Gametes In Love

2 pieces of wisdom G has decided to share:

1) “Mama, that white stuff in between my toes. Lookit. It’s crunchy. You’re not supposed to eat it.” So… don’t eat toe-cheese. Check.

2) “Don’t eat pincer bugs. Pincer bugs are yucky!” Double-check, kid. Yucky AND painful if they get ya’

I’ve decided that the difference between a “tear your hair out” evening as a single parent, and a “hey, I feel pretty good about my parenting (survival) skills” is 30 minutes. 30 minutes of child-free time. This isn’t “relax, zone out” time, mind you. It’s time to: get dressed from work clothes into evening home clothes; prep baby milk bottles for the following day; prep dinner and set the table. These tasks may not seem like much, but you’ll be surprised how long they take, and NOT having to worry about them when 2 kids are with you offloading emotionally from their day makes a big difference. I wish I can do them after G goes to bed, but being the late-bird he is, he’s not in bed before 9:30, and still insists you snuggle with him, meaning that I fall asleep right along side him at 10 and NOTHING gets done past that point.

S has had a business conference since Wednesday. While it’s in the city and he’s been coming home every evening, by the time he comes in both kids are in bed, which is more or less the equivalent of being alone.

So I’ve been bailing out of work 30 minutes earlier than usual. I come home, drop off my bags (because carrying a purse, pump, diaper bag, milk bottles bag, infant carrier AND toddler, all at the same time, is NOT fun, despite how amusing it appears), and do all the items I describe above. Then I turn around and grab the kids. We come home, wash hands and go straight to dinner. And you know what? By the time we’re done, I actually have 20 minutes to play with both of them AND rinse diapers, instead of scrambling to get those other chores done. Now… if I can only figure out how to actually “cook” with all this, I’d be set. I’ve been relying on take-out, or warming-up frozen foods. Not ideal, but again, survival mode here.

I’ll say that these last 4 days haven’t been bad. G has really helped out by actually being in pretty good spirits and NOT throwing tantrums and testing me every five minutes. S2 has actually give me 2 good nights of only waking up once. It’s as if they got the memo that mommy’s needs them to cooperate at this time.

So yeah, we made it through Saturday. I have about the same number of gray hairs, and am not ready to sell the kids off to the highest bidder. I’d say that’s a win 🙂

One of the awesome things about S2 is how his hair is coming in. He has male pattern baldness… in reverse. I suppose if you’re gonna live with that hair “loss” pattern though, I think his is the best way to go — where hair is coming in vs. out 🙂

I also love his dimples. When he does his big baby smile, he’s got dimples. Those come from daddy.

S2 is an excellent eater. He will routinely finish 2-3 size2 jars a day in addition to his bottles. I don’t think he’s met a food yet that he hasn’t liked, except that he’s not thrilled with the extra thick stuff. He had some thicker, oatmeal blend a few weeks back and he just gagged, so we backed off.

This boy loves to play with his shadow. At his changing table, he loves to turn over to play with the shadow moving with him. It’s kind of funny to watch. Simple marvels, right?

S2 discovered the joy of being on his knees this month. I was trying to put him down belly down, but he had tucked his legs under him and ended up in a table-top stance. And he LOVED it. I do my best to put him in that position as often as I can. He’s not quite strong enough, upper body wise to stay that way for awhile, but it’s his favorite these days and he tries OH so hard when he’s on his belly to get that way on his own. As it stands crawling is a ways away, and honestly I’m quite OK with this. All I wanted him to do for awhile is sit. We got sitting down. The rest can wait. S and I are scratching out heads for sure how to child-proof access to certain areas of our home from him, while letting G roam free. But that’s a whole other story.

Weight: 17lb 15oz

Height: 26.77″

Favorite activity: putting things in his mouth, without prejudice

Favorite toy: the caterpillar at daycare

Number of teeth: 0 (although by the fussiness meter I swear we should have 4 by now)

Sweetest moment: laughing at G when he does something (questionably) funny

Naughtiest moment: First place (by a lot!)waking up umpteen-times a night, and not napping. Second place: bath-time splashing. Still.

Important milestones: S2 sits on his own!

PS. Why is it that throughout the month I think of cool things to mention in this monthly summary, and then when it actually comes time to write it, I got nothing? I mean, I can’t remember what I wanted to say. Sure, call it mommy brain, but it’s sad.

I’m so hungry, I can eat a dinosaur!

(aka, Hmn… tastes like chicken)

Will THIS fit in my mouth?

I kick it!

Give me some old time Rock N’ Roll!

Safety first! Dinos get buckled in too

Does this scream trouble to you?

Move along, nothing to see. I’m eating, here!

ZZZZZZZZ!

Do you think I have enough spoons for my oatmeal? 5 good?

Ok, who’se gonna clean up this mess?

Nap? What nap? I’m not tired!

My toes are the best toy. Ever!

Nom, nom, nom, nom.

The amount of hair gray-ing and/or falling out increases exponentially with each child.

When your child makes a gagging sound, you will inexplicably find yourself holding out a hand in a worth-LESS attempt to capture the.. ugmn… “stuff”… and avoid clean up & laundry.

Invariably when you are caring for your child(ren) alone, because your partner is away, they will be on their worst behavior and/or get sick.

There is no such place in your home as a ‘child free’ zone that is either occupied by you or unfortified.

When putting a child down for naptime/bedtime you will be tired & sleepy before them.

G had the unfortunate reality check of seeing where cow’s milk comes from the other day. He was watching a cartoon (child-appropriate, I assure you), and was highly perplexed over the process of milking. He first asked what they were doing, and then wanted to know why they were getting milk from the cow’s rear end. Sweet! Perplexed, I just answered “Because that’s where the cow utters are”.

On the bonus side, he doesn’t seem to be traumatized by this experience, and is still chucking 8oz of milk upon waking up each morning.