milestones

the story of a little boy who’d had enough

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Once upon a time there was an older brother.  He got to do things that the younger brother didn’t get to do.  Ever.  Like go on tractor rides with Pop Pop.

The younger brother put up with it and didn’t say much for many months until one day… one day he couldn’t take it anymore.  One day he decided he’d had enough of sitting on the sidelines, riding the baby toy, and watching his older brother have all the fun. 
So, he watched and he waited.  He waited until the time was right.  He sat still until the tractor came back around.  But he never let that tractor out of his sight. 
When the tractor went by, younger brother parked his baby toy car and ran after the tractor, as fast as his baby feet would take him.  But he was too slow. By the time he got to the shed, Pop Pop and older brother had already put the tractor away. 
The brothers’ mommy was there and asked Pop Pop if he would pleeeease take younger brother for a tractor ride, as it was clear that the little blonde boy’s heart was surely breaking.  Pop Pop obliged.
Younger brother took his new opportunity very seriously and made sure he drove the tractor just the way older brother did.  Pop Pop drove very slowly and younger brother looked all around, seeing the familiar surroundings from a whole new perspective. 
Older brother caught wind of what was going on and stared possessively at the tractor from across the yard. He began formulating a plan for younger brother’s downfall and snapped into action. He grabbed some tools out of the trunk of his car and knocked younger brother’s car over.  He quickly sabotaged the car in hopes of ruining younger brother’s day. 
Much to older brother’s disappointment, younger brother never got back on his car that day because the entire family went to Pizza Hut to celebrate the momentous occasion.  Older brother forgot all about it and mainly focused on breadsticks. 
Meanwhile, younger brother pooped at the table.  Because when you’re a baby, you can do that sh*t.  Pun intended.  
Everyone got their butts cleaned, ate pizza, felt better, and lived happily ever after. 
THE END
xo, 
~C~

progress / no progress

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Progress:  A little over three months ago, we moved in with Ryan’s parents. Dexter was 12 (ish) months old so I figured it was time to wean him off of his bottle.  Oh, how he loved his bottle. During the transition of moving, I decided it was too much change and I didn’t want to push it. I kept putting it off and putting it off until about three weeks ago. We had a couple of rough and inconsistent days, then he got sick, really sick, and I just wanted him to drink to stay hydrated.  I didn’t care what he was drinking out of.  As soon as he was better, it was full steam ahead.  A rough few nights later, he totally adapted to the soft spout sippy cups and has not had a bottle for over two weeks now.  Success!

Nuk 10 oz learning cup

No progress:  Theo peed in the potty 3-4 months ago, too.  He has days and weeks of doing well, and then nothing.  Just a couple of weeks ago he declared that he wanted to wear underwears in the car.  I let him.  He did awesome. He did this a few days in a row and had no accidents.  Then he flipped the switch and turned it off.  That’s what he does.  Days of underwears then weeks of refusal to wear them.  I don’t know about this kid. Obviously he has the control to hold it and the ability to tell me when he has to go.  I think he’s just lazy.

Progress / No Progress:  Theo has been throwing the world’s worst tantrums all day every day (only a slight exaggeration) for the last couple of weeks, and they have been especially horrific the past 3 days.  So bad that I have cried the last two days.  I could go on for hours but let’s just say I feel pretty worthless and ineffective as a mother.  I have felt like his behavior is somehow a reflection of my parenting.  Without making myself cry again, let me just say that the point of this paragraph is the “progress” part, which happened tonight, sometime between tantrums.  He let me look inside his mouth (I’ve been trying for a month but he wouldn’t let me) and I found what I was looking for.  A two year molar that is all the way through, 2 that are about 3/4 of the way through, and 1 that is about 1/4 of the way through.  That makes me feel like maybe the teeth have SOMETHING to do with his terrible-ness, and it’s not just his age that is making him so terrible.  I feel terrible saying that he has been terrible.  But he has been… terrible. 
post S’mores bath – he’s cute when you give him chocolate
Progress: Dexter is talking more and more. He says short sentences.  They are very simple, usually beginning with “I want” and ending with “bottle,” “food,” “that,” “ball,” or whatever other object he sees.  But it’s a start!  He even knows some of his colors.  He’s fairly consistent pointing out blue, pink, and green already!  Theo picked up on colors really early too, so this must be something that we/our babysitter incorporate into casual conversation without even realizing it.  Exciting! I love it when they surprise me with their learning. 
Friday night, we visited the park near our new house!

Saturday night, post S’mores bath
Progress / No Progress:  I’m two weeks into my new job and I still love the company and the people but I’m in a weird spot with my actual position/work.  I’m still training.  But I’ve watched people do the same things over and over and over.  I’m kind of to the point where I cannot watch another person do the same thing again. I’m not going to learn anything else that way. I have to do it on my own.  I talked to my supervisor about it.  She agreed that I should try some things on my own; I did.  I couldn’t remember how to do stuff, so I had to ask for help fifty times.  I felt dumb.  It’s hard, going from being one of the smartest people at work to being, indisputably, the absolute dumbest.  
Progress, sorta:  Last weekend we emptied one of our storage units.  The smaller of the two.  We had hoped to be in our house by the end of August but that didn’t happen.  We still have to finalize our flooring plans and get it done before we move in.  The new goal is by the end of September.  I do think it is realistic. I hope I’m not wrong.  The boys’ bathroom is coming along really nicely.  I can’t wait to post some pictures.  The bathroom is going to be black, white, and gray.  I am torn between choosing a really colorful shower curtain to pull color from, like this: 
Or going straight up b&w, with something like this (which I really, really love, but wonder if it’s too blah for little kids):
What do you think?  Opinions, people!
xo,
~C~

Dear Dexter (15 month letter)

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Dear Dexter,

You are 15 months old today!  You are one of the happiest people I know.  Your smile is contagious and people always ask me, “he’s always happy, isn’t he?”  My answer is, “yep, pretty much!”  It’s true.  That’s what I think of when I think of you – happiness.

You still have seven teeth.  Four on top and three on bottom.  You haven’t gotten any new teeth in about 6 months so I imagine we are all in for a treat pretty soon.  I’m sure it won’t change your happy disposition though.  Right?

You are starting to talk more and will repeat anything anyone tells you to.  Sometimes you surprise me by saying something I didn’t even know you knew how to say.  You love putting on everyone’s shoes and walking around with them clopping on the floor.  You love to follow your big brother around and play whatever he’s playing.

You like food – most kinds of food and large quantities of food.  You’re still just a little guy though, right around 20th percentile in weight and 50th in height.  You still wake up around 5 or 6am most days, wanting a bottle of warm milk.  Mom’s a sucker for those big blue eyes and hasn’t made you give it up yet.  Soon though.

Lots of stuff has been going on lately with our new house.  I know mommy and daddy haven’t been around as much lately but it’s all for you and Theo.  We are making our new house nice.  You are going to have a wonderful place to grow up and do you know why?  Because you deserve it.  You deserve the world, my cute little blondie, and we will do our best to give it to you.

You turned our world upside down, Dex, but guess what?  We wouldn’t have it any other way.

xoxo,
mommy