Bad Bad Parent

I know as parents we all tend to say things that maybe are a little bit scary on purpose to get the kid to do something without quite so many questions.

I knew a mom that was on child number two and had the teeth brushing routine down by age one. Yup, her kids brushed their teeth and LOVED it by age one. It seems I was not so adamant about it and fell into the category of well by age two we should begin to introduce brushing our teeth. This was not done lazily, I did some research and most dentists didn't even want to see the kid until age two. I know, I know, some say go as soon as there are teeth but hey, at that point H was more than happy to bite anything that came his way and I wouldn't have wanted to be the dentist in that transaction.

Anyway, I did take H to the dentist at about 2 1/2. He did ok. We talked about it before hand so he wasn't too scared. He sat in my lap. He stared at the pretty blond young dentist and only slightly opened his mouth. Good news was, gaps between teeth - good things. Okay, says pretty blond young dentist bring him back at age three and I'll show him how to brush. So, thought we had better step up the tooth brushing routine a bit more and create a habit.

We have been working on that diligently and I think I finally have it down into my morning and nighttime routine. Of course, brushing one's teeth means that one might stay up a little longer so there's not much push back except on really tired nights when everything is a battle.

On one such night when delay after delay occurred, I finally told H, who was sitting on the floor in a time out having a fit and not wanting to brush his teeth "We are just going to bed." So, as somewhat expected being a really really tired three year old, he began to cry. Not just cry tired whimper cry but almost hysterically cry.

"H, okay you are really tired. It's time for bed."
"No (sniffle cry harder real tears begin streaming down his face.)"
"H, that's enough please get up and let's get to bed."
"No (same as above.)
"H, what is wrong? Why are you crying?"
"I want to brush my teeth (see above actions)."
"No, it's very late and you are so tired, we are just going to bed."
"No! I want to brush my teeth (see above.)"
"No, we are done. Please get up and go to bed."
"No (wailing by this point) MY TEETH WILL FALL OUT!"

Bad bad parent tries not to visibly laugh and coughs instead.

I may have given him the impression that we need to brush our teeth so that they will not hurt and fall out.....Well, what do you tell your kid when he/she asks why we need to brush our teeth????

It's Time

We've been busy busy with the house, work, school, a 3.5 year old since we moved here. The other night I finally found time to pay attention to some things that just aren't needed any more. We've made changes to H's room over the last year, the most recent addition is a shelf and rod that he can reach so he can get his own school clothes (at his request.)

I began working on cleaning up his closet and figured I needed to get the remaining diapers, pullups, and swim diapers out of his closet (and my car) as well. We never seemed to end up going to the next phase exactly at the end of one box and so have a few left over of each.

I was also able to begin pulling his clothes out that he had outgrown. While doing so, I realized I could put away the baby monitor (still in a drawer) and some other "baby" things. Granted I need to consolidate everything else like all the cupboard, drawer, and electrical socket safety latches but that's for another day. The porta potty trainer makes a great hot wheels car garage when turned upside down maybe that will stay out for a while....

Since we got H at ten months we missed early baby times. I'm ok with that but I feel that in all fairness maybe "babyhood" should last longer - say a couple of years before you move on so quickly to little boyhood. How about 3 years baby, three years toddler, three years little boy, and then maybe it could ratchet down from there. Whenever we got a routine down and I finally was able to function with it, he would change and out grow a stage and into a new one affecting naps, food, dressing, travel. I like not having to travel with quite so much stuff but still, couldn't I just have had a little more baby time with to really make it all indelible on my brain and in my memory? I feel like I didn't do enough to remember it all....

I know I will never be fully prepared for him to be a man so soon but as he said to me the other day - "Mommy, I'm getting so big but I'm your baby?" "Yes, H you will always be my baby."

Inevitable

I have just gotten back to the blogging world with a return to our "normalcy" of part time single parenting. I know that sounds odd but that's our normal. The first night I finished a large book and read for five hours. The second night I caught up on some shows on Hulu. Tonight, I'll try a few posts. I have a lot of material just not a lot of time.

I originally wrote this while sitting in a class room for 6 1/2 hours back in early December. Much has changed since then but I wanted to keep a timeline of my thoughts.

There comes a point in every parent's life when a child changes stages. I cannot honestly identify one point in time when I recognized H was no longer a baby and became a toddler instead. He began to do more, understand more, communicate more, and look a little less "babyish." The past fifteen months have seen an entire universe of changes. He hopes, jumps, runs, talks up a storm (except at his school's fall program where he stood like a statue for twenty minutes hands and arms around his face - my heart went out to him.) He does not like to "perform" but he likes to show Mommy what he can do.

"Mommy, Mommy! Look at this! (as he tried to do a jump he SAW at his gym class but does no even try to do at the class itself. He has participated very little but can come home and out of the blue will execute something exactly as he saw it done at class. He so rarely misses things.

"Mommy, why did Daddy say stupid?"
"He was frustrated by the DVD player, honey."
"But why did he say stupid?"
"We say things sometimes we shouldn't when we get frustrated.:
"Oh."

"Mommy, (insert question here from some past time period as I have to rack my brain to figure out what he is talking about) that happen yes'day?"

Anyway, I can absolutely identify when H was a toddler no more.

Maybe I already suspected it but the absolute knowledge came one day when I picked him up for bed. He suddenly seemed so LONG! I swear he grew 3 inches overnight. He no longer fit all curled up in my lap when he played "kitty." He just feels like a little boy.

It was the first time I had to fully acknowledge that I felt physically H was growing up. It's all good of course. I love to talk with him, play with him (most of the time), and interact with him on an hour by hour basis. The mind of a three year old is a wondrous and perplexing thing. I'm not sad he's not a baby any more. I am, however, astounded it seems to have happened overnight.