Melt my heart...

Little Man has been having a rough time lately.

I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's just that he's three and a half, or maybe it's that with Christmas and the fact that his school has been closed since mid-December, we have "lost" our routine.

Lately, though, there are more days than not that he's just so out of sorts and, well, seemingly miserable.

There have been tantrums, and the testing, testing, TESTING of boundaries.

Unfortunately, I have not handled this new rebellious behavior with the grace and the patience that I would have expected of myself. There have been more time-outs than I would like. Some of these are short-lived, three minutes on the bottom step of the staircase, and some longer, of the "Go to your room" variety. I have thrown a few temper tantrums myself. I try so hard not to, but when Little Man is throwing a tantrum and Baby Girl is crying or getting into something, and dinner is on the stove, then my inner tantrum tends to try to break out - and unfortunately it often does.

One of Little Man's issues right now has to do with bedtime (and mealtime, potting, snacking, and tv, but we'll stick to bedtime for this post). He doesn't want to go to sleep in his room, he wants to sleep on the couch or in Mommy and Daddy's room. Well, of course that's not gonna fly, I mean Mommy and Daddy need the kids to go to sleep in their own beds so we can get a few things done around here. These days there is typically a tantrum of the kicking and screaming variety at bedtime. The bedtime that we used to have - stories, songs, lots of cuddles, hugs, kisses, and love - is a rare treat. It's been replaced by the grownups trying to wrangle at 40 lb preschooler into bed and getting him to stay there.

The bedtime routine last night started out just fine. Daddy read books, Little Man drank his "chocky milk," I helped him brush his teeth, we sang songs, said prayers, and gave hugs and kissed goodnight. Then, when The Husband and I started to go downstairs, the tantrum started. It was a doozy. The Husband and I were tired, and we just decided to ignore the tantrum. We said goodnight, closed the baby gate, went downstairs, and just let the tantrum burn itself out.

It was so hard.

Later, when Little Man finally fell asleep, we went to check on him. He was deep asleep, but his breath was still hitching and catching, like he was still upset. It made me want to cry.

The Husband and I talked, "What are we going to do? What's going on, why is he doing this?"

Well, there has been more stress than usual in the house. I'm sure Little Man is picking up on it. It's been bitterly cold outside, it's been a month (or two) since we've played in the backyard, gone to the park, or the playground. I don't like to let the kids play on indoor playgrounds, it seems like there are always kids coughing, sneezing, and wiping snot all over the play equipment.
Whatever the reason for Little Man's behavior, The Husband and I felt bad. I don't know why exactly, I think we just feel like there is something we should be doing for Little Man that we're not.

When we finally crawled into bed ourselves we looked at each other and both said, "do you want to go get him, let him sleep with us?" We decided "no," let's not encourage a bad habit. But by the time I turned out the light, I had to go get him. I just felt it in my gut that Little Man needed to be thrown a bone, and that this was it.

So I went upstairs, picked him up, and carried him downstairs. As we were walking, he woke up just a little bit. The sweetest little smile lit up his face. I said, "Well, hello, sweet smile. Why are you smiling, Little Man?" He looked up at me and said in his sweet, half-asleep voice, "Because you love me."

Talk about a momma's heart melting all over the place.

The Holidays are Certainly Over

It's only January 4th, but oh how I already miss the chocolate peppermint milkshake from Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks' peppermint mocha. My waistline doesn't miss you, but my taste buds certainly do. Already looking forward to next year. Mmmmm....

Another Little Manism

Yesterday my parents, the kids, and I drove to Arkansas to see part of our family for Christmas. We told Little Man a few days in advance that we were going, and, while he wasn't sure what a trip to Arkansas actually entailed, the promise and excitement of an adventure were almost more than he could bear. Well, the trip was a good one, with family, food, and, of course, presents. A lot of fun, but nothing too exciting, nothing too out of the ordinary. Lots of time in the car. When we arrived back home, Little Man ran to his daddy (who had to stay in town to work) and said, "Daddy, we went to Arkansas, and it was fun!" Then a very confused, very concerned, and somewhat sad look came across his face, and he said, "but we didn't see any great big, giant saws."

Little Manisms

This morning Little Man said, "Mooabunga!"

As in "Cowabunga," from the Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles.

I'm guessing that he couldn't exactly remember the phrase (I'm not even sure where he heard it!), but remembered it had something to do with cows, cows say "moo"..... and thus

"Mooabunga."

Life is fun with a preschooler!

Christmas Miracle!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34583825/ns/world_news-americas/

Along with thousands of other people, I've been praying for nearly a year to see this picture. For this 5-year long battle to end on Christmas Eve....prayer is so powerful. God is so good!

Merry Christmas David and Sean!

Christmas Tree

We finally got around to decorating the Christmas tree today! The tree itself has been up, with lights, for about a week, but it's been pretty bare until today.

Little Man had a blast. He pulled every ornament out of our big Christmas Tupperware container and oohed and ahhed over each and every one. He was so excited when I showed him the little craft ornaments he made in his mother's day out class last year. He was also excited when I showed him the ornaments I made way back in grade school.

He kept saying, "WOW! This is A LOT of fun!" He said it so many times I lost count!

He liked to hook 5 or so ball ornaments together and hang them all on one branch, very unique, Little Man, and it is pretty.

He also liked to hang 10 (or 20) ornaments all clustered together and forget about the rest of the tree. So it goes with a three year old. :)

Baby Girl just liked to play with the paper from the ornament box, and occasionally pull the ornaments off the tree. She threw a few. Thank goodness I bought new, unbreakable ornaments this year.

With the tree all decorated and lit up it's really starting to feel like Christmas!

Scrooge Arrives

It's December 11th, and I'm already over Christmas.

It has seriously gotten out of control.

We already don't give gifts to the adults in the extended family, and we draw names for the kids.

Still, it's overwhelming.

There's my husband, two kids, five parents, three grandparents, a great aunt, The Husband's assistants, nieces, nephews, teachers, plus the names we drew. It comes out to 24 people. Some of those people, like my husband, kids, and parents, get multiple gifts from me. Well, not just from me, but from the family I represent. I do all the shopping, anyway.

Crazy.

Scrooge has most definitely entered my body.

I'm so over it, I'm just ready to call everyone and say, "No gifts, please."

Think I could get away with it?

Sigh, I think not.