Aunt M comes to visit

This weekend was awesome. Friday, big guy and I went to his year follow up to the ENT and getting his tubes in. We got their around five of eight and were back in the car at 8:37. I love that place. Dr Tom was no joke. Checked tonsils and both ears. Neither tube is still functional. But both are still in his ears. We've been given the ok to go swimming in the pool and get water in his ears. And we have to go back to see him in November. No joke! Following our appointment, we drove home, with me stopping at the drivethru dunkin donuts for a hot chocolate. Big guy was happily munching a granola bar in the back. Then he fell asleep. After waking up a few hours later, we hopped aboard a septa train headed to 30th street station to pick up aunt M who was coming to visit. Big guy was in heaven on the train. Yelling choo choo with joy, telling me all about what was outside the window. And bouncing n my lap. Hmm, we may have to start riding septa more often. After getting off the train, we watched more trains arrive and depart. Then wasted time oohing and aahing at the train stations tall ceilings. Then finally aunt M arrived! Following hugs and kisses and sharing of recently purchased popcorn, we hopped back on the train to get some dinner. Saturday aunt M and I got our eyebrows done and while she got her hair cut, big guy and I went to the playground, ran around a big field, and visited the library. After about two hours of joy, we made it back home for lunch and nap. Sunday continued to be an awesome end to the weekend. We relaxed in the morning before taking a lovely walk to the duck pond. We fed ducks, saw baby geese and ran around the field with NO tantrums. Aunt M is a dream! And apparently has calming effects on toddlers! Then nap and lunch. Following nap, we played outside for another hour and a half. The weather was perfect. And to top off the awesomeness- the mister softee truck came by. Big guy started screaming with joy and then sprinted down the driveway, definitely excited to get some yummy ice cream. A perfect end to a perfect weekend.

He slept!

big guy has not been sleeping through the night. it's so tiring, for me, because he usually wakes up around 2:30 and won't lay back down. so, instead, he's in bed with me. Which I really don't care if he is, except that he's a squirmer and the squirming bothers me. we've been up to this for about a month. however, on monday night, big guy was so exhausted from being back at school, playing outside with me, and still recovering from his wicked cold over the weekend. And it meant that he slept from 8:30pm to 5:00am. mmmm, when I woke up I was so disoriented b/c I hadn't done that in so long. some day I'll get sleep again, right?

Best tantrum ever

Last night we were giving big guy a bath. Admittedly, it was a horrific day. Everyone was tired, grouchy, and miserable. Big guy threw a full on tantrum when I out him in the tub. Crying, stretched his legs straight, screaming. The works. Luckily, he as done that enough times that we know the drill. Just keep putting him in the water. He eventually calms down. Tonight, hubs emptied his toy bucket into the tub. Big guy proceeded to tell us how he felt about it. Several NO's at the top of his lungs. Then picked up each of the toys and put them back in the bucket. Saying no to each one as they plunked. Best tantrum ever!

Wheezing... Again

Apparently the changing weather and pollen has become an issue for big guy. On Wednesday he woke up with a slight cold. By Thursday night, he had a wicked cough. Flash forward to two am on Friday and big guy was up coughing until 4:30! And it only got worse from there. By the time grandma C came to spend the day he was wheezing. And after she nebulized, he puked up the few grapes he had eaten. Then he napped for a few hours. He was up when I got home. But wheezing big time, I've never seen wheezing like that. His diaphragm was jumping Up and down. So I popped in cars2 and nebulized him. He drank a couple of sips of juice and then sat with me. About a half hour later, he puked it all up and was looking pretty pathetic. I called the dr and spoke with the nurse. She was concerned about the wheezing. She said the pollen wasn't helping the trouble with his breathing. So we are inside with the air on for a while. And to give him a sip of something every ten minutes. Which we did with pedialyte drink boxes that hubs in a moment of brilliance had bought during the last cold. And we definitely slept a lot better last night getting up at eleven to nebulize/fight mommy while nebulizing. But he slept until 5:30. We've nebulized and drank a juice box even taking a few bites of bagel. But we are off to the drs in a little bit. The nurse was concerned after all.

More words

Big guy has really been busting out some new words recently. It's so cool to see language forming and really amazing that we learn how to speak! "More" came over the weekend as we were munching on m&m's. As in more m&m's mom! He's been saying "no thank you" to stuff he doesn't want, instead of just no. Which is very much welcomed after just no for so long. Although today after his teacher gave him some nilla wafers and I said, say thank you, He actually said it. And later when we were pulling weeds, I said, tell mommy to pull, he very gently said, pull. Though we weren't as gentle with the weeds!

