A new beginning

I am so proud of myself!!  I have been feeling like crap lately (like for a couple weeks)  just lethargic, unmotivated and under the weather.  I thought it had to do with the meds I was taking, and while I think alot of did, I think it is mainly because I am OUT OF SHAPE!  I am always so tired, and even though I work full time and take care of a toddler, I don't think I am supposed to be this tired.

This morning I woke up at 6:30, turned on my TV and did a workout video!  I thought it would be no big deal, but by time the 20 mins was almost over, I was sweating my ass off and out of breath. Note to self:  Next time you wake up early to work out....put on a bra when doing cardio.   Seeing as we have Fitness on Demand, I can watch any kind of video I want.....even Carmen Electra's Striptease workout video.  However I actually do own that one and trust me, watching me do it is not a pretty site. How are you supposed to look all sexy as you are bending over and trying to watch the TV screen at the same time?  Not a good idea people, at least not for me.  Mike even asked me to shut it off, lol.

The video I did combined cardio, strength training and abs which are things I NEED.  If felt great to get my heart  rate up and to break a sweat.  There were times when I wanted to half ass it because I was out of breath or more acuratley...out of shape...but I pushed on.  When I was done, I felt so good that I completed it.  A friend of mine, who is also a personal trainer, told me if takes 21 days of doing something for it to become a habit.  She also wakes up at 5am and goes for a 4 mile run, and while I am very far from doing that, I am going to try and commit myself to working out once a day.  I am not going to say it will happen everyday because I don't want to jinx myself, but one day at a time and hopefully this becomes a good habit of mine.

At a loss for words

A friend of mine whose son goes to day-care, and is the same age as Noah, tells me that he constantly gets  bite at school.  I joke around with her that they need to put a muzzle on that kid.  Well now it is my kid doing the biting.  Yesterday I got some news that was hard to swallow, not only because it is disturbing, but because it also causes you to doubt yourself as a parent.  

My father picked up Noah from school because I was feeling under the weather and wanted to come home, lay and on the couch and do nothing.  He calls me last night and tells me that they had to file an accident report yesterday because Noah bite 2 people.  One was his teacher and the other was a student who he caused to bleed.  I was shocked because that is not like him, he isn't an aggressive kid. However, the day before this happened, he bite me so hard it left a black and blue on my leg.  I screamed because I was stunned.  I scared him and he started to cry.  I told him "no bite" but didn't give him a time out. I definitely thinks he needs time outs when he doesn't listen, but seeing as this was his first time doing it, I didn't want to punish him.  I think redirecting him, getting him to "use his words" and talking to him is more useful then having him sit in the corner.  When he throws his food on the floor he wants attention and to get a rise out of Mike and I, but when he bites, I feel like he is frustrated and doesn't know how to communicate...so why would I punish him for that?

I called his school first thing this morning to discuss what happened.  His teacher came on the phone and explained everything to me.  She said she thought he pinched her, but when she lifted up her shirt, there was a bite mark.  As far as the other child who was bite, she explained to me that she thinks Noah is feed up with the other kids pushing him around and taking his toys.  He gets very agitated when the other kids get too close to him and he plays by himself alot lately.  She also said she wanted to talk to Mike and I about what is going on at home.  I told her that he rarely bites, sometimes when we are horsing around, but the other day he bite me.

After hearing all this I start to ask myself "Are we doing something wrong?" I have no idea how to react when kids take his toys or when he takes theirs.  Part of me thinks, if it is theirs, then Noah should give it back.  But then again, if Noah is playing with it, they need to wait their turn.  I am second guessing myself  on everything and its not a good feeling.  Mike and I are shaping and molding this little person, and now more then ever this has become evident to me.  EVERYTHING affects them.  I mean, just the other day I was looking up something on Yahoo answers and decided to type in Caillou (which is the cartoon Noah is obsessed with) I was shocked as to how many people had questions about that show.  One question was "do you think Caillou is an annoying spoiled brat?"  It discussed how he always whines in the show and is never disciplined by the parents.  He is mean to his little sister and always has to get his way.  One lady said she wont let her child watch it any more because her kid started whining and saying no all the time. Part of me started to question whether I should be letting Noah watch this.  And then part of me thought "the kid in the show is 4.....what 4 year old DOESN'T whine and say no all the time"  I think the way the parents respond to Caillou is very important though. The don't punish him, but talk to him and explain things.  That is something I want to be able to do with Noah....not just tell him  "no" and to get over it, but to really listen to him.

