Gametes In Love

Ok, I have an hour left of Friday, so this counts, right?

Tonight we got a chance to meet some mommies and kids that I’ve been following for years. It’s strange to get together with someone who you feel you know so well, yet you had never met in person before. It’s cool! Our boys played SO hard, and stayed up late, and (hopefully) had fun. Surprisingly there no tears or injuries, despite the bats, play-kitchen gear, and balls being thrown around.

Our night tonight also gave me a glimpse of what life with triplets could be like. In a word? Terrifying 🙂

J (of Becoming-mom fame), discovering the joy of the storage bin. It’s a storage container, laundry basket, walker, and toddler toy all in one!

Just think… what if you had to put all 3 of these guys to bed? By yourself?

G and J

J and his mommy

Look, you can get two toddlers in a bin. Sold as a package deal. We tried for three, but they wouldn’t fit.

Fist bumps.

J’s sweet guitar jammies

So now that G is 2, you think it’s time I put his 12m clothes away? I’ve come to the sad realization that now that his long sleeved shirts are starting to resemble his short-sleeved shirts in arm coverage, it’s probably time to part with them. Except that they are so stinkin’ cute, and some of my favorites are in this size.

Yes, I know S2 will be sporting the same soon enough, but it’s just sad to put them away.

It’s shocking that at 2 G still fits in his 12m clothes, huh? I guess it’s one of few benefits of having a kid on the low end of the charts. You stretch out clothing wear for a looooong time.

But between the outgrown shirts, and the impending move to the bedroom next door, I started prepping his 2T sized clothing. I washed three loads of 2T sized clothes today. Out of the first load came a dozen short sleeved shirts, and about as many long sleeved shirts. Two more loads of folding to go. I think it’s safe to say I won’t need to do any shopping for G for the next year. And, as an added bonus, with this quantity of clothes, I think I’ll only need to do his laundry once a month 🙂

Yesterday G and K were bouncing on our bed. G is new to this whole bed-bouncing activity, and actually last night was his first time. You’d think the boy who sings “No more monkeys jumpin'” ‘just cause would’ve learned something from that cautionary tale,  but no. Alas last night he jumped too close to the ledge, bounced off S’ night stand and landed on the floor. He wasn’t hurt (thankfully), but it did startle him a good deal.

So today, we’re in the car, and G begins to sing the monkey song to himself.

G: Doctor said, no more monkeys

Me: The doctor said no more monkeys should do what?

G: No more monkeys!

Me: What should the monkeys not do?

G: Jumpin’ on the bed

Me: Why?

G: Fall head

Me: That’s right. They fall and bump their heads. Did YOU jump on the bed last night?

G: Yeah

Me: Did YOU fall and bump your head?

G: Yeah

Me: Are you going to do it again?

G: Yeah

So there  you have it. No lessons learned here. Our monkey will keep on jumping on the bed. Sigh!

Should I be worried about G having a sibling?

Get ready; Set…

Jump

Go, Horsey, Go!

G at his new kitchen

He likes to wash everything… all at once

… cut his fruit …

… and occasionally eat it (or pelt it at my head).

Then he leaves a fine set of little things for me to pick up from the floor. I don’t like MY kitchen cleanup. This isn’t much better.

Today is the second day in a row that G has let me leave daycare without crying for me doing so.

Don’t get me wrong, he really likes daycare. He doesn’t cry because I’m leaving him there. He cries because he wants me to stay and play with him all day. Now, as much as I would like to spend my day finger-painting, being read to, fed snacks and milk, and nap for 2 hours in the middle of the day, someone’s gotta go make the doughnuts. Plus we’ve grown quite accustomed to sleeping inside of a weather-shielding structure.

Until now, when it was time to leave I had to sneak out, hopefully unobserved, so that G wouldn’t cry. I had 3 escape routes, and tried to mix them up as best I can. If S and I ever did drop off together, we also has an exit strategy. Over time G’s gotten pretty smart to all of them, so departure met with various success rates. I felt like each day I was making a prison break, that involved the daycare instructors as my accomplices. There were maps, and secret hand gestures involved. Believe me.

