Trouble with a Capital T

I know I have no room to talk.  I was a terror.  And Robby's generally a good kid, but he's REALLY starting to push the boundaries.  Please remember that he is not yet 2.  (I haven't missed that many posts!)  Since I'm severely behind, though, here's a quick glimpse into our world.  


(see full image)

The cute:

Part of my mother's day present was a picture collage that Chris had made.  I showed it to Robby, and his response was, "Robby cute!"  Yup.  You are.  But, geez.  Big head?

The not so cute:

He escapes out of doors about 50 times a day.  At least he mostly goes out the back 2, which both lead into the fenced yard.  However, see above.  He's been trying to scale the fence.

The scary:

Two.  In two days.

1)  Yesterday, in approximately 30 seconds while I was changing, he climbed the toilet, opened the medicine cabinet, got the liquid ibuprofin, and removed the "childproof" cap.  Fortunately, Chris caught him at that point.

2)  Today, he climbed a couch to get to an open window, popped out the screen, and was climbing through, as he called to me, at which point I turned around and proceeded to freak out.

If my child survives toddler-hood it will be a miracle.  

The Lion at 23 Months

Can you believe we only have one more to go until 2?  He may be getting more opinionated (which I never thought was possible!), but man oh man, I must tell you.  I love 23 months.  Are we having tantrums, meltdowns, and battles?  You betcha.  But I'm also getting to have conversations.  And getting to talk about feelings.  And see him starting to learn CONCEPTS.  It's a pretty darn exciting time, I tell ya.

For the most part, I'm definitely picking my battles.  For instance, you see the shirt in these pictures?  Not a big fan.  But when he saw a metallic, Mater shirt at Wal-Mart?  WHOO boy.  Had to have it.  But, on an upside, the shirt that he MUST wear daily and has a meltdown if it's not clean?  "The Shirt" from Notre Dame this year.  (see the bottom photo)  He calls it "Football Man".  Chris is now on a mission to find a "Football Man" shirt from Penn State. 

He continues to LOVE trains, trucks, and sports.  I was a little surprised that at Target when we went to the birthday aisle and talked about plates, he chose the sports-themed one over Thomas or Cars.  Of course, we don't have a party planned, and I'm not sure if we'll have one, but mommy guilt is setting in on that front.  If the house really did pass inspection, I guess we don't have to worry about keeping it so clean anymore.  (For those not in the know, it sold after 2 days on the market with 3 people bidding on it.  We got full asking price.  We currently have nowhere to new to live.)

Lil man loves playing outside, and is very into doing things on his own.  Whether that's going on slides by him "self", climbing into the car by "self", pouring cereal, turning off lights, whatever the case may be.  All by "self".  

He is getting to be a fairly picky eater.  He steals whatever drink I might have (See the Gatorade above.  Another side, I was in urgent care AGAIN for yet another nasty bought of bronchitis, which fortunately did not turn back into pneumonia.  I'm just off drugs now.  Doing ok.)  He still likes carbs best.  Some fruit is still ok, but beyond that?  It's a bit of a battle.  Not really a fan of veggies or meat.  We have started letting him have Cars Gummy vitamins, which the only struggle with that is only letting him take one (since he has to get it "self").

I'm not sure how big he is.  He wears 3T shirts, and 2T pants, though they can be a little long.  His shoes are a size 7.  I think he's about 32 pounds?  Not sure.  He's not growing nearly as fast as he was, but it's still to fast for my taste!  I don't know WHERE my little boy went.

He pretty much says everything now.  He can tell you some words that start with a given letter (D is for dog), though that's not particularly consistent, and he is NOT saying his alphabet or counting more than, "Two Three, Two Three".  He will tell you he's TURNING two, and, miracle of miracles, I think he knows his colors.  I was convinced he was going to be color blind because of family history, but seemingly not.  He did repeat his first swear word a couple days ago, which was absolutely my fault.  Though it's his father's fault that he'll run up behind me, smack my butt, and yell, "BOOTY!"