So with all that said, I am just very upset, not with Noah for biting kids at school, but just at the whole situation.  I try my hardest to be a good parent and role model to him and I wonder sometimes if its not enough.  I know sometimes kids bite and maybe I a making a bigger deal over it then I need to be, but I cant help it.  When it comes to my son, everything is a big deal to me.

*I pondered on what the title of this blog should be for about 15 minutes and could not come up with anything clever or witty, I was simply at a loss for words.

The Invisible mother

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of
response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while
I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm
thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or
sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner,
because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more:

Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm
a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to
answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order,
'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and
the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa
cum laude--but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never
to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the
return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back
from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she
stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others
all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for
myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned
to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure
why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of
what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read--no, devour--the book. And I would
discover what would become for me, four life-changing
truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built
the great cathedrals--we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see
finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God
saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the
cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a
workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and
asked the man,

'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will
be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.'

And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was
almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you,
Charlotte .. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one
around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin
you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice
and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but
you can't see right now what it will become.'
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a
disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the
disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong,
stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As
one of the people who show up at a job that they
will never see finished, to work on something that their name will
never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say
that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so
few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the
friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom
gets up at 4:00 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she
hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.
That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to
come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to
add, 'You're gonna love it there'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen
if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that
the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the
beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible
women.
Great Job, MOM!

Droppin it like its HOT!

With all the stress that comes along with being a parent, there are also a lot of really great times; funny times, embarrassing times and times where you when you wonder how the hell you got yourself into this.  Last night was one of those funny yet disgusting times.

After Noah's bath, we usually let him run around in his birthday suit, air out the little baby parts that have been crammed inside a hot sweaty diaper all day and be free.  We were listening to The Beatles (who we realized will be ancient by the time Noah is our age) and Noah goes "poopy"  I am thinking
"great, he told us, maybe we can get him to the potty in time to do his business."  WRONG!  He dropped it like it was hot, all over the living room floor.  I don't know what that kid ate but if I didn't know better, I'd think I was looking at some four legged beast's excrement's.  Pretty gross to say that least.  Mike and I just looked at each other and tried not to laugh.  Well, let me rephrase, I tried not to laugh, Mike cracked up.  I mean as gross as it was, it was pretty hilarious.  I had to compose myself  and go into mom mode, whisk him away to the potty and tell him "this is where we do poopy"  Mike got to clean up the mess.

This is just one of the things they don't tell you about in those books you read to help prepare you for parenting. Lets face, no matter how many books you read, classes you go to or shows you watch, NOTHING can prepare you better then some real, hands on experience.

What? Can you repeat that? I didn't hear you the first 20 times

Sometimes I wish parenting came with a mute button....and I am not talking about for the TV.  There are only so many times I can hear the same thing over and over and over gain before I want to scream SHUT THE HELL UP say “yes sweetie?”  This is how my morning starts pretty much everyday:

Me:  Good morning Noah
Noah: Good morning Mommy, fan off, light off, get out, poopy, milk, watch Caillou, play legos, blanky.
 (And he does not come up for air at all between all of his demands….I kid you not!)

