Story Time With Daddy

While I was cooking supper tonight, Liam was hanging out with Daddy in the living room.  The often spend this time watching Star Trek and MythBusters because Liam tends to be a little on the hungry and cranky side when we get home and TV distracts him from being under my feet in the kitchen.

Tonight, however, Liam got out some books, went over to the couch and climbed up beside Daddy to read stories.  I love watching Liam with his Daddy.  He is such a Daddy's boy and wants to do EVERYTHING that Daddy does!  It was so cute seeing them read stories together that I had to get a couple of photos.  

Listening to Liam try to repeat words that Daddy was saying as he pointed at pictures was adorable.  Liam isn't much for playing the "What's this?" game or even repeating words after you most of the time even when it is something that he can say.  But tonight he was repeating "duck" and "bear" and doing a whole lot of "talking" to Daddy.  He is so cute when he is "talking" it is very apparent from his facial expression and tone that he really does think he is saying something that we can understand.  

I am predicting that there will be a lot of stories coming out of my little bear once he really learns to talk!

I even got them to BOTH look at the camera and SMILE at the same time!!!!  

Liam is a Toddler . . .

If there was any doubt in my mind, after today it is gone!  Liam is a toddler.  He had a full out, the world is coming to an end temper tantrum of epic proportions at the pediatrician's office this afternoon.

For the most part, he is still my sweet, cooperative, adorable baby boy, but then, out of now where comes the stubborn, testy, independent toddler.  Don't get me wrong, there are lots of things I love about toddlers. I love listening to him learn to say new things, his favorite thing to say lately is "E I E I O".  I love watching him learn to do things for himself and most of the time that he wants to do things by himself.  I love watching him socialize and interact with other people.  

However, he is already one of the most stubborn toddlers that I know!  And he remembers EVERYTHING!  Which is a good thing much of the time but also a bad thing.  If you let him do something once, you can be sure that he will remember and do it again.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but he will do it again!  

This afternoon, Liam was playing very nicely with two little cars in the waiting room at the pediatrician's office.  Everything was great, he was his usual happy, friendly self until they called his name and I told him to put the cars down.  He looked at me and started to follow Daddy, cars still in hand.  Being the horrible mean mother that I am, I made him put the cars away.  (I knew that a melt down would ensue but I also know what happens when parents give into their child's every whim!  And I am not going to be one of those parents!)  Once the cars were pried from his death grip, he dropped to the floor and started to scream.  He refused to walk into the examining room.  He didn't want to be carried.  It was not a pretty sight.

I was sure that a change of scenery and his own cars from the diaper bag once we got into the room would fix the problem.  Boy, was I wrong!  The screaming and crying continued while the nurse weighed and measured him.  Again, I thought that once she was done bugging him, he would play happily with his cars until the doctor came in.  Wrong, again.  He threw his cars, he kicked and continued to complain.  It continued through the whole appointment.  

And then came the needles (18 month booster and MMR shot), well as you can well imagine, that just made everything worse!  Once we left the office and were out in the hall, he was still going, hitting me and pushing me away from him.  When I finally put him down he took off down the hall away from me. However, let him walk to the elevator and out of the building by himself seemed to help the situation.  And a sippy cup of milk in the truck fixed it all!  My happy boy was back!

The appointment went very well.  Liam is a healthy growing boy.  He is 25 lbs 5 oz and 31.5" tall.  Hard to believe that 19 months ago he was 5 lbs, 5 oz and so sick that he was hospitalized twice in the first few weeks.  I am so glad that we are past those days!  I just hope that temper tantrums like today are few and far between!

Club Foot Update

**Note** Liam was born with a club foot and has been dealing with treatments since he was 6 days old. First was a series of six casts over six weeks, then a tendon elongation followed by a final cast for 3 weeks. Then came the really fun stuff . . . Denis Brown boots and bar . . . Liam had to wear these shoes 23 hours a day for 3 months and now continues to wear them at night until he is four.

I took the day off work to take Liam to an appointment with Dr. Jarvis, his orthopedist at CHEO.  And I am thrilled that everything is progressing as planned.  Dr. Jarvis was very pleased with the range of motion of Liam's foot and his walking.  And Liam was very eager to show Dr. Jarvis his cars!

Of course, we are still dealing with the Denis Brown Boots and Bar every night, however the doctor did say today that protocol for this is to continue for 3 years.  I am not going to get too excited about the duration being shortened by a year yet.  Since we started the process we have been told 2 years, then 4 years and now 3 years.  As far as I am concerned, we'll wear then until the doctor tells us to stop wearing them.  Fortunately since my last club foot post, he has gotten much better about wearing the shoes.  We still have the occasional night that is a struggle, but most nights, he sits nicely while I put them on, sometimes even giving them to me so that I will put them on.

Things have come a long way since the nurse in the special care nursery told us that our tiny little premature baby had something wrong with his foot and that he would probably need surgery.  I am glad that she really didn't know what she was talking about!  

