My husband and I take turns putting the boys to bed. We each have our different rituals and we feel that the one on one time is as important for the boys as changing it up is for us. While both boys initially pout when they get the news that Mommy will not be putting them to bed, once they are upstairs I can hear the giggles and laughter floating down the stairs as Daddy reads the tiny toddler's books in funny voices or talks football with the big five year old.
Last night was my turn with the tiny toddler. On Friday he turned three years old, and he has been having so much fun with his birthday this year. Last year his birthday fell six days after the Russian court approved our adoption; he had a cake a new toy but he also had two new parents that he wasn't quite sure what to do with. He had a sleep deprived Mommy who was equal parts over the moon at having a new son and sad beyond belief at missing her oldest one. He had a new Daddy he seemed to only enjoy while Mommy was around and who he certainly was not going to allow himself to be left alone with. So last year's birthday was somewhat of a blur. But this year? He totally gets it and he is having a ball.
When my oldest son turned five back in February I filled his room with balloons so that when he woke up there was a sea of colorful balloons to greet him on his special day. I didn't do that with the tiny toddler this year because he still puts everything in his mouth and it just didn't seem safe. Last night both boys and my sweet husband headed upstairs for bed a little early so that we could clean their rooms, something that is normally scheduled for Saturdays but somehow got away from this week. Daddy helped the big five year old and I headed into the tiny toddler's room. We supervised bed sheet changing and toy pick up and then I got the little guy ready for bed. After putting on his jammies we settled into the rocking chair to read books, which is when the big five year old burst into the room carrying three of his surviving birthday balloons. "I want to give these to Alex since he had a birthday." The tiny toddler slid off my lap and immediately began dancing around the room with his new balloons.
As I watched my boys playing together with the balloons I realized how "normal" life had been lately. Friday night we had macaroni and cheese and birthday cake for dinner in honor of the tiny toddler's birthday. His older brother couldn't wait to bring out his presents and sing Happy Birthday. After dinner I watched the boys playing with the new bubble/squirt guns in the back yard. They ran at each other, shooting bubbles up into the air, giggling. Saturday evening we took the boys to a friend's house for a China play group picnic. Both boys played with the other children, bounced in the bounce house, ate hot dogs and generally had a great time. There were no melt downs. No running off. No hitting or throwing things. No screaming and tears. Sunday we took the boys to church, where one went to the nursery and one to Sunday school. We grocery shopped as a family and we all hung out in the living room watching the tiny toddler's newest obsession, Little Einsteins. This may not sound like a big deal to you, but seeing my little guy actually sit down and be able to enjoy and process a television show is a HUGE deal for this family. And then we got to Sunday night, and the balloon dance of joy. And I sat in my grandmother's University of Akron rocking chair and exhaled. We have temper tantrums and melt downs. We have dirt and rocks and we never have matching socks. We have toys everywhere and still occasionally have bored children. We have whining and sticky kitchen floors. We are far from perfect. But we are finally normal.
Showing posts with label china play group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label china play group. Show all posts
Monday, May 14, 2012
Thursday, November 11, 2010
who knew my son would fire me and the police would show up at my house on the same day?
The plan was sleeping in. That was the plan. My brain loves to sleep and rarely wakes me up even a minute earlier than it needs to. Occasionally I have a hard time staying asleep, but the closer it gets to morning the deeper my sleep seems to get so that by the time the alarm is going off I am ready for at least another hour of sleep. Going to bed any earlier doesn't help. It is just a weird sleep thing I have going on. So I love my sleep and try to protect it at all costs. Which is why my husband is no longer allowed to get dressed in our bedroom if I am still asleep.
My husband can nap for 15 minutes and be refreshed and ready to go. On weekdays I swear an entire marching band could parade through our bedroom playing The Stars and Stripes Forever and he would not wake up. On days he can sleep in, however, he is up at the crack of dawn. That is his weird sleep thing.
Last night as we were reviewing our schedules for today it was decided that I would take the little guy to daycare this morning since I had to go that way anyways to pick up my mother and take her to the dentist. Because my husband was not doing the usual daycare drop we could all sleep in a little. So the clock was set for 7am, instead of 6:30. My husband was up and getting dressed for work by 6:15. At which time he woke me up while getting dressed. He then asked if I wanted him to wake up Matthew. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not throw my drool covered pillow at him. No, thank you, I did NOT want our son up even earlier than normal so that he could jump on the bed where I was still trying to sleep. Why were we up this early? "This is the time my body said to get up.", was the response. Your body is WRONG. And my body is TRYING TO SLEEP!