I remember the day when Mike and I were so excited to hear Noah talk, and now he is never going to let us forget it. I love him to death, but sometimes I just need a BREAK!  Between taking 10 mins to convince him to put his binky away, to trying to reason with an almost 2 year old as to why we cant go in the pool with our clothes on before school, sometimes I definitely fall short and yank that damn binky out of his mouth or drag him to the car kicking and screaming.  On-lookers might be appalled by my actions (or even my satanic like voice-which has sacred the be-geebers out of me sometimes) when I am reprimanding him or just basically losing my cool.  But if they have children of their own, they have been there at one point in time.  And if they have children and have NEVER lost it with them, they are lying.  So those out there that fall in to scenario B, stop being so judgmental and get off your high horse.

Furthermore, my internal system is all out of whack lately and I trying to get back to “normal”.  I have crazy anxiety over every little thing, so that doesn’t help dealing with the toddler tantrums.  But I would like to point out that, even though medications can help alleviate some of the anxiety and “bitchiness,”  it is not a magical happy pill that will turn you into one of those kids TV show hosts (ya know, the ones that are ALWAYS singing at 6am when you are still trying to wake up)  It simply helps you relax and not get as worked up, but you can still have a bad day from time to time.  It aggravates me when people think all you need to do is “take your meds” and you will be Sally Sunshine….maybe they are the reason we are taking them in the first place.

Sometimes a little morning rant is all a girl needs to put her in a better mood...at least for the time being :)

This weekend was hot as hell and all I have to say is "Thank the lord for air conditioning" I dont know how we would have made it through without it. Oh yeah, probably the good old fashioned way with a hose and ice pops. Saturday we had a birthday party to go to and it was OUTSIDE! I was ready to get down to my undies and run throught the sprinkler like the kids were doing.


Here are some pics from Lucas' 2nd Birthday:

The birthday boy sporting his non-mullet haircut....

Some cake with big brother Max:

Noah is such a ham:

His slice of cake was so big he needed 2 forks:

A whipped cream mustache and a sour puss:

Noah braving the slide:

And a splash down!
The diaper party was in full effect:

My sucessful dinner!

And here is a pic of my little man enjoying some ice-cream after his yummy meal...

I decided to make the shrimp and pine nuts dish I posted on here a couple weeks back and it came out GREAT!

Here is a pic of it....

I made it to the weekend!!!!

Well in another 20 mins I will have made it and I CANT WAIT!!  This has been a long long long day. My girlfriend and email buddy was not in today and neglected to tell me (damn her) and 8 hours with not much to do goes very VERY slow when I cant even send silly emails back and forth.  I am looking forward to the weekend though, although by the looks of the weather report, it is supposed to be a scorchers.  Tomorrow we have a birthday party for a good friend of mine (the same one who left me hanging today in cyberspace)  Actually its not for her, but for her son who is turning 2!  We were preggo together, went to Lamaze and have watched our little ones grow up.  I cant believe our boys are going to be 2?  Where does the time go?  In the morning we have to go get a birthday present because of course I wait till the last minute.

Sunday we have plans to go to the lake again and then do lunch with my parents. It has been a while since they have seen all three of us at the same time, so it will be nice to catch up and spend some time together.  15 more minutes till quitting time...can you tell I am excited to be leaving today?  I am going to go home, poor a glass of wine and make a very yummy dish with shrimp, pesto and pine nuts.  If all goes well, I will post pictures on here later.

I was hoping blogging would keep me entertained for the last few minutes of work, but alas I have run out of witty things to talk about.....13 more minutes left...I can do this....breathe......almost over!!

A couple final choices

So I am writing this so I have some piece of mind more then anything.  I am not really sure if the whole blogging world cares about my sons bedroom but for me, it helps get my thoughts in order.  Plus, it will also help me not over analyze or stress over things because I tend to do that A LOT!  When I put my mind to something, or take a on a new project, it becomes all I can think about that.  Is there some kind of diagnosis for this?  OCD? Anal retentive?  Who knows, but I have whatever it is.