 He's starting to develop a sense of humor, though his idea of a good joke is that a cow says "Oink".  He loves to have conversations back and forth, and they're surprisingly revealing at times.  A couple days ago he was telling me how his things had gone bye bye to the "new house" (packed for storage) and it made him sad.  I'm really worried about taking him away from his friends and teachers.  I imagine that's going to be hard.  They've been so wonderful with him, and at least they are continuing on the potty training mission, even if we aren't so good at home.  He's still only going probably 3x a day in a potty.  More frequent dry nights, though. 

Robby, you are mommy's little man.  I may have briefly fallen out of favor after the extended business trip, but you're back to being my perpetual side-kick when I'm at home.  I just wish it was more!  I only get a little over two hours a day with you, and that's rough.  I'm glad you still want to be around me every second of that time.  I'm glad you're such a good boy.  I wish I could take more credit.  I'm so thankful your daddy has been able to step up so well, though it hurts to not be the one there with you after school.  I hope two will be as wonderful as one, and that you remain my little man.

The Lion at 22 Months

Robby will turn 23 months in a couple days, so I thought I should finally publish 22 months, with or without a lot of words.  I'm sorry.  I think a headless chicken is more together than me at the moment.

Trying to recall what he was like 3 weeks ago is a little challenging!  I had just returned home, and he was using a lot more simple sentences.

He was running and climbing more.

He was getting his last 2 year molars in.

He was sick a lot, and had another couple ear infections.

He finally was going to dad for more things.  (Not surprising as I had abandoned him.)

He was in love with trucks.  Ok, that was nothing new.

He's testing the waters a LOT more.

He attempted to climb out of his crib for the first time.

He understands emotions.  He often talks about "Mommy...bye-bye...train...work...sad."

He MUST choose his clothes, his food, the air we breathe...

He can go up ladders and down slides on his own.

He thinks the word "scoosh" is the funniest thing ever.

He's still inconsistent with the potty, and must sing "Dean" (Happy birthday), read a book, and have me sitting on the floor next to him while going.

He is downright adorable, and I love him and miss spending a lot of time with him.

Easter

Happy Easter!

OK, OK, I know I'm very behind.  So I've at least uploaded everything, I'll make this a quick one, and maybe there is a chance that I'll get some posts out this week.  We had a wonderful time with lots of family visiting (separate post) and my parents have been in town helping out, since Robby's daycare was closed on Good Friday, and we're going crazy prepping the house for sale.  

Robby really was angelic today.  He woke up, found his basket, and ate WAY too much candy.

My mother spent the morning hemming the pants on an Easter outfit she had found for Robby.  I feel like a bit of a failure, as so many things just aren't on my radar right now.  I'm hoping that one of these days I start to feel a bit more accustomed to the routine.

At church, he got very nervous, and cuddled for a good 1/2 of the service before he ever needed books, food, or walks outside.  I count that as a win.

After church, we headed straight to brunch, which was delicious, and he ate his own omelet.  The rest of us over-indulged, as well.

Robby did a surprisingly good job with the Easter bunny, happily getting a piece of chocolate, and giving a high five.  No freak outs.  Of course, we didn't attempt a better picture than this:

 

We got home, Robby actually napped, my husband and father seemed to do a bit better with their respective illnesses, and we got a few crazy chores (like cleaning out the attic) crossed off the list.

Successful day!  See Robby's newest truck from his grandparents below.  He's fairly obsessed and is walking around mumbling "logging truck" pretty much 24/7 at the moment. 

 And one last moment of cutest before I run.  I'll be back!  I promise!

She was CRAZY

Ok, no she wasn't.  Kat was exactly the person I thought she was, which is a very good thing!  It only even took her about 5 minutes to send a text to her husband telling him I wasn't a serial killer, either.  Glad I make a good first impression, but really?  I could've faked it for 5 minutes, right?  (Note: I'm NOT a serial killer.)

