I got my ring today! I love it and it makes me so happy. This is really happening!

He said, “what’s this supposed to mean?”
I said, “Get married, already.”

March 31, 2012 it will be done.

Shit. I have stuff to do.

And came across this one. To hopefully alleviate Simon’s fear of the toilet, Wonky has started toilet training. He also is wearing maternity underpants, the only ones in the house that would fit him.

Heading to Dallas Texas for ALA Midwinter. Will miss the boys but I can’t lie: I’m a little excited about the prospect of warmer weather and a hotel room to myself for 2 days. W00t!

We have moved the furniture once again, and mounted the new tv on the wall, out of reach from our little everything’s-a-touch-screen toddler. We are confident it’s high enough for at least another month. He’s growing like crazy. In other news, my family is all stomach bug ridden and my pants are looser as a result. And yes I know, we have too many books.

Sidenote: tonight Simon woke up telling me he “had a burp” , his “tummy and poops hurt”, he wanted some “cooked milk” and he “had a booger”. Rough life, huh.

I jest.

Dear sweet adorable child of mine:

A-hem. We have had a whirlwind of fun and excitement this last month. Three Christmas celebrations, a New Years’ Eve celebration, too many toys games and puzzles to count. You have been spoiled all along, we know that much. But sometime over the last month, you’ve become spoiled rotten. I’d like to blame the new television, or maybe all the chaos of being out of a routine. But realistically it’s probably just a normal stage in your development. Or at least, that’s what “the Googles” are telling me.

Though we purchased a very nice big boy potty for you, you are terrified of it. We moved the other potty downstairs into the living room. You’ve sat on it for a total of 2 hours over the last few days, and absolutely nothing has happened. I have an unopened bag of Christmas m&m’s just waiting as a reward for you to put SOMETHING in the potty (pee OR poop). But, instead  you just take the bowl out of it and place it on your head as a hat. Or you close the potty and use it as a step stool for you to jump off of.

Since acquiring the new television, you try to manipulate the images on the screen like you would an iPad or iPhone. Damn Steve Jobs. Now anything with any sort of screen will forever be etched with sticky toddler finger marks. As a result of the new television, you are on a Caillou binge. You love Caillou. I don’t mind him much. He’s four. He does things with his family. He whines a bit, but he’s four. Whatever. Caillou has a pet cat named Gilbert, who you call Yogurt. That’s pretty hilarious.

A tantrum followed us trying to pry your firetruck out of your hands at bedtime.

You’ve taken to terrible AWFUL tantrums. It’s mind boggling to me. You become a complete maniac. I’m assured this is normal (by the interwebs) but it’s such a stark contrast to the rest of your personality thus far, that I sometimes think you’ve been possessed. Today while trying to change your diaper (you didn’t want to) I swear you were about to rip out my earring ghetto style. It’s almost frightening when you get that way. I’ve done all the things the websites and books tell parents to do when they have a tantruming toddler. Ignore, get down to their level. Hold them, talk softly and explain and acknowledge their feelings. And it’s getting to the point where I feel like I have to smack  you. It’s like watching a friend get drunk at a bar and they’re about to do something stupid and you just want to give them a friendly jolt back to reality. Thing is, I can’t even connect a “high five” correctly, so part of the reason you haven’t been on the receiving end of a swat on the butt is due to my own insecurity- I don’t believe I would be able to successfully connect my hand to your behind in a way that would make ANY difference at all. That, and I really don’t want to hit you or make you think hitting is OK. So whatever, for now I guess we’ll see how it all pans out. Supposedly this tantrum phase eventually goes away when you get your drivers’ license or something.

You just started singing lately, and dancing. The other day you  built a tower out of legos, and then began dancing with it like a prop. It was supposed to be a cane I guess? You love the Wee Sing in Sillyville DVD still, and the JingleHimers are one of your faves (see link if you’re interested).

You talk talk talk all the time, and I love it so much. You are growing up so fast, and I do enjoy almost every minute. But more often than not now, the glances your Daddy and I give each other are more like, “You SURE you want to have another one of these?” or “What the hell are we supposed to do with this?” So I’m hoping those glances go back to the “Look how sweet and wonderful he is” type.

