Under the Water

I'm not really sure what to blog about today, but I know I need to. I don't have a specific subject, so I guess this will just be a series of ramblings.

It has been a challenging week with Kiddo. I have a feeling he is fighting an ear infection, and it is really turning up the intensity of the cranky meter. He has been extra whiny, extra stubborn and extra pig-headed. I have tried my hardest to be patient and kind and soft spoken, but I admit I have lost it or come really close a couple of times. He just wears on me; throughout the day; battle after battle, argument after argument. He goes from sugary sweet to scary mad or crocodile tear sobbing in a matter of seconds.

Part of the problem we are having is the evening hours. In my current condition, for some reason I am no longer content to stay home all day and do nothing. So, I am trying to plan an outing for each day, be it an errand or a play date of some sort. Unfortunately it is killing our gas budget, but at the moment I am trying to ignore that and see it as a contribution to my mental health. However, in the process, Kiddo has become extremely tired in the evenings; to the point of unreasonable at times, and our evening hours are filled now with many a more tear. (mine and his) He has even started taking naps on some of the more strenuous days and that really messes things up. In the process, I have made it a point to try to put him to bed an hour earlier, which seems to help some, but in an ideal world a 2 hour change would be the best thing to do. That really just doesn't work in our house because in order for Kiddo to get the sense that it is time to go to bed, we basically have to shut down the whole house - all the lights have to be out, Hubby and I have to be "ready" for bed too, and well, to do all that at 8:30 is darn near impossible.

Another issue we are facing with him that ties into the whole lack of sleep/being tired thing is that he is trying to night potty train. While I find it encouraging that on certain nights he will wake me up 1, 2 even 3 times to go potty, it makes for a long, interrupted night and no one gets any good sleep. I have been working with him during the day at being more independent when it comes to going to the potty - he has gotten much better at getting undressed (sort of), redressed (sort of) and getting off the potty. Getting on is another story, and often he waits so long to go to the bathroom that by the time he gets in there if I don't swiftly yank his clothes off he will have an accident. Some mornings he is waking up dry and some mornings, even after getting up in the night, he is waking up soaked.

I am tempted to go cold turkey in underwear and see what happens - but the cranky, pregnant woman in me says no way. Who wants to do load after load of wet sheets when he will eventually get it on his own. *sigh* It is a tough call to make.

But darn it if he isn't the cutest thing at times! He is using his imagination so much more now. On the way home from church today he was imagining that Dash (from the Incredibles) was running down the road next to the car. We all had to play along, "seeing him" zoom back and forth across the street. He says some of the funniest things. The other day he was in my lap being all cute and playful and I decided to warn him that he could watch his show on TV for 5 more minutes and then it was adult TV time (what we call it around here when Mommy and Daddy want to watch TV). He said, "no, it not adult TV time" and I replied that yes, in 5 minutes it would be and he asked me why. I said "because I am the Mommy and I say that it is adult TV time in 5 minutes". He replied with, "Well, my name is Kiddo and I say that it not adult TV time in 5 minutes!"

Oh my.

He is confusing senses right now too - when he sees something he almost always says "I hear it". "Mommy I hear a baby lizard. Mommy I hear candy!" I have corrected him and corrected him to no avail; even tried explaining that we see with our eyes and hear with our ears; the concept of sounds and pictures - it's not sinking in.

He is totally, completely, annoyingly obsessed with the new PBS show SuperWhy right now. He has to watch it every day (yay, it's just long enough for me to get in a shower!) and he absolutely does not in the least understand why I will not play it for him on the weekends. He doesn't get the concept of TV programming - having only known DVDs and VHS tapes that can be played at any time. One of the characters in the show wears these rocket roller skates and she flies and skates everywhere. Whenever the show is on, Kiddo has to go get his Thomas the Train slippers and put them on so he can "scape" (skate) around the kitchen. "Mommy I wear my slippers so I can scape! I scape in the kitchen!"

There are so many more that I cannot currently recall, but he is really keeping us in stitches lately.

He is growing up so fast.

I keep dreaming of water. Lots and lots of water. Streams, rivers, swimming pools, floods and water in odd places. I am always swimming, wading and walking through it. Pregnancy dreams are so strange.

Until,
D :)