Library

Renewing my library card seriously was the best thing I’ve done in a long time. Vince and I went a few weeks ago (remember the super-poo incident?), but didn’t get a chance to actually take out any books until last Monday.

Vince had so much fun looking at books and movies. We picked up a ‘Mouse’ movie and a ‘Dinosaur’ movie. I chose a few books (that Vince has since decided that he hates and throws a fit when I try to read them to him). Such a picky child. Not at all like his mother.

And surprisingly, I managed to get 2 books for myself. Vince and I did a march through the stacks. And actual march. Holding hands and high-stepping. It was the only way I was able to look at adult books. Randomly I ran across 2 I wanted to read. Hallelujah!

This is what I have been reading. Do you care? Of course you do! I read everything. How I find time to fit it in with a two year old? No idea, but damn it, I always will.

1) The whole entire Hunger Game series by Suzanne Collins. This is addicting at its best. Extremely hard to put down. Edward actually bribed the librarian at his school into getting the 3rd installment and I had to read it extra fast. Which was what I was doing anyways. It was hard to ignore the whip that he was cracking over my shoulders while he chanted ‘read read read’, but I did finish it in one day…

2) The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil. My mother-in-law lent this to me, not a library find, but I did run across the sequel to it while Vince and I were marching (Needles and Pearls). British novels about knitting! I mean honestly, she might as well have just emailed me and asked me what I want her to write about. Deliciously engaging and will completely make you want to knit.

3) An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. Can you say guilty pleasure? Time traveling, hot Scottish lords and, well, so many unbelievable things happening at once that you routinely think “what on earth?” while you keep reading. And then pick up the next book. And the one after that. Haven’t read it yet. It’s waiting for me.

4) Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner. I adore this woman’s writing style. It’s extremely refreshing, very heartfelt, witty and charming. *Love* This one is also waiting for me, it might be my latest ‘read in V room while he falls asleep’ book.

Vince is not reading books by Doreen Cronin. They are currently not being read in his room and have been not read for about 2 weeks now. I imagine they will continue to not be read this week and then I’ll return them to get some more books he will also not read. Perhaps ones that he’ll scream things like “Vincent no like. No like this one!!!!!!!” at and throw on the floor.

Oh the trials and tribulations of a reading family…

xoxo a.m.

Reading too much

Well am I writing tonight or not?

Not sure.

All i have to say is Stieg Larsson. I have been reading way too much lately. Wait.

What?

Reading too much?

On second thought… Been reading not enough. Grammer much?

Um. No.

‘Edward’

Isn’t it interesting how things suddenly seem to change in a period of, say, 24 hours? And of course I am talking about children. As that is all I talk about because, well, that’s pretty much all there is going on.

There was forewarning, but we didn’t recognize the signs…

Thursday night, V called Daddy by his first name.

“Dad. Daddy. Daaaddddddyyy. DAD! Edward!”

*He wishes his real name to not be used, so I am using his middle. And that choice has absolutely nothing to do with having just watched Eclipse this afternoon.

Well, whatever we are calling him, it certainly got our attention. And then I laughed my face off. Last night at our family chili dinner, V did it again much to the delight of his Grandparents and Auntie.

And this morning, just after I left to hit up the movies with my girlfriend, M (or Edward) called and told me that V was running around the house looking for me, shouting “Mummy! Mum!!! MUMMY! Jaime!!!!!”.

Still, I find it quite funny. And probably will until he  starts using it as his primary name for me. My game plan is to (try to) not react to it at all. Wish me luck with that.

And moving on?

Moving on to V learning how to climb up his changing table.

‘Edward’ told me all about it Friday morning when he woke up on V’s floor (you know, since we are having night-time issues). He was still 3/4 asleep and V cleverly chose that moment to climb up his changing table. It looks like a 2 level book shelf and I guess that is helpful. Make it kind of like ‘steps’.

I laughed it off a bit when ‘Edward’ told me about the incident. Until this evening when he did it about twelve times. Right in the middle of bedtime.

Now this may sound like there is no control in our house. Really there is. This just happened to be a bad 2 minutes.

So while I moved the changed table out into the hall, rearranged the whole room and contemplated Ikea tomorrow morning, Vince read some books. Edward came upstairs and finished off the evening routine.

I lugged the table downstairs to the garage. And as I dragged it out through the courtyard I really had a good look at it. A proper good look. I think the last time I really noticed it as a piece of furniture was when I bought it. And I was hugely pregnant then. And then after? I ignored it. It is, after all, a receptacle for poo, diapers, powder and bums.

But as I was pushing it in to place in the garage, I looked at it properly.

Was the high rail supposed to be facing outward into the room? Or was the low rail. Because there is one of each. And we have always had the lower rail facing the room, with the high rail against the wall. But as I looked at it again and squinted and thought…

Shoot. Have I been changing my son incorrectly for 2 years? Has he been in non-stop danger of falling off the table? And then I laughed.