So anyway, Mike and I have come to an agreement on a few things for Noah's room. They include the storage center and bed color (which will be red)  He is not a big fan of the gingham but luckily one side is solid red and like I said, seeing as primary colored toddler bedding is hard to come by we are lucky to have found this.  Now, if they sold both of these in the store as they have advertised on-line, I would be super duper happy so I can save us $30 in tax and shipping!  We also narrowed down the curtain choices and I think Mike likes the neutral walls, but we wont know till we actually get paint samples.

Some Spidey Action

When we get home from school in the evening, I usually let Noah play on his slide and with his car for a bit, before I drag him kicking and screaming up the stairs we go inside.  He goes to play and I cover myself in bug spray because those little bastards love to attack me.  It must be my booze filled sweet Italian blood.  Yesterday as I was pushing him around in his cozy coupe, I spotted this disgusting daddy long legs. I do not want my son to have the same fear of bugs that I do (but seeing as he is a boy I highly doubt that he will) so I proceeded to show him the bug and explain to him what it was.  He thought it was the coolest thing and was watching this creepy crawling thing scamper all over his car.  He then when to pick it up!!!!!  Yuck I thought to myself!!  If it was up to me, I would have stomped it to death and then done a bye-bye spider dance respectfully released it into the woods.  Spidey got away but shortly came back. Noah then decided he would try and pull its legs off and almost got one.  Spidey escaped though and made it safely to the grass.  “Where’s spider, where’s spider” Noah kept asking.  He wanted to live, so he quickly got out of the reach of a curios 2 year old.

Don’t worry Noah, Spidey has lots of relatives that I continuously see in the yard, you will have another victim to dismember soon.

15 PIECES OF ADVICE TO BE PASSED ON TO YOUR MOM, YOUR DAUGHTERS OR GRANDDAUGHTERS, NIECES, AUNTS, GIRLFRIENDS, ETC..

1. Don't imagine you can change a man - unless he's in diapers. 2. What do you do if your boyfriend walks out? You shut the door. 3. If they put a man on the moon - they should be able to put them all up there. 4. Never let your man's mind wander - it's too little to be out alone. 5. Go for the younger man. You might as well, they never mature anyway. 6. Men are all the same - they just have different faces, so that you can tell them apart. 7. Definition of a bachelor: a man who has missed the opportunity to make some woman miserable. 8. Women don't make fools of men - most of them are the do-it-yourself types. 9. Best way to get a man to do something is to suggest he is too old for it. 10. Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener. 11. If you want a committed man, look in a mental hospital. 12. Th e children of Israel wandered around the desert for 40 years. Even in Biblical times, men wouldn't ask for directions. 13. If he asks what sort of books you're interested in, tell him checkbooks.. 14. Remember a sense of humor does not mean that you tell him jokes, it means that you laugh at his. 15. Sadly, all men are created equal.

A Moment of Confusion

Noah turns 2 in August and for his birthday present, we are re-doing his room.  His original theme was frogs and the room was decorated with blue and green.  Now lets face it, when they are infants we decorate their room according to what we like, because basically.....they don't know what they like yet.  I am not a frog lover or anything but I think they are cute and I love blue an green.  Mike and I are not sports fans so that ruled out the sports themed room, and seeing as I liked the color palette, I think Mike just let me design his room they way I wanted.  What guy is really into decorating a nursery anyway?

So now that Noah's has his own interests, we are decorating his room around a car theme......not to mention the car bed we got for FREE.  I looked it up online and the thing goes for $300!  Way too much to pay in my opinion but seeing as we didn't pay a dime for it, it will work in his new room.  We do not want a tacky little kid car themed room for him, so no cheesy wall murals or EVERYTHING car related.  Seeing as we have the bed, that can be the main focal point, and everything else can be in the blue and red family decoration wise.  I have been going over in my head for the past 2 days idea s of wall color, curtains and accent colors.....as well as organizational ideas and so forth.  Originally I had thought to do the walls a light blue and accent color of red, but now I am thinking to do the walls a sand color seeing as everything else is the room is going to be colorful, maybe the walls should be neutral?  I don't want to it too look like a paint can exploded in there.  His bed is blue and we thought of getting him Disney Cars bedding but then thought....major cheese and too tacky!  So now we want to do a solid, but I don't know if it should be navy or red?  Like I said.....Im CONFUSED!  I guess once we start playing around with it we will come to some sort of consensus....hopefully!  And not to mention, do you know how hard it is to find solid colored toddler bedding?  It seems everywhere you go its Dora or Elmo.  What happened to plain old primary colors?  I did find a red gingham coverlet at target so hopefully something like that will work.