Turns out, we should have just gotten up. By the time I had my son buckled into his car seat he had already spent at least an hour whining about just about everything he could think of, which included firing me from taking him to his playgroup on Saturday. Yes, he actually said "Mommy, you are fired from taking me to china group this weekend." Fine with me, kiddo. Let's see you try to get there on your big wheel...
As we were walking to the car Matthew noticed that the rear tire looked flat. Thank goodness he is so observant. Who knows when I would have noticed. We stop at the UDF right by our house and their air costs 75 cents. Seriously, when did we start paying for air? I didn't have three quarters, so I had to schlep both me and Matthew inside just to be told that they do not give change. I buy gas there, iced tea, newspapers... but they don't give change? We head to the second gas station - there are three stations right next to each other so my plan was to visit each one until I found my prize- a re-inflated tire. The second station had air for $1.00. But at least they were willing to make change so I could use their pricey air.
After extricating myself from my teary eyed three year old, who an hour earlier had fired me from everything but who now was clinging to my leg as though one of us was going off to war, I headed to Mom's assisted living. I got there at 9:15 and we walked into her 10:00 dentist appointment at 10:02. There is something wrong with her knee and my usually quite spry mother was walking like she was 90 years old. By the time I got her and her drive through lunch back home it was nearly 12:30pm. Finally, I can get some work done!
No sooner do I settle down in the local Starbucks do I realize that the wi fi is not working. As I am packing up to find another place to work, the reason for my displacement from my home office calls. Apparently I turned on the alarm at home before we left this morning, which resulted in our house cleaner setting off the alarm when she came in to clean. Did I want to speak with the police, she asks me. Uh, yes? After proving to the local authorities that I was, in fact, Elizabeth Wilkison, they let me get off the phone and my house cleaner on to cleaning.
It is still early, so I am a little worried about what the rest of the day may hold for me. I found working wi fi and got my reports submitted. I have returned my calls and have even been able to get some other work done. But I feel as though this isn't the end....
My husband can nap for 15 minutes and be refreshed and ready to go. On weekdays I swear an entire marching band could parade through our bedroom playing The Stars and Stripes Forever and he would not wake up. On days he can sleep in, however, he is up at the crack of dawn. That is his weird sleep thing.
Last night as we were reviewing our schedules for today it was decided that I would take the little guy to daycare this morning since I had to go that way anyways to pick up my mother and take her to the dentist. Because my husband was not doing the usual daycare drop we could all sleep in a little. So the clock was set for 7am, instead of 6:30. My husband was up and getting dressed for work by 6:15. At which time he woke me up while getting dressed. He then asked if I wanted him to wake up Matthew. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not throw my drool covered pillow at him. No, thank you, I did NOT want our son up even earlier than normal so that he could jump on the bed where I was still trying to sleep. Why were we up this early? "This is the time my body said to get up.", was the response. Your body is WRONG. And my body is TRYING TO SLEEP!
Turns out, we should have just gotten up. By the time I had my son buckled into his car seat he had already spent at least an hour whining about just about everything he could think of, which included firing me from taking him to his playgroup on Saturday. Yes, he actually said "Mommy, you are fired from taking me to china group this weekend." Fine with me, kiddo. Let's see you try to get there on your big wheel...
As we were walking to the car Matthew noticed that the rear tire looked flat. Thank goodness he is so observant. Who knows when I would have noticed. We stop at the UDF right by our house and their air costs 75 cents. Seriously, when did we start paying for air? I didn't have three quarters, so I had to schlep both me and Matthew inside just to be told that they do not give change. I buy gas there, iced tea, newspapers... but they don't give change? We head to the second gas station - there are three stations right next to each other so my plan was to visit each one until I found my prize- a re-inflated tire. The second station had air for $1.00. But at least they were willing to make change so I could use their pricey air.
After extricating myself from my teary eyed three year old, who an hour earlier had fired me from everything but who now was clinging to my leg as though one of us was going off to war, I headed to Mom's assisted living. I got there at 9:15 and we walked into her 10:00 dentist appointment at 10:02. There is something wrong with her knee and my usually quite spry mother was walking like she was 90 years old. By the time I got her and her drive through lunch back home it was nearly 12:30pm. Finally, I can get some work done!
No sooner do I settle down in the local Starbucks do I realize that the wi fi is not working. As I am packing up to find another place to work, the reason for my displacement from my home office calls. Apparently I turned on the alarm at home before we left this morning, which resulted in our house cleaner setting off the alarm when she came in to clean. Did I want to speak with the police, she asks me. Uh, yes? After proving to the local authorities that I was, in fact, Elizabeth Wilkison, they let me get off the phone and my house cleaner on to cleaning.
It is still early, so I am a little worried about what the rest of the day may hold for me. I found working wi fi and got my reports submitted. I have returned my calls and have even been able to get some other work done. But I feel as though this isn't the end....
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