My Henry is five

Where has the time gone, gorge?
I’m so honored to be your Mama.
Love you always.

The Sleepytime Two-Step

One step forward:  FINALLY got little man to stop using me as a human pacifier last week. We are officially one week out of comfort nursing. 

Two steps back:  And now he wants to be cuddled. for. ever. When I stealthily place his snoring body in his crib and ninja-like untangle my arms from him, he can sense that his body has broken the plane of the crib and begins to cry. Or scream. And wakes his brother. Or father. Or both. Criminy!

So it’s with mixed emotions that I introduce the next dance: the Ferber Tango, sure to be full of all the passion and drama you’d expect. Ah, but first to the doctor’s office to make sure it’s not double ear infection (or something similar) induced cuddling. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish this pot of coffee.

“If you want yo…

“If you want your writing to penetrate someone else’s imagination, you can’t expect them to manage the burden of your brood of unnecessary sentiments, tangents and words.”

– Rita J. King
EVP, Science House

…must try to do this…

Big, fat head

Cranky Henry awoke this morning in a mood. Daddy don’t do that, don’t have the pillow like that, don’t have your arm like that, I don’t want to go to school, I’m not going to get dressed, etc.  I tried a lot of the typical things, short of bribery, to get him going out of our bedroom and down stairs where we could begin the usual slow getting-ready ritual. To no avail. Finally, I left him sitting on our bed, arms crossed, angrily looking in any direction but mine.

Off to Frederick’s room I go and while rummaging for clothes, Henry appears and quietly crouches down next to the crib so he can see his sleeping brother. A smile spreads across his face. But thankfully, no assault ensues. Instead, Henry asks tenderly, “Mama, can you get Frederick out?”  Why yes, Mr. Jekyll, I sure can do that for you.

With Frederick on my hip, Henry playfully points to the toddler’s head and says, “you have a big fat head, Frederick!”

Frederick:   Blink, blink.

Henry:   [pointing, smiling]  Big, fat head!!

Concerned that a lack of reaction now would lead to nasty visits to the principal’s office with tearful little girls and angry parents, I say – – admittedly, somewhat ridiculously – – “Honey, your head and Frederick’s head are just the right size for you.” And then I kiss them both on their heads.  That’s good, right?

Frederick:   Blink, blink.

Henry:   [stomping, grunting]   No, **I** have the biggest head!!

Me: [wait, huh?]

By the time I get to the end of the hall, Henry’s on the other side of the baby gate, looking pretty ticked off again. “I’m not going to get dressed and I’m not going to school!”

Me:   Okay, well, we need to go downstairs, so can you open the gate for me?

Henry:   [grumpily]  What’s the password?

Me:   Big, fat head?

Henry’s face softens as he opens the gate.

Henry got to bed on the late side last night, so I’m sure that contributed to his grumpiness. I just get the feeling that I unwittingly make some exchanges worse with him because I start from the wrong place. I mean, I get that the parent / child perspective will always be different, but I’m of the opinion that not everything needs to be “parented” (disciplined / rewarded / coached, etc.) Some things you can just work with and speak your kids’ language to get to know their world and help them get along a little bit better in yours. It’s just going to take a little bit for me to wrap my big, fat head around it.

Brotherly love

Just a little brotherly love this morning.

‘Drivers and Danica, start your engines’: James Franco’s curious Daytona 500 starting command | From the Marbles – Yahoo! Sports

James Franco, you are dumb.

Spittle

Love is letting your stuffy-nosed, sleepy toddler’s spit run from his mouth down his chin, drip onto your shoulder, slide down your arm without even flinching as you slowly rock him because you don’t want to wake him up.

Surly Valentine

Where to start with this year’s Valentine’s Day?

With Wednesday night, when we were up every hour or so with a coughing preschooler or with a crabby toddler?

With Tuesday, when both kids were home, with fever and stomach bug, respectively?

With Monday night, when I got four different Poltergeist-style dousing of stomach contents from the little one? Followed by several blow-outs, most especially the one in the middle of the night?

Or perhaps Friday night, whereupon arriving home from school, the little one emptied the contents of his stomach in his high chair as we ate dinner?

I know it’s just one of those times and I’m extremely grateful for the really quite excellent health we normally enjoy. While it’s not ideal, we have tried to make the best of this unexpected time together. Henry and I made some Valentine’s Day cupcakes today, which we munched on throughout the day (Henry called it a “cupcake party), and after our fancy dinner of Taco Bell (Henry likes their quesadillas and cinnamon twists), which Daddy brought home. Cupcakes and Taco Bell with my three favorite Valentine’s, now that’s not too bad.

Hope you’re having a good one, too!

Caterpillar room

School was pretty insistent that we take Frederick to the doctor. They didn’t directly say that he wouldn’t be let back in tomorrow, but that seemed to be the subtext. To spare you the gory details, he has had some “tummy issues” for the past three days and I can understand – and share in – the concern, but he hasn’t hit on any of their “exclusions” at this point. But besides that, he’s a little touchy, but not really acting that ill. No fever, eating okay, not dehydrated. The teachers make it sound like he’s moping around pretty badly at school, but that hasn’t been the case here at home.

Frederick recently graduated to what’s known as the “Two’s Room.” To give you an idea of what that’s like, I think a reasonable comparison would be between the Butterfly room (the calm sort of room he was in before) to the Caterpillar room (his new room) in Toy Story 3. The movie suggests that the older children play more calmly and quietly with the toys and after the rough-and-tumble playtime with the toddlers, Buzz respectfully requests a transfer to the Butterfly room. Ummmmm, ok.  Seeing Henry in action with his cohorts in his classroom gives me strong doubts about the calm setting in yet, but maybe it’s because I’m looking at the rambunctious boys. Incidentally, Toy Story 3 is an awesome movie and quite enjoyable as the animated genre goes. Moms, have your tissue ready, but it’s a good kind of cry.

I’m not saying that Frederick’s funny tummy is due to the stress of changing rooms, but maybe his frequent crying and strong desire to be held a lot is. At any rate, the doctor found nothing wrong, warned us about the signs of dehydration and sent us on our way. Whereupon arriving home Frederick was pretty content to chill and read some books. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of his new animal sounds and seeing how he freely shares his hugs and kisses.  Below are two vids featuring Mr. Frederick and his animal sounds and kisses and hugs. That is a sweeeeet kissy-face, let me tell you!

Waiting to be seen at the clinic

Three days of tummy issues finally made me take the little guy in.