Playing Boss

This past week I worked in the office for the week as my supervisor was on vacation.  It was the first time since my promotion in October that I've had the opportunity to work in the office for more than a day or two at a time.

And I got to do a little bit of everything - work out coverage for staff coming in late and leaving early for appointments, organize appropriate coverage for staff lunch breaks, attempt to fill daycare spaces with new children, try to organize the waiting list, send sick children home, book supply staff, deal with repair people, organize the training of a new cook, inform a staff that she is being transfered to another program, inform staff of shift changes, make photocopies, fill in the paysheets, do paperwork and filing . . . and I'm sure there are other things that I missed.  And that's not to mention the countless phone calls to the supervisor at the other center and the director.

I know that it is all part of the job that Rhonda does on a daily basis and I've had a taste of it all on my others days in the office, but for my first full week, it was a bit overwhelming.  Despite being somewhat overwhelmed, I did throughly enjoy the week and I am looking forward to another week of playing boss in August.  Normally, I am not one for change but this is a very comfortable change and every time I have a day or even part of a day to work in the office it becomes more comfortable.

Unfortunately, going back into the program after even a day in the office is more difficult than I expected.  It always seems like I have missed out on much more than a day with my kids and it takes both them and me a little while to get back into the swing of things.  And life in the toddler room is just so much busier and louder than life in the office!  

Despite my enjoyment of my office time and the difficulty that I have getting back into my routines in the program, I'm not sure that I would want to be a full time supervisor right now.  It is a place that I do hope to get at some point in my career and if the opportunity presented itself, I would not turn it down but right now, I like my toddlers too much!  Some days they drive me mad, some days I feel like I never want to change another diaper or potty change another child, sometimes I want to scream, sometimes I want to run away and never come back, but then one of them randomly runs over and give me a big hug and reminds me how important my job is and that despite all the little things that drive me batty, I really do love toddlers.  And I am happy and content with where I am in my career.

I want to be MOMMY!!

Well, it would be if I ever got called Mommy!  

I walked into the toddler room today and was greeted by a toddler, running to me, with his arms up, yelling excitedly, "Nicki, Nicki, Nicki".  

Normally, this would thrill me, especially with it being a child who hadn't said my name before.

But not this time.  

Because it was MY child.  

My child who has been saying some version of "Daddy" for six months.

My child who is perfectly capable of saying "mom" but when he says it, really means "mine".

Yes, my child now calls me Nicki.

I expected this.  He hears the other teachers call me Nicki a hundred times a day.

I predicted this.  He hears the kids call me Nicki a million times a day.

I knew this was coming.  He even hears me refer to myself as Nicki countless times a day.

But that doesn't mean that I have to like it!

I want to be MOMMY!

I want him to tell everyone he sees in the grocery store that I am his Mommy like he does with Daddy.

I want the world to know that I am this adorable, smart little boy's mommy.

But for now, I am his Nicki.

I guess it is better than not being anything!

I know that it will past and that in time I will be Mommy.

But for now, I will be sad about it.

It is rather ironic that I am upset by this.

Normally when my toddlers learn to say my name, it is exciting!

I have never been disappointed when a child said my name for the first time before, even when they pronounce it in some unflattering way, like "Titty".

But not this toddler!

All I want him to say is "MOMMY"!

I Forgot To Buy Diapers . . .

Are there any moms out there who remember what it's like to have a memory?  Because I sure don't.  Before I became a mother, I heard people talk about "Mommy Brain" and honestly thought that it was a joke!  Wow, I couldn't have been more wrong!  I can get up from the computer, walk to the kitchen (which is literally about 10 steps) and have already forgotten why I got up.

But last night takes the cake - I forgot to buy diapers!  Seriously, how does the mother of an 18 month old forget to buy diapers?  And it's not like we are just moderately low.  We were almost out two days ago, so I brought home some of the stash Liam has at daycare to get us through until grocery day.

Somehow, in my infinite wisdom I neglected to put diapers on the grocery list, so I didn't even think of it until last night at bedtime as I reach for a diaper off the shelf.  It's a good thing Liam's not at the "repeat everything he hears" stage because if he was, "shit" would be the word of the day!

So, this morning, I began scrounging to see how many diapers I had in the house . . . 2 on the shelf in the bedroom, 3 in the basket in the living room, 4 in the diaper bag and 1 emergency diaper in the truck . . . phew, unless the boy develops explosive diarrhea we should be OK until tomorrow when we have to go into town anyway . . . but that's not the point . . . 

Or maybe it is . . . I can't remember . . . 

Guest Blogger on The Colors Magazine

I am a featured as a Guest Blogger at The Colors Magazine, with an article about "Mommy Guilt".  Please hop on over and give it a read and leave a comment!

While you are there, do take some time to check out some of Lena's own writing, some of the other Guest Blogger posts or even some of the Monthly Blog Contest posts.  There really is something for everyone at The Colors Magazine.

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