HGTV  Please help me!!

Snapple "Real Fact" #176

The first bike was called a hobbyhorse.

Tales of the Boo-Boo Buddy and an early bedtime

I picked Noah up from school yesterday and the minute he got in the car, he started complaining that he had a boo-boo on his head.  I gave him a quick kiss and told him "all better"  not thinking anything of it.  But then he began to complain about it the whole ride home and I still just thought he was just whining to whine (he likes to do that alot.  It ranges anywhere from his "binkieee" to his "bankie" to anything else he sees and can not have)  We get home and he goes "Mommy kiss boo-boo....all better"  Upstairs we go and he wants his boo-boo buddy, which is this ice pack shaped like a little guy. He applies it to his head and then he is "all done"  2 Minutes later, the whining begins again "boo-boo budddddddy"  and I give it to him again.  This goes on for a good half hour and I start to wonder if something is really wrong.  They didn't tell me he fell or hit his head in daycare so I was confused.  He would sit and watch TV and then start to cry.  I finally had enough of the damn boo-boo buddy and put it away.....plus it was starting to melt.  Then I thought, maybe the kid is hungry?  I mean it was almost 7 and he hadn't eaten since we were waiting for our damn hamburger helper to finish cooking...not to mention the next 30 mins for the stinking thing to cool down (and that was after putting it the freezer)  I feed him and he seemed to feel better. Then we watched Caillou and sometimes, I thank the lord we have it on Demand because he usually watches it before bed.  So I put it on in an attempt to get him in bed a half hour earlier tonight, seeing as he wasn't feeling well and quite frankly......Mommy needed a break!  It worked!!!  He was in bed by 7:30 which is a first since daylight savings began.  

What is a girl to do with her free time after the little one goes to bed early?  Watch TV and eat ice cream!!  Mike did tell me to chill in the ice cream department though or else my loose bathing suit I was bragging about yesterday, wouldn't be so loose anymore!

Cows, Slirpee's and Jellyfish

This weekend was great.  Seeing as Mike has a crazy work schedule, we don't really get a whole weekend together as a family, it is more like one day or a few hours both days.  But this weekend  was different.  Saturday after Noah's nap we took him on a "trip" as Mike kept telling him, to Stews to see all the animals.  Noah is in-love with the cows, however when he actually did go see them, he seemed like he could care less.  Before that we stopped at 7-11 for a Slirpee.  I think they are gross but still drank it seeing as I was thirsty.  We also got Noah his own because after displaying his ice cream stealing habits, we figured we would be one step ahead of him...and its a good thing we were.  He LOVED it!  Is there anything this kid doesn't like?  He guzzled down his "juice" as he called it, but not before spilling half of it all over Mikes arm.  I guess I was supposed to be paying attention, but the rooster showdown must have distracted me. Mike went to the car to wipe off the mess and came back with a tie-dyed colored arm.  What the heck do they put in the stuff anyway to make it stain your skin?  It was pretty funny though because it looked like he was wearing bright red lipstick the rest of the day.  After that we had to do some grocery shopping and then went home.  We also picked up some ice cream as our little 2 1/2 foot boss demanded.  Luckily he forgot about it when did get home.

