blows.

feeling a little useless,
~C~