Bye bye spring break

Spring break ended last Monday. I have to say, it was totally fabulous. Big guy and I were together every step of the way. We snuggled, slept, played, went for walks, and just had a really good time. It took a couple of days to hit our stride, as in big guy was being difficult about eating, listening to mommy, etc. but on Tuesday he really just started being awesome. One of the highlights was Easter this year. S much fun to be with family eating tons of food, relaxing, and enjoying the nice weather.

Last Easter was really cool bc big guy started being a real toddler. So it's fun to see how much older and wiser he is this Easter. He was playing outside, still not with the big kids, but he has a lot more stamina. He was charming while playing on the slide, ate like a champ, showed off his most recent I don't use a sippy cup drinking skills, and ate like a champ. He also made a huge mess while playing in the dirt!

And the Easter egg hunt was precious. Big guy was allowed out first bc he's the youngest. And he Picked up an egg, all the adults started to cheer, then he proceeded to throw it. Which made everyone laugh. But he quickly got the hang of grabbing eggs and putting them in his basket. And he was definitely surprised to discover there were yum yum's inside the eggs!

Overall, spring break was a definite success and now I'm really juiced for summer break. The pool, music class, the zoo, and getting to be with my bubba for two months straight!

Go away

Big guy has started to say "go away" to everyone. Not in a mean way, usually he just says it when he's saying the word go repeatedly. But I noticed it last week in e evening, and I did a double take, like, did you just tell me to go away. Suddenly his adolescence doesn't seem that far off! When I asked about it at school his etcher told me that the big kids next door have been saying it, so of course the little kids start saying it when they intermingle. Which just starts the whole thought process that big guy's peers are already starting their more influential than mommyness! Oh my!

Kiss kiss nose

Big guy has recently developed a new pushiness- literally pushing someone to where he wants them to go or what he wants them to do. He has a new thing over the past few days that I've aptly named kiss kiss nose. When one of us is holding him, big guy will grab both of our faces and push them together so we kiss, not once but twice, sometimes more. Then he puts his index fingers on our noses and says, nose! Then I put my finger on his nose and say, nose! And then we all burst into giggles. It's so precious, I hope to get it on film so I can remember it for a long time.

Big pun

Yesterday, I realized that I don't play enough music for big guy. So, I opened up iTunes and played some of my favorites. save the last dance for me by Michael buble- it was the last dance at our wedding. Then some good Elton John, one that made me start sobbing. Here's the line- "I hope you don't mind that I out down in words- how wonderful life is, now you're in the world." and it's true. Life is wonderful with big guy and then I swept him up into my arms and we danced for the rest of the song.

But the funniest thing happened when Big Pun's song- don't want to be a player no more, came on. The song is all about big pun- who was this huge rapper, both physically and entertainment wise, singing about how hes not a player, but just crushes on girls and likes to have fun, living the good life, right?. Which is clearly not true! Anyway, during the chorus when he's repeating his non player status and breathy girls are in the background supporting his laments, my big guy stands up and looks at me, then says, "no, no, no, no, mama!" clearly, he got the message, don't be a player! And clearly, he got my awesome music taste, much to the chagrin of hubs.

Spring break baby

It's spring break, finally! Hubs pointed out that my break is already half way over. Five days down, five to go. I'm ok with it. We are finally getting into a good groove. Saturday we went to dc to visit aunt M. The trip was less than successful , but more on that later. Monday we stayed home and relaxed. Lots of sleeping. Yesterday the weather was nicer so we played outside a lot. The took a disastrous trip to the duck pond. It was bad.

But today we hit our stride. It was practically hot out. We went to the park covered in sand and played for an hour. Then ate lunch outside and did a massive and much needed supermarket shop. Fell asleep. Which I have to say, big guy is so lovely when he sleeps. He really is out. But he lays in the same way he did as a baby. Hands tucked under his cheeks. Cute little groans and sighs. Then he starts moving his mouth like he is sucking on a binky. So precious and so what I need to remember to appreciate his loveliness and how lucky I am to be his mom. It was a lot to think about during the nap! Following nap, we went to get hubs from the train station and got dinner. Big guy ate like a champ. We've hit our stride and now we can enjoy the rest of our break!

Catch the moon

Due to sme reasonably good weather at night recently, we've been able to be out to see the moon rising. There have been few clouds, so big guy has been obsessed with the moon. Which when he says it is so cute, like mooooon. And his new interest is trying to catch the moon. He stretches on his toes and jumps. Reaching his cute little paws trying to grab it. Then he looks at me and says in a kind of garbled way, "mama, catch the moon!" and then I jump and claw the sky trying to get it. It's so precious and definitely is proof that he is hubs's child - such a dreamer.