Tag: toddlers

The Wands Need Sleep

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Between PW’s late work nights this week (he’s averaging at least two nights a week after mid night) and Bay’s early mornings, we’re all starting to look like the walking dead.

Here’s how it typically works:

730pm: Bay is in her crib but still chatting to her animals

930pm: I decided I really do need to get to bed.

1000pm: No really, I’ve got to get to sleep

1045pm: Sleep timer turns off the TV and I was a goner when my head hit the pillow.

1145pm: PW gets home and announces himself loudly so that I don’t have a heart attack thinking he’s an intruder (we learn from our past around here).

1215pm: PW still goofing around the house which wakes me up and confuses me.

100am: PW finally goes to bed and again, wakes me up.

400am: Bay starts whimpering in her sleep.

405am: More whimpering.

408am: I decided I better go figure out what she needs before PW’s alarm goes off at 5am because then there is a chance she won’t go back to sleep.

415: Clean diaper, socks and a blanket and Bay is back down. I am now awake.

440am: I finally doze off…

500am: Alarm goes off. I tap PW who promptly asks me to snooze the alarm.

510am: PW gets up on his own.

515am: Snoozed alarm goes off again.

545am: PW leaves for work.

600am: Whimpering…

615am: I get my lovely wake up call of “MOMMY!!! AWAKE!!!”

And this is why it takes three coats of various colors of concealer to cover up the deep, dark circles under my eyes…So looking forward to nap time on Saturday when I can catch 2 hours of guilt free sleep time.

It’s a Good Thing You’re Cute, Kid

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Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe she’s got a molar coming in. Maybe her new-found independence from preschool is being demonstrated at home. Maybe she’s just two but the munchkin is making me crazy this week!

This is an actual conversation that happened this week in the car:

“Baylor. Shoes. Off.”

“No, please leave your shoes on.”

“Shoes. Off. Now.”

“B, we’re almost to the store. Please leave your shoes on.”

minor meltdown and then reluctantly the shoes go back on.

“Yea!! Good listening!!”

“Shoes. Off. Again. Mommy.”

dirty look from the front seat…..

“Yea Baylor!!! I did it! Shoes! On!”

“I think you’re missing the point kid…”

 

That is a nice version of the battles and lessons of the week! If I say yes, she says no. If I say do it, she says no. If I say no, she says yes.  If she gets rewarded for listening well, then she does the bad behavior all over to get the reward. I either need her to move on to the next phase or for it to cool down so she can go out and, as my mom would say, blow the stink off….

How Not to Use the Potty

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Good God I hate potty training. A lot has to do with trying to convince Baylor that this in inappropriate:

She gets it. She totally gets what she’s supposed to do. The problem is that she wants to sit on the potty ALL THE TIME. It’s a constant routine of sit, wipe, wash and then re-diaper and dress. I’m talking like 6 times an hour. It is making me craaaazzzyyy!!!! I vote for diapers and let her college roommate show her the ropes.

I Believe

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I believe in miracles. I believe in signs. I believe in the warm and fuzzies and gut feelings. I believe that God gives us little whispers, hints and reminders that we are loved and that someone is listening.

This week Baylor moved up to the “big pool” at swim lessons. It was bitter-sweet for me because it meant that I no longer had to get into the super chlorinated pool only to get doused several unwanted times. But it also meant that I didn’t have to get into the pool with her for swim lessons anymore. After watching her lesson, I saw how great she did with her instructor because she was getting spread her wings and it was amazing to watch. I was so happy, so proud… and so comfortable in the cool air conditioned room.

I realized on the way home that our second call after Peter to tell him how great she did, would have been to Mame. Mamie always loved watching and hearing about Bay’s lessons. She bought her goggles, a kick board and her first swim suit – followed by many other swim suites. She was always so excited to hear how she did and loved watching her “kick, kick, kick and float, float, float”. When she was able to come to lessons, Baylor made a point to climb out, run to the sidelines and give Mamie a kiss. Even though it was not what she was supposed to be doing, even her teacher couldn’t get mad because it was so cute.  I was sure to note that night during prayers with Baylor, how proud Mamie would have been of her.

Saturday morning I was greeted by a sweet, smiling two-year old shouting “AWAKE!! MOMMY!! AWAKE!!”. I picked Bay up and took her to the changing table where she asked me for her “Mamie angel”.  I handed her the wooden figuring that Mame had given her on her first birthday. She kissed it, and then looked at me and said “I saw you”. I stopped mid diaper change. She said it again and this time smiled at me. Baylor has never said that before – she usually says “see you” or “momma, see”, never a full sentence and never in the past tense.

My only conclusion is that it was a little sign from Mame that she’s watching. That she sees how amazing Baylor is and that she’s proud. I tried hard to hold in tears and said a little prayer of thanks for knowing that she’s still here and that she still sees how much she is loved and missed.

Ranch Burgers and Grilled Zucchini

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Peter’s mom, Marilyn, has a bountiful vegetable garden every summer and this one is no exception. She brought us great and HUGE zucchinis and lots of grape tomatoes, my favorite.

Tomatoes are a no brainer, we eat them straight up, caprese salad, etc. But zucchini is always a toughie. Besides bread, I’m a little stumped. Feeling adventurous, I sliced the zucchini long ways into strips, about a quarter inch wide. Salt, pepper and a little fresh garlic and grilled them up. The result as delicious! The garlic gives them a little spiciness and they go great on the side of turkey ranch burgers.