And another thing: you’re starting to look a LOT more like your dad. Like, a lot. And when I peeked in on you NOT napping today, you looked exactly like this:

I told your daddy and he laughed. I did not find it so funny. I feel like I might need another baby just so I don’t get out numbered by crazies.

So shape up child. I love you the most, no matter what.

XO

Mommy.

Christmas Eve, my family always has our big family get together, and it was lovely. Great food, and it was so fun to be able to see everyone and hold my niece, talk about new babies coming in May and July (not mine! but still exciting!) and just be with everyone. Simon just loves his cousin Landry, and constantly asks to hold her.

Simon’s brief commentary on holding Landry.

My brother Brett got a new camera for Christmas, and he snapped some great pictures of the family enjoying themselves.

Simon got SO many cool toys and he just loved everyone opening presents. Christmas Day was spent around the house and then on Christmas evening we drove (with our NEW CAR!) to Gabe’s family’s condo near Akron. There we relaxed, put Simon to bed, and hung out with Gabe’s family. Day-After-Christmas, we opened gifts with Gabe’s family and Simon (again) got lots and lots of really cool stuff. His favorite was probably the giant dump truck and “loader”- which he loaded up with Hershey Kisses over and over again, and dumped on the ground. That evening was a little overwhelming for Simon. A small place with lots of unfamiliar faces that he sees only once a year. But he was a great sport. We headed home that night so we could do our own mini-family Christmas morning on Tuesday.

The drive back to Columbus was pretty long with extra traffic, but once we were home we were so glad we headed back when we did. It was nice to just be in our house, in pajamas, and enjoy each other’s company. We had such a great Christmas seeing everyone and always wish that time would last longer- but you know, being home is good too.

That night, after Simon was in bed, we managed to put all the new toys away and laid out the presents Santa left for us to give Simon the next morning. Gabe and I were also going to exchange gifts.

Tuesday morning, Simon was SO excited about the presents Santa left him in his stocking (new makeup brushes, soap, a dinosaur, socks, mittens, etc.) and then new books, a helmet, some roads for his trucks and a guitar! He was a happy kid. Gabe was happy with the gifts I got for him, and when I looked around, there weren’t any gifts left to open, and there wasn’t anything for me….

Hm. No big deal.

Then Gabe handed me my stocking and inside of it was a ring. And he asked me if I would still marry him. I said “Of course.” And you know what? I’m pretty damned happy right now. We went out for a pancake breakfast and gathered up supplies to make panini’s on our new panini maker.

I pretty much spent the rest of the week in a daze enjoying the prospect of planning a super small wedding and calling Gabe my husband.

My mom came into town to watch Simon for me on Thursday morning while I worked, so we went out to a nice dinner on Wednesday night together and drank wine and talked. It was a nice visit, too.

During this time, we also bought a flat screen television and Apple TV, so we now have all our online content available at our disposal on the television set. I don’t think we necessarily watch MORE tv since having it, than we did before, but it’s definitely nice to not be tethered to the laptop if we’re wanting to watch something on Hulu or Netflix together. Oh, and Simon thinks it’s a touch screen like the iPad, so that’s kind of a pain too.

New Year’s Eve we just hung out at home but had some friends over, and it was lovely. New Years’ Day it was unseasonably warm and we got to go to the park and play/burn off energy for a little bit, which was great. Simon loved being able to ride his bike.

I finally went back to work on Monday of this week. I had nearly an entire week off between Christmas and New Years’ and it was so nice to have several days of just hanging out with my kid. And this week back to the grind, it’s been rough. Simon’s battling a nasty cold and obviously we’re all battling getting-back-into-the-work-routine and I swear my clothes all got tighter over just one week of me eating everythinginsight. Thankfully I have this coming weekend off, so we can use some of that time to regroup, too.

2011: a Year in Hats

Worked on one of simon’s Christmas gifts tonight: roads made out of old (clearly worn in the intersections) jeans. Still unsure of how I’ll fashion the Velcro, but hoping he enjoys them. I think I might add some felt road signs since lately he’s taken to pointing their shapes out lately. He likes to tease me and say stop signs are hexagons, not octagons. And that, friends, is my Saturday night report.