Ho-ho-holidays

Okay, so if I was a keen blogger I'd have wished you "Merry Christmas!" a couple of weeks ago. And I'd have wished you "Happy New Year!" a couple of days ago. Sorry about that. I do hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you have a healthy and happy 2012.

Here's a little glimpse into our holidays:

The boy enjoyed decorating the tree.

We went for a ride on the Santa Claus Express!
Andrew looked like this the whole time,
but he cried when it was over and said he wanted to go again,
so I guess he enjoyed it...

Andrew went fishing with Santa again this year.
He wasn't so sure about Santa, but the fish were cool.

We went to see the lights at the park on Christmas Eve.

My mom's tree on Christmas morning.
Andrew said "oh my god!" and "Santa left his socks!"

I know, buddy. I know.

This year I went way overboard with gifts for the boy, I guess because he was clearly so much more into it than last year and there was so much I just knew he'd love. But you know, he would have been happy enough to stop after he opened his stocking and Santa gifts. I'll try to remember that for next year when I'm itching to get him just one more thing.

Anyway, his big gift from us was a train set (LOVE it, although I am regretting not splurging for one that came with a table). His big gift from Grandma was a very nice easel, which of course wasn't immediately exciting for him, but I think he will enjoy it with time. He got many, many vehicles, of course. And lots of cozy winter PJs. I made him a hobby horse, but it's really too big and heavy for him to safely play with yet. Oops!

New Year's Eve isn't a big deal in our house. Andrew went to bed at his usual time. I worked on my computer while the hubster played with his new games and eventually dozed on the couch. I closed my laptop at 11:56 p.m., woke Keith, and flipped to the local TV station just in time for the countdown. We exchanged the obligatory kiss and headed for the bedroom... and were asleep within minutes. :p

And so another year is over. Today we took down the tree, and tomorrow I return to work and Andrew returns to daycare. Le sigh.

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potty training, again

Back in August, Andrew was very interested in the potty... for about 10 days. And then, as suddenly as his interest started, it was over, and he wanted nothing to do with the potty.

Five months later, he is now officially 2.5 years old, and I decided it's time to try again. My starting strategy was to let Andrew go bare-bottomed this weekend. Yesterday he did fabulously well. Diaper-free for about seven hours resulting in about five pees and two poops. No accidents. Seemed happy and excited when we cheered for him and told him he's doing a great job.

Today, he was diaper-free for maybe six hours. In the morning he was co-operative, just like yesterday, but after his nap he was angry and upset when I took off his diaper. We still got a few pees but no number twos today, which is highly unusual for my frequent pooper. At one point he commented that "the potty is dangerous." (He also said that "watching football on the TV is dangerous," so I'd like to know what he thinks that word means!) Later, he started crossing his arms and saying "This is all my fault. Hmph." DH asked, "What's your fault, buddy?" and he said, "Potty training. This is all my fault." I reassured him that potty training is a good thing, and he vehemently disagreed. Weirdo.

At that point, I didn't know what to do. Give up and put a diaper on him, or wait it out and see if we can get him over it. I offered bribes in the form of mini M&Ms, which worked to get him to sit and remain seated for a few minutes, but they also caused tantrums and are not my ideal solution.

In the end, he did manage two more good pees after the "this is all my fault" incident and went to bed in high spirits. I'm interested to see what tomorrow brings. I think I'll try putting underwear on him and see how he deals with that.

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big boy bed

Quite suddenly at the beginning of November, we decided (or rather my husband decided) to convent Andrew's crib to a toddler bed (i.e., take the front rails off the crib). I was afraid of what that would mean for his sleep. Even though I knew he was used to napping on a cot at daycare, I worried that he would be so distracted by his new-found freedom at home that he would never sleep again!

Well, he did miss a few naps in the first week, but soon enough he adjusted, as he always does. It takes longer for him to fall asleep these days, but the only major difference is that he insists on keeping his door open while he sleeps.

Another change is that I no longer rock him before bed, but we have developed new rituals. Instead of rocking him while I sing "You Are My Sunshine" and "Powder Blue," I now sit on the floor next to his bed, stroking his hair and nuzzling his head while we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the ABCs together.

Just one more step towards official "big boy" status. Next challenge: potty training!

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What? November?

How can it be November already? I should really just stop promising to post more. The reality is that I'm completely inconsistent and probably couldn't post regularly to save my life! LOL

Lots of exciting things have happened in the life of Andrew these past couple of months. Most importantly, he started a new daycare. Funny story. Just as I was debating whether or not to move him to a new daycare, his old daycare provider announced that she was closing. Okay! Decision made! And it's been great. I thought Andrew was happy at daycare before, but that was nothing compared to how much he loves it now. He's eager to go (still specifying that he wants to go to "new daycare") and immediately says "I don't want to go home!" and "I don't want my mommmy!" when I arrive at the end of the day. Sigh. Anyway, he now goes to daycare three days a week, and I now choose to spend most of that time working in the office instead of procrastinating at home. It's been good.

As for activities, we made it out to two farms this fall, resumed swimming classes, and went trick-or-treating (twice)! Andrew was the most adorable little pirate. We only went to about 10 houses but got quite a lot of candy. Or, as Andrew said, "I got a heavy load!"



