In Three's

(((Man alive! 3 posts in 3 days?!)

They say things happen in 3's.

I don't know if I can confirm or deny that, but what I do know is that it takes me repeating  myself at least 3 times before G even gives my request a thought - and by then I'm teetering on the edge of losing my cool (which happens way too quickly these). Between him and the dogs, I feel like all I ever do is repeat myself.

"Don't sit on the dog," "Don't hit the dog," "Don't throw" "Don't scream like someone is tearing you limb from limb just because you didn't get your way," "Move on, G," "Don't chew on that, it's a dog toy," "Don't move, you're in time-out," "Don't move, you're STILL in time-out!" and my personal favorite "Get your feet off the table while you eat!"

Then there's the dogs: "Dogs, get away from G while he eats", "Go outside!" "Move on, dogs!", "SAMMY! Come inside!!!", "Don't chew on that, it's a baby toy!", "Who pooped on the floor?!" (okay, this could go both ways...)

I've tried yelling, I've tried speaking rationally, I've tried whispering, all to no avail. Parenting failures happen in infinite multiples. Please, terrible twos, go easy on me.

Musing

I'm not really sure which is worse:

Your kid busting in on you while you're trying to use the restroom.

-OR-

Your kid pulling the door all the way shut while you're mid-pee (and thanks to him, you can't just stop what you're doing and re-open the door) and then running off laughing, knowing you can't do anything about it.

My Kid Rocks

Okay, if you don't want to read a gushy mommy post, you better just close the browser.

On Wednesdays I take G to a music class in the next (big) town over. The kids sing, dance, play instruments, it's super awesome.

Anyway, today we sang a song about greeting your neighbor and danged if my kid didn't go right to the new girl to greet her. She left him hanging though, so he went around the circle to every mom in the room and shook their hand. Not at all intimidated by the fact they're 3x his size and complete strangers (we've only been to the class a couple of times). And when it's time to dance, he dances right out into the center of the circle and gets all the kids involved with his stomping, hopping, skipping and galloping around. He always says "shank shoo" when given an instrument AND when he takes it back for clean up, he says "hi" when we walk in, and a great big "bbbbyyyeeeee!" when we leave. He's the cutest kid in the class (not that I'm partial), and gosh darn it, people like him!

But seriously, I just can't believe what a charismatic little person he is. I don't know where he gets it from - Erik and I *can* be that way, but it's not innate in us the way it so clearly is in him. My friend Mandy once said he's going to be the President someday, and man oh man, I'm starting to think she might be right - that kid can work a room.

I was worried what having only one parent around for his first year would do to him. Especially since he was a boy missing his dad. But he's all boy, trucks, cars, animals, you name it, he loves it. And he's got the confidence of... well... I don't even know what to put here. But he's got more confidence than most adults I know, that's for sure!

I'd like to think *I* did something right, but I'm not so sure. Sometimes I think little people are just born with old souls - and I guess maybe G is one of them.

"Lost Time is Never Found Again" - B. Franklin

The other day I was working on G's baby book (because I'm that delinquent), transcribing little notes I'd plugged into my phone for writing in said baby book when life slowed down just a tad, and I realized that I was sorry I hadn't noted more about the dates and events I had hurriedly punched in for a less chaotic day. I'm sorry that I only remember the reactions to food that I photographed (ie: the bad ones), I'm sorry that I can't remember his favorite toys from 6 months ago, or when he stopped running around like a mad man all the time and started liking to be held again. I'm sorry I didn't take his picture every.single.day in every.single. ridculously adorable outfit he had. Admittedly, part of it was because I was in survival mode for the first year of his life, but now that Erik's home and life has slowed down, I realize how much I allowed myself to gloss over. Well, not any more! Milestones must be celebrated, traditions must be created and little memories must be preserved. I'm already forgetting so much and it breaks my heart, especially because I'm the only real "remember-er" of Grant's first year.

I think I stopped blogging because I ran out of (what I deemed) entertaining things to write about. And I also kind of think blogging is the ultimate manifestation of self-importance (at least as it relates to some people). But I'm going to start again, because I need to be better at record keeping and I think this will be the quickest way to accomplish my goal. Also, my facebook updates were getting a little too long and I can't stand people who blog on their status, but mostly the record keeping. I'm too OCD to sit down and write, too busy to scrapbook (much the chagrin of all the supplies I have moved to 3 different states and shoved in cabinets each time), so this plan makes the most sense.

Anyway, here goes nothing.