BUT… yesterday and today, I decided to try the “preschool” parent departure approach. It goes something like this: “G would you like to push me out the door?” Wouldn’t you know it? Yesterday, he did. G escorted me all the way to the door; I opened it; he pushed on my rear; out I went and closed the door as he ran back of to kick a ball, eat a piece of waffle, or whatever it is he does. No tears.

Today? Same thing. I don’t know if this is a temporary event, or our new departure routine, but I like it.

More of this, please!

We’ve got a new word. This on it’s own these days isn’t too much of a big deal, since G is sprouting new words & phrases left and right, but it’s more of “what” the new word is. G has now given us “Yeah!”

He got “No!” figured out quite quickly. He even has “Stop!” complete with the hand in your face, but any version of Yes has escaped him until recently. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is when you have a toddler ask for something that you don’t understand and you try to narrow it down? Grunts didn’t help, and when you couldn’t figure it out fast enough, it only made for one pissed off toddler.

So now it’s a bit easier. I can ask him a question and he responds with “Yeah”. Plus I get the added bonus of feeling like we’re having more of a conversation now.

Small steps, but big communication leaps.

G (when he’s in his sweet mood) likes to share his food. A cheerio for him: a cheerio for you. It’s nice… except for when:

1. Said cheerio was first chewed a bit by him. Unlike birds, I’m not a huge fan of previously chewed-up food. Thanx, buddy, but this is one I’d like to skip.

2. It’s a fish-cracker. I really, really dislike the taste of them.

It’s just hard when you have him genuinely want to do something sweet for you and heads his little fingers towards your mouth. I’ve said “No, thank you!” with no success. I’ve also considered pinching my lips tight (so he doesn’t succeed in shoving said food item in it), but then have to remember that I could only be teaching him to do the same to me in a few weeks. All this means is that I end up with some sort of grossness in my mouth, that I have to smile and “graciously” accept. “Thank you!” (and then try not to gag).

So yeah, sharing is awesome.

It’s no secret that I’m NOT a good singer. I’m not embarrassed to share the fact that I won’t be auditioning for American Idol anytime soon. Unless I want to end up on the blooper reel, that is. While I can dance well, draw and act alright, the singing muse somehow decided not to bestow her gifts in my general direction.

But I’m a parent, and with parenting comes self-humiliation, and I have sung to G many a time in the privacy of our family unit. Occasionally I have subjected you, too in some of my horrible renditions of the ABC song over video. For this I apologize, but it was done for illustrative (of G’s skill) purposes only.

So imagine my surprise when today in the car, I was singing “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol (it was on the radio), to G, and I had paused to drink some water, G looked at me and said “Again!” Yeah… imagine my surprise. No person has ever asked for an encore.

So he must be tone-deaf, right? It’s really the only logical explanation.

Well, we’re a far cry from being done, but there’s progress. We’ve spent the last (what feels like forever) weeks packing up the office so that we can move G in. And when I say “we”, I really mean S, because one of us has to keep an eye on the monkey while the other gets the actual work done. I never imagined that moving out of one room could take so long and be so painful. In effect the office has been a storage room for us for the past 3-4 years. S’ school stuff is still there, boxes of electronics, extra cables, folders… you name it.

Oscar came in to paint today. It actually kind of accelerated getting the rest of the stuff cleared up, even if it meant dumping it in boxes, and just hiding it away.

G’s room will be kind of a safari theme, but the colors will be orange and gray (yep, where have you seen THAT before?). I don’t have any pics to show just yet, so instead here are most of the elements that will be in the room when all is said and done:

… Now, wanna help us find some cool-looking orange bedding?

In audio format (yeah, some day I “might” get lucky to get it on video too, but for now, just audio will have to do):