Ranch burgers are not my invention, but rather those at Hidden Valley. I tried the suggested recipe and the result is great. It’s an easy and fast dinner that even the munchkins like – 1 packet of dry ranch dressing and 1 lb of ground turkey. Mix well, form patties (go bigger, they shrink when cooked) and grill ’em up. Double the recipe and have plenty for lunch the next day.

Also I’ve gotten a comment from a reader who I actually know and like (although his comment made me question our friendship) regarding the simplicity an often the use of ingredients that are pre-made (i.e. Lenten Deliciousness). This person questioned whether or not it should really count as a recipe when it is simple to make and my answer is this; when you have a toddler crawling up your leg, a sink full of dishes and a very small window before all hell breaks loose due to hunger and bed time, and you have to create a delicious and healthy meal, you call me and let me know if my “recipes” count as recipes. Ok?

Tonight I tackle cake pops for Baylor’s family birthday diner tomorrow night. Pictures and play by play to come. Hopefully they are great pictures and a happy story and not something along the lines of the Whopper Brownies.

Weekend Work

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Baylor and I did a lot of yard work this weekend. Her contributions are along the lines of:

1. Don’t pull the plants out that have just been planted

2. Play in a big bucket of water

3. Water the plants. The house. The patio. And herself.

But we did get a lot new color in that will hopefully last at least until it’s 110!

Beautiful Salvia and Portulaca – a favorite!

I love that you never know what color the flowers will be


Finally getting bigger berries – these are aaalllmoosst ready!

Holy Head Butt

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This past Sunday marked yet another week of taking our sweet soon-to-be-two-year old to church. A ritual we’ve done since the week she was born. And until the last few months, has been a relatively simple process. As she enters the second year of her life, she has a new-found fun time at church. Mainly torturing her parents.

Last weekend Baylor was frustrated, hot and bored. In an effort to get my attention and thus relocated to the much more interesting and fun vestibule of the church, she attempted to head butt me. I gave her the mom stare trying to telepathically tell her “knock it off” when she went for a second shot. I’m quite sure that she knew that my usual response to a head butt is a head butt – which I obviously do gently and in a “I’m going to show you that this hurts” teaching kind of way. However, when someone sees you head butt your child, they tend to frown on that. Especially in a place of worship. Therefore my little Einstein knew if she threw her noggin at mine, she was probably A. going to get away with it and B. get to go to the vestibule.  And she was right.

So instead of a demerit system and empty threats, we tried a reward system. If Baylor was quiet, we would quietly thank her for being silent and then give her a yogurt raisin (her favorite). Brilliant? Maybe. But worth a shot none the less. I have to say that it did work, until about a half hour in. The little stinker caught on and then started making noise in order to be shushed and then she knew she got a raisin for being quiet. She’s either going to be president or live in a secluded cabin somewhere running a blog that plots to take over the world.

The one redeeming quality is she’s really stinking cute and I am always sure to dress her equally as adorable. Mostly because I think people are more tolerant of cute kids.

What’s In Baylor’s Bag? 8th Edition

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This week’s bag of choice was the very unglamorous Target bag. The contents were interesting –  a lot more things she shouldn’t have let alone collect were  in her bag.

Yesterday she walked into the office with the knit hat on and the keys in her hand, said “bye bye!” gave me a kiss and headed out of the room. I thought it was adorable…until I realized she might actually be heading somewhere!

Contents:

Juice cup

Target bag

Pen and paper

Knit hat

Flip flops

A flower hair clip

French fries

The flosser that she uses to “shave” with Daddy

The phone and the ear piece that goes with it

And spare keys

What’s in Baylie’s Bag – 7th Edition

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This week’s bag of choice was actually a box, rather than Baylor’s usual shopping bag or purse. I gave her an old hat box I used to use for stationary intending it for organizing some of the MANY toys we have accumulated. Instead, it served as a fun toy in itself. She played putting things in and out of it and then started her usual collection. Here’s this week’s booty:

New bunny, beany butt bear and little rabbit

Play coffee, an egg and two ice cream cones (is she my kid or what?)

Her Little Gym medal which she wore for a week after receiving (literally)

The gender neutral Little People Family and their furniture. No judgement, all I’m saying is that it’s hard to play “house” when you’re not sure which one is the mommy

Her favorite Emerald City surf shop t-shirt that she shares with Kat, her favorite stuffed animal

What’s In Baylie’s Bag? 6th Edition

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This week’s bag contents are pretty eclectic. In fact, I don’t know where she found some of this stuff seeing as I haven’t see it in a very long time.

In the last WIBB post, I received a very strange comment on the post regarding the contents of Baylie’s bag. It all but accused me of being a child pornographer because apparently the doll’s bathing suit in the picture looked like a child’s bra (random?). I promptly deleted the comment and was very close to letting the reader know to take their business elsewhere. So, for any new readers of The Goon Room, What’s in Baylie’s Bag? is a weekly post that details the contents of my sweet two-year-old’s bag of choice. It’s amusing to see what she has decided is worthy of carrying around repeating “let’s go!!”.

This week’s bag: New Monkey themed bag from the $1 section at Target. Baylie makes “monkey” sounds when she points to the picture.

Contents:

A tea cup

2 Bunny cups

Bunny ears

Barbie (a must)

Your Personal Penguin book

Baby Colors book

Wooden duck toy

2 religious medals that I haven’t seen in years

2 sets of keys

A door bumper

An Easter Card