Sunday we got up super early (well ok it was 7 but on a weekend it feels super early to us) and got packed up for the beach.  We got everything ready the night before which was great.  We were on the road by 8ish and off to Norwalk to Sherwood Isle.  We live right by a wonderful lake but haven't been to the ocean in a while and decided to go there.  Plus, Noah has never been to the ocean either.  After we got there, we were starting to think we should have stayed local because this was the most disgusting beach I have ever been too (and that includes the ones in the Bronx)  The sand was covered in goose crap, it was rocky and full of shards of broken seashells that were waiting to slice through someone's foot, and the water was infested with jellyfish....no thanks!  We tried to make the best of it but it just wasn't happening.  After about 20 mins (and setting everything up) we decided to high tail it out of there and drive 40 mins back home to the lake (which is about 5 mins from our house) I am happy that at least we know now, and we will definitely be staying local, or paying the exorberent amount to get into a real (nice clean) beach.

The lake was gorgeous though.  And although there were rocks, it was NOTHING like the other place.  Noah had a blast throwing sand in the water and playing with his bucket.  He ventured in for all of 2 seconds then got scared and got out.  Mike and I went in and Noah stood at the edge going "Mommy, Daddy, get out"  It was so cute.  He did catch a little brave streak an let Mike take him in.  He thought it was funny when I swam up to him and I even got a little laugh out of him. It didn't last long though and he was soon ready to get out.  But in Noah's defense, he has never been in any body of water before other then the bath and a really cold pool which he did not like, so he might take a little while to warm up to.  We had such a wonderful AND relaxing time, we plan on going back every weekend.  They also have a playground and picnic tables so we can make the whole day of it.

On  a side note, the bathing suits I bought in the beginning of the summer where loose on me!!!  Thankfully there were no waves to rip the thing off me because I wouldn't want the poor sunbathers to get blinded. But I was very happy to have a loose fitting bathing suit.  Maybe I can even get into some of my pre-preggo ones!!

A pictorial update on the weekend

Noah is 23 months here


Yummy...slirpeeeeee!


The farm:




Don't let him fool you with this innocent look. This was right before he dumped the cherry red slirpee all over Mikes hand. Oddly enough, the crap in that is enough to stain your skin.....Imagine what it does to your insides

Our day at the beach....

Although it looks picturesque, take a closer look...... You will see the mounds of bird crap and tons of rocks that will slice your feet open.


We decided to high tail it out of there and head to the local lake which was cleaner and nicer on the feet. Noah seemed to be enjoying himself seeing as this was his first time at a beach.



Update to follow later.

a man and his duct tape

And no I did not duct tape Noah to the wall or even tape his diaper on (but trust me, I would definitely never do that) We got a new FREE air conditioner yesterday (ok, well maybe it isn’t new. It looks like its from the 1970's but hey it works.....and it cost us $0 so I am not complaining)  I guess this thing didn’t come with those flaps that you extend so it fits the window and doesn’t let air in, so Mike had to make a homemade ghetto really nice one out of cardboard and duct tape.  He covered the whole ting in duct tape so it doesn’t become soggy when it rains.  After about 5 hours 30 minutes, it was all ready to put into the window.  I was watching Law and Order and after a while I hadn’t seen him and heard this ripping sounds coming from the bedroom.  I went in there, scared I was going to find him all taped together, and he was taping up the window too!  I think he used the whole roll.  Men and their projects!!  Hopefully I don’t come to find our cat’s paws taped together. (And if you are reading this Mike…..don’t get any ideas)

Earlier in the evening we went out to dinner at Friendly’s and Noah sat at the table with no highchair or booster seat!  I can’t believe how big he is getting!  Mike also got to see the ice-cream stealer in action.  Seeing as he was obsessed my juice milk the other night (or milkshake as everyone else likes to call it) we decided to get him his very own and we got the new cake batter flavor.  Well, as soon as they brought it out, the wanted nothing to do with the milkshake and confiscated our ice cream!  Maybe the fact that it was vanilla ice cream didn’t help…who know!  So Noah and I shared the sundae and Mike got the piddly little milkshake cup….poor guy!  He was so well behaved and answered the waitresses’ questions of “How old are you?” and “What’s your name?” very well.  He, however thinks he is 2 (which he will be in less then a month) And says his full name when asked….”Noah Adams” How cute is that!