There are times when he is soo difficult, but there are also times when he is so sweet that I can't help but go "awww!" Typical toddler, I guess. Worst times of day: getting dressed in the mornings, dinnertime, brushing teeth. WHY oh WHY can he not just open his damn mouth for 30 seconds? (Can you tell I'm frustrated?) And if I try to let him pick his own shirt, he usually wants his PJs and nothing else will do, not even the shirts with vehicles or Lightning McQueen on them. (Oddly enough, he doesn't much care for the Cars shirts, despite his love for the movie and the toys.)

He still loves his dinky cars most of all, and his collection continues to grow. Recently he has been kind of obsessed with Play-Doh as well. He is not really a big fan of finger-painting, but that is a post for another day. For now, I must sleep.

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Decisions

A while back I posted about maybe trying to move towards a new career. Lately, I've been on the side of trying to do more with what I can already do.

So, a couple of weeks ago I applied for two jobs, one full-time and one part-time. I had an interview for the part-time job last week, and I think it went really well. Depending on the offer, if I got one, I could either take the job and drop one of my freelance clients, or I could combine the job and my freelance work to make a full-time schedule.

Just to make things more complicated, the day after I sent in my applications for the above jobs, my main freelance client offered me more work. And then a few days after that, my other freelance client offered me a full-time contract position — mine for the taking (but poorly paid, no vacation or sick days, and mind-numbing work). And then I emailed my former boss to ask him to be a reference for me, and HE offered me some work. I had to laugh.

And now the same company that has the part-time job also has a full-time position open.

What to do, what to do?

The key to the decision is daycare. Andrew currently goes to a dayhome that we are happy with two days a week. Unfortunately his provider cannot give us any more than that. I would like to increase to three days a week at the very least, but I should also be considering full-time.

I love having so much time with Andrew. I am so fortunate that I've been able to work part-time for so long. Am I ready to give that up? Do we NEED me to work full-time?

Well, we're making ends meet. We rarely have anything left over for savings, and that makes me nervous, but we're okay. We could conceivably continue as we are for a couple more years. But savings would be really good, especially if we hope to have another baby. And on the subject of having another baby, if I worked full-time, I would have a better-paid maternity leave.

I've done a lot of math, and in most scenarios, the difference between my part-time income minus part-time daycare and my potential full-time income minus full-time daycare is only about $300/month. Is that enough to make me give up my extra days with my little boy? If not, how much would be enough?

Also there's the question of whether we can find affordable full-time daycare that we'd be happy with. I toured two places this week, one centre and one dayhome, and am not sure about either one.

This is so hard. Can someone please come figure it out for me?

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August

Looking back through my blog I am reminded how terrible my memory is. I am grateful for this record of Andrew's life so far, which is so much better than a baby book, and I am resolving (again) to post more often.

Highlights of August:

Well, potty training stalled out after about 10 days. One day he was totally into it, and the next day he wanted nothing to do with it. Today was the first time in a couple of weeks that he would even consent to sit on the potty. No deposit. I'm not going to push him yet.

We went to my hometown for a visit with my mom and family last weekend, and poor Andrew was sick on and off all weekend, starting quite suddenly with a huge vomit in his car seat just as we were getting off the highway. So gross! But we still managed to have some good times. These pictures were taken on my grandparents' little patio:


With his great-grandpa


Looking sneaky

He's so funny. The other day he was climbing on the arms of the couch and he announced, "I'm on top of the world!" Um, where did that come from? When he does something fun, like going down a slide, he says "Fifty times!" and runs off to do it again.

Today I dumped a big bag of pom-poms into a bowl and gave him a spoon and tongs, and he played with them intently for more than an hour. Wish I'd thought of it sooner!

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Pee-pee in the potty!

Lots of people have been telling me it's time to potty train, and I see that many of my son's peers are starting to potty train or are already well on their way, but I've been feeling hesitant. Scared, almost! I decided to talk about it a lot but ultimately to let Andrew take the lead (for now). This past week he asked to sit on the potty almost every day — no pressure from mom. And he sat, and he sat, and he sat. I figured it was a stalling tactic at naptime and bedtime. We read books and sang, but no deposits were made.

But tonight we have pee-pee in the potty! While watching the free Huggies Potty Dance DVD, no less. He kept saying he wants to "watch potty training." I'm not sure what exactly he thinks he wants to watch, because none of the little clips I put on from the DVD seemed to be what he was looking for. Anyway, we whooped it up and I called my mom and had him leave a silly message on her answering machine, and he told me that he likes potty training. But at different points in this evening he said that he doesn't want to wear diapers and that he wants to wear diapers. I think he's conflicted. Or maybe just confused.

As am I, actually. I'm thrilled and looking forward to being diaper free, but at the same time the Huggies "I'm a big kid now" jingle kept making me teary. My baby's growing up. *sniff*

As I put him to bed I told him that we'll try again first thing in the morning, and then we'll go shopping to buy pull-ups and big boy underwear and potty treats. Oh yes. Exciting times.

Is it bad that I really want to include a picture? How about if I blur the groin area, even though nothing's actually showing? Okay, okay, I won't go there. I'm sure it wouldn't be nearly as cute/funny to anyone else anyway. LOL

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