I took zero pictures, so that's not going to help you at all, but we went to a delicious wine bar/tapas place that seems a bit like a speak-easy because the door is impossible to find.  We shared 4, would've had more, but had to run to "catch" my train.  Which I missed.  So I bought another ticket for a local train which ended up putting me on with a fairly scary homeless man who kept yelling at all of us that got back to NYC at 11:00 pm.  I then had to catch a subway to get me closer to my hotel, then walk about 6 blocks by myself at night.  The good news is that serial killers generally didn't seem to be roaming the streets yesterday, and I made it home just fine.  Obviously, there is much more to say, but...shock of all shocks, I don't have time.  I just wanted to reassure everyone I was alive and well.   

Send Out the Search Team

Just in case something happens, I thought I'd put out an all points bulletin.  Tonight I'm meeting up with the one and only Kat from Living Like the Kings.  You'd think we'd have met previously, since we've stalked each other for years, but...nope.  Did you know she knew I was pregnant 10 minutes after I told my husband?  Yup.  First non-husband person.  And now I get to find out if she's really a serial killer.  So, y'know, just saying.  If you don't hear from me for weeks...wait, no, that'd be normal. 

Books Read in January

Progress toward my 20-book goal was much stronger than I anticipated.  By January 10th, I was through 3.5 books, though I'm not sure I'm counting Hunger Games, as I had read it before.  By the end of the month, I had read 6.  I may have to up the goal!  Here's what I thought of them.

1984 by George Orwell

Rating: ***

I know, I know, it's a classic.  And most people read it in high school, but I never did.  I picked it up off of my parents' bookshelves over Thanksgiving, and started it shortly before Christmas.  So, this may be cheating a little bit.  I FLEW through the first half of the book.  I absolutely loved it.  Recommended it to too many people.  Then, I hit the second half.

The premise is fairly popular at the moment.  It's a distopian society of the "future" (it was written in 1949) where people's lives are controlled to an unbelievable extent.  In fact, the term "Big Brother" was originated in the book.  The premise, character development, and initial pace drew me in.  However, the second half becomes very philosophical and preachy.  Those last 100 pages or so absolutely dragged.  If you can let yourself read 1/2 a book, do so.  I'm not one of those people.  It ends exactly the way you expect it to by the time the lecturing starts.  Do yourself a favor and stop then.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Rating:*****

OK, I liked this book way too much, and I never would have picked it up myself.  My husband gave it to me for Christmas.  You know what the best indicator is?  I want to go find an actual biography of Abraham Lincoln to figure out exactly how much of it was true.  It seemingly is incredibly well researched, and then twisted.  This is by the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I may have to now find and read.  This is an entertaining, fast read.  Though, now my grasp on reality will forever be a little off.  

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Rating:**** 

I gave this book 4 stars, but I'm honestly a little torn.  I thought it was heavy handed and sacrilegious.  But, of course, I think it was intended to be exactly that.  In THIS distopian society (you may notice a theme in what I read yet), criminals are punished through "melachroming" or the tinting of their skin according to their particular crime.  As this is a modern take on The Scarlet Letter (which, now I need to re-read), the protagonist, Hannah, is guilty of adultery and having an abortion.  Essentially, this is supposedly the near future where the far-right has taken control and implemented stringent religious controls on the population.  The author quite clearly does not share those views.  For the most part, what was intriguing was the character's inner torment, but I thought that the need to eventually quickly trample through every moral premise became tiresome and unnecessary.  Be forewarned that there are graphic scenes in the book.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I actually re-read all three of these.  I like them a lot, but I fly through them.

Which, means my total as of the end of January was 6.  I slowed down after that and am currently in the middle of 3.  (19Q4, The Alchemest [re-reading], and Portrait of a Lady)  The only one I read in February was Catherine the Great.  I think.  Honestly don't remember.  That one was fantastic, though.