Not like it matters now, since we will be changing him on the floor, while we push the ‘big boy pants’ and the ‘stinky icky poo’ and then push the potty like an m-f’er.

There is now no place at all to keep V’s many many books. They are piled up all over his bedroom floor. Hence Ikea tomorrow.

But on an up note, his room seems bigger. And the cosy chair we have in his room is now positioned nearer a window which equals better light for Jaime and Edward to read by as V falls asleep.

Doesn’t that kind of sound like I am married to a vampire?

xoxo a.m.

Beebee

Day by day, Little Man’s vocab is on the rise and it is truly an interesting thing to hear and help grow.

We are a big book family. I have these memories of going to the Library with my Mum when I was little  and taking out heaps and heaps of books. And then losing them around the house. And then swearing that I returned them. And then (when I was little) finding them at the bottom of the pile of papers for the fireplace (whew! Close call!).

And more embarrassing memories of being older, having Mum raid my room and taking actual laundry baskets full of books back to our local branch.

Oh god. How embarrassing that was. I might have cried all the way there in the car, ignoring the baskets in the back seat.

M used to read voraciously in bed. Whenever he didn’t know a word, he would shout it down the hall to his parents like so…

“Mom!!!!!”

(faintly) “What?”

“What’s a jockstrap??”

Loud laughter, some snorting and possible tears and no answer.

“Mom?! What’s so funny!! I don’t get it!!”

See? We are big nerds.

Anyways, I repeat words as often as possible, hoping that they will take.  Maybe 40 % of the time he repeats what I say and those little words are the sweetest things I have ever heard.

2 nights ago I coaxed him into saying ‘Night Night!” Although it sounded more like “Naa Naat!”

Dogs say either “Ffffffffft” or “Whoooooooo”.

Cats have just started saying “Meemeemmeeeee”

A baby bird says “Beebeebee”.

Lions say “AHHHHHHHHHRR!!”

And Chewie the chihuahua is now called “Zheeeeeweeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”. He responds. That’s all that matters.

Books are his favorite things to play with right now and I think that is amazing. Awesome. Wonderful.

Each of these little words took a lot of careful and gentle repeating from Mummy.

Our big breakthrough was Saturday. While shopping at Target and walking throught the TV department, V was totally smitten with a cat he saw in a commercial. He pointed and asked, repeatedly, “Issat?! Issat!!!”.

“It’s a cat, honey. A cat says “MeowMeow”. And so we walked and I meowed and we did this all through the store. Mostly absent-mindedly on my part. Although these days, I absent-mindedly make a lot of very random noises while I am shopping with the Little Man.

“Meeemmeemeeemeemeee”, says the cat.

xoxo a.m.

Change(ing)

I did not look like this (and neither did V) as we wrestled..... tres misleading...

Oh tonight you are in for a treat! It’s a double feature!

Part one to commence momentarily and part two to follow later…

The scene opens at Barnes and Noble with wee V scooting all over the children’s book section like some kind of speed racer and M and I frantically trying to keep him from destroying the room like he does his bedroom. One corner of the section had a raised platform, which I am assuming is for story time. V found it incredibly amusing to climb up the steps and then climb down them face-first.

In the middle of all of this action, there was a pause for some serious grunting. You know what that entails…. and if M and I had any doubts, those were quickly chased away on his next lap passed us.

Foul ball in play!

I grabbed the diaper bag and Little Man and headed off to the washroom, hoping that they had a baby changing station.

And oh thank god they did. One of those Koala ones which, I think, are considered the norm in terms of changing stations. What followed was not. Or not at least any norm that I have encountered. Which might mean that it has now become the norm. Which scared me. And still does.

That strap that you tie your child down with was broken. And I say ‘tie down’ as that is what I wished I could do.

Or maybe super glue him to the table. My changing pad and the changing table combined together created the slipperiest surface man has ever known. It was like I had oiled the whole thing (and him) down. I couldn’t keep him on his back. Or in one fixed place. He moved, the pad moved with him and he almost slid off the table about a dozen times and almost landed in the garbage can a few times too.

I. Could. Not. Keep. Him. Still.

And then he started screaming. It was one of those long tiled bathrooms, changing table at the end in the handicapped stall. It echoed.

M swore he didn’t hear a thing outside, but I caught a few looks on my way out. I saw you looking at me. Go ahead! You try it! See if you do a better job than I did!!

Approximately 15 minutes later I emerged sweating like a mother (oh, how this expression makes sense), with angelic-like V in my arms, poop-free and content now that he wasn’t on that awful table. I needed a shower. And a drink. It was 11 am.