juice milk and a load of crap

Last night I decided to take Noah out for some ice cream after we had dinner.  I am not sure if he wanted it, but Mommy sure did.  Actually, he ALWAYS wants ice-cream...even at 8am.  So we drove to the ice cream place and I got myself a well desired milkshake, and I got Noah a cup.  You think I would get it by now that he only wants what I am eating.  I could be eating a log of crap and he would want it.  So after saying no to his demands for my shake, I gave in and decided to eat his ice-cream.  Well......apparently he wanted BOTH and took it away from me.  Then as he is eating, he looks at me with this scared look and goes "poopy"  And I am thinking "oh  great"  But I figured a little poop in his diaper would ok for 10 mins while we finished our food.  Then I got a whiff and I knew it was time for us to book out of there, well that and the fact that he was starting to play with all his ice-cream and it was melting...fast!  He kept saying "juice milk" over and over as I took his/my milkshake away.  So now he thinks a milkshake is juice milk.....interesting.

I walked to the car and was followed by a very loud, very whinny toddler screaming for his "juice milk" and smelling like poop.....this was not the wonderful evening I had hoped for of eating ice cream and watching the cars go by.  Instead I got to hear "juice milk" over and over until I silenced the beast with his binkie.  Then we got home and I see Noah walking to the door with some black stuff up his back......yup it was the poop!  Now I really feel like a horrible mother letting her son sit in a load of crap while I indulge in my ice cream.  It was the most disgusting thing I have seen and I have seen alot.  I striped him down very carefully not to get the toxic waste on me and put him in the tub, where he proceeded to cry until I got him out.  Then I got him dressed and put on Caillou and finally had some peace and quiet while he was mesmerized by his show.

Scene:  Thursday morning at 7am, my living room

Noah:  "Want ice cream"

Mommy: "no"

Noah: (throws himself on the floor in an attempt to get his way)

Mommy: Not having it!

Chapter 23

Dear Noah,

Today you are 23 months old and I have no idea where the time has gone.  You amaze me more and more each day and I see you becoming alittle man right before my very eyes.  This month you have really started playing by yourself and can even sit in your room for what seems like hours playing with your cars and legos. You definitely love everything boy realted...especially your cars.  I love hearing you say "Mommy, come play cars"  It melts my heart the way you can articulate what you want, and sound so damn cute dong it too......even when I tickle you and you shout "no, Mommy, no."  This month you have also discovered your favorite cartoon character Caillou, and lucky for you and Mommy, we have it on demand so you can watch it over and over till your heart is content.  I am hoping I can use Caillou to help us rid you of the binky for good.  Because, even though you don't it yet my son, next month when you turn 2, Daddy and I are going to take it away for good.  I love seeing you come out of your shell and being alittle more adventurous too, and even though running across the couch and giving me a heart attack at the thought that you might fall and crack your head open, this is all part of growing up....for both of us.  You are going to get lots of cuts and bruises in your lifetime so I better get used to it.  Luckily, we haven't had any major catastrophes just yet.

You are doing wonderful in school and your favorite teacher Ms Betty, constantly brags about how you are her challenge because you pick up on thighs so quick, she has to stay on her toes.  You already know all these songs and can sing them by yourself: ABC, Twinkle Twinkle, Baba Black Sheep, Row Row Row your Boat, Bingo, Old McDonald, 1-2 Buckle my Shoe, and Humpty Dumpty.

I love you forever and a day.

Love,
Mommy

Snapple "Real Fact" #127

A hummingbirds heart beats 1,400 times a minute.

My new camera

As you know, my camera broke about a month ago and I have been losing my mind without it.   Mike finally told me the other day to get another one because I have been hesitating seeing as I didn't want to spend the money right now.  But I listened to him and bough this one......


It should be here in a week and I am soooooo excited!

Snapple "Real Fact" #157

The first TV soap opera debuted in 1946.