Koala changing tables, I curse thee!! Please provide multiple straps so all of us mothers with our practical changing pads that your surface repels can strap our children down so they don’t end up in the garbage can with the dirty diapers (holy run-on sentence).

How I long for the practicality of the Vancouver Airport marble slab changing counter outside of customs, with that deep indentation, your child ain’t going anywhere……

Library

This afternoon, after M left for work I felt bored.

What on earth do you do with a 13 month old in Florida when it is a million degrees outside?! A MILLION. It is too damn hot mid-day to do anything outside without sweating your face off. I also do not want to go to a mall and walk around by myself. V has reached the ‘grabby’ stage, so anything that passes him on a rack, he grabs at and throws to the floor if he gets his hands on it. Like the toothpaste at Walgreens and the bread at Publix. And I still can’t go swimming as I have that fresh tattoo.

My best friend had mentioned to me earlier this week that she took her girls to the library. She was pregnant with me, so V and her little one are the same age. And she has a five year old. Apparently it was a fun-filled scream-a-thon (with the 1 year-old). So today, when I was thinking of things to do, I thought of her. And the Library.

And that was that. Off we went.

I naively thought that I might be able to find the last Twilight novel in stock. Ha!!

Instead, I chased V back and forth between bookcases, small girls that screamed “Baby” when they saw him, small stools (which equal danger) plus rescued many a bookshelf  from denuding. Many a book met the floor in a sudden and abrupt manner this afternoon.

Each book that he tossed to the floor, I added to the pile of ‘things to take home’….. as if he was choosing them himself. Which I am sure he was…

Saturdays big pick was “Bad Baby”. Well, really it was my big pick. The cover was very engaging. And the illustrations, as I flipped through it, were very appealing to, well, my husband. The style was comic-book-aficionado-like. And quite funny too.

Since I liked it (as I imagined M did…. without reading it), I am sure that V will like it too.

Random babypick is a good thing. AND there was limited screaming. Only screaming as I stopped him from crawling all over the library, chasing after those naughty girls that kept calling out to him from all areas of the library…

“Hey Baby! Baby! Baaaaaaaaaybeeeeeeeeeee! Baybeeeeee!!!!! Hey Baaaaaybeeee!! Baybe!”

At least 4 little girls, just about 3 years old, chased him all over the library with me trailing in quick succession to rescue him from the whole thing.

“Hey…. is that your baby?!”

“Yes, that is my baby”.

“Does your baby like girls?”

“Ummm”

“Your baby likes that girl.”

“What???”

“Does your baby like babies??”

“Yes”

“That girl likes your baby…..”

Right. I will try not to do that…… Great. Just a peek at things to come. Damn M and his sexy EyeTalian features. Plus a huge dollop of Canadian wholesomeness…..

Womanhood, you are so screwed in about 15 years….

Toys

As I look over at my exhausted Chihuahua as he sleeps in his cat-bed, I notice a plastic cow in front of his little bed. My house has suddenly become over-run with toys and I am not sure how this happened.

And when did our dog get so tired? Perhaps when V started following him around waving his dog toys in front of his little dog face? Maybe then….

There was a time, I think it was when V didn’t wiggle around as much. But, regardless, there was a time when we had about 4 toys. And they didn’t make any noise. Then my bf gifted us with a few extra things from her house, which we thought was great!After all, we thought, we have NO toys. We NEED toys.

And then a little while later, Target opened a Super-Target about 1 block from my office. Once or twice a week I would head over there with the pretense of buying ‘groceries’, that really means formula, diapers, clearance items and little toys. I think I ‘little toy’-ed us to death.

Oh, and then it was Christmas, and then it was Easter, and then some family visited. And then V turned one. And then I went to Ross every week for 4 months and bought him books (as he didn’t have any books). Now he has a lot of books. And pj’s.

And this last week, when V unveiled his new talent of A) removing all items from any shelf within reach (oh how great that I decided to put  half of his books on a shelf in our living room!) and 2) removing any toys one by one from any storage container that they are placed in and C) screaming when you return them to said storage location….. that is when I decided that we have too many toys. And things. And need a separate room for all of these things.

And so we are buying a house.

Not that we have found a house to buy, but we are looking seriously and buying seriously too…. (we do everything very seriously. We are frighteningly serious people. And also frighteningly sarcastic as well) before the end of the year. And it’s all because of V. And his toys. Not really.

It is because of me. Well, the book situation is anyways…. I can’t resist. I still think books are the best toys ever. For anyone really. I think it is the nicest present to give someone, well, only if you know them fairly well….. and they have time to read. So maybe don’t work full-time and have 2 kids under 5…..

So little toys are everywhere over here. Plastic cows, Elmo books, wagons, numerous plastic hammers (w/sound effects), over-sized cars, many things with sound effects etc etc etc….

We are on our way to drowning over here…… Help!

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