Broken Child

My child is broken. Not for the first time, he awoke tonight after half an hour of sleep (or at least got up half an hour after being put down) and started screaming bloody murder. I don't know what to do about him! He has always been such a good sleeper. We had one day last week where he didn't nap. At all. All day. I nearly walked away and didn't come back. Why is he suddenly fighting it so much? I've tried rocking him to sleep but he pops up as soon as I put him down. I've tried letting him sleep with me in our bed. I've tried sitting with him in his room while he falls asleep. No luck. Grrr!
On the other hand, he did stay perfectly silent and pretty well-behaved this afternoon watching a movie while I took a nap. At one point I heard him whisper, "Shh! Duckies!" But I really don't know what the heck he was talking about.
Our new time-out chair has been working pretty well this week. The first day I thought we were screwed because he kept crawling into it and sitting there even when he wasn't in trouble. But it seems like that got old and he doesn't like it so much anymore. And he will now go over and sit there himself when we tell him to instead of us having to put him in it. Just today I told him if he didn't stop doing something, he would have to sit in time-out. He didn't wait, he just walked right over and sat down in the chair! Hopefully this will help curb the behavior problems we've been having. I'll keep you posted on our lastest exploits! For now, I better eat some dinner in case I don't get a chance to do anything else tonight because I'm busy begging Quinn to sleep. Love, Us.

Now We're Even

Earlier today, I went to get Quinn up from his nap. For a few more weeks at least, he's staying in his crib. Sometimes he is in a bad mood when he wakes up from a nap and refuses to let me get him out right away. This happened today, and as I usually do, I stepped out for a minute to give him time to miss me. I just went outside his door to the linen closet to grab a fresh crib sheet. (I just bathed him on Thursday, but boy does he stink!) He immediately started crying when I went out of his sight-line, so I popped my head back in and said, "It's okay, Mama's right here." Well, I guess he didn't expect me to be so close by because it startled him badly. He jumped and cried even harder, and he was more than ready to have me pick him up at that point. Of course, I apologized. I really didn't mean to scare him.

After a bath (did I mention stinky boy?), he was watching "Wheel of Fortune" downstairs when I went upstairs to get something. I didn't think he'd even realize I was gone, but he came running around the corner just as I hit the bottom landing. I jumped so far and said something I probably wouldn't want him to repeat at church tomorrow. I guess it's only fair!
Love, Us.

Apologies, Groveling, and Minutiae

I apologize that is has been so long since I've posted, but if you'll take a look at the top of the page, you'll see that I have been very busy nursing my Karen Kingsbury obsession. Finally I have finished the Baxter Family Drama, and what a drama it was! I did love it though, so I'm not complaining. But I realize that you, dear readers, were the ones who suffered. You poor things. Can you ever forgive me? You've probably had to pacify your funny Quinn story needs with silly YouTube videos of cats. Sorry. But now back to your regularly scheduled programming. On the subject of readers, I have now crossed the popularity threshold into two followers!! Only one of which is my sister! Yay! Thank you, 2nd follower. You've made my week. Although I have to say, I'm so glad I'm not as popular as MckMama. Give me 600 comments a day, and I promise you I will NOT read them all! Unless they each contain a pledge of $2 to allow me to forgo that silly thing I call a job.

Anyway, since I'm not at risk for massive worldwide popularity anytime soon, let us commence with the tales of my darling boy. He is quickly becoming the two-year-old I hoped he'd never be. He says "no" all the time, throws his food and drink at least one meal a day, steals crackers whenever Jalal leaves them in his reach, refuses to give me a hug and kiss at least twice a day, and has now begun jumping off the arm of the couch and climbing up the back of the couch. It is only a matter of time before he cracks his stinkin' head open. On the bright side, how do I complain about a sweet angel who loves to cuddle (when he's not trying in vain to have a BM), read books with me, play with my hair, and ask for broccoli for breakfast EVERY MORNING! He also holds hands with his friend Sarah and puts the books at the library and at church away even when he isn't asked to help. Putting away his toys at home is an entirely different story. I desperately need to vacuum, but just moving all his toys and books is so daunting!

Part of the excuse for not posting earlier this week, and failing to maintain Silly Stories Sunday and Not Me! Monday, was that Jalal had three days off in a row, thanks to a holiday for the 4th of July (not on the 4th of July, of course, since once a year on our country's patriotic holiday, Jalal is forced to entertain hundreds of beautiful young women vying for our state's highest honor [???], Miss South Carolina.) I actually think it's kind of cool that he personally knew the winner this year, the younger sister of one of his former employees. Crazy. So during the first part of the week, we went on a massive hunt for a suitable and available birthday party site. Turns out we waited just a little too long, so we didn't get to reserve our first choice, and many places were just too big and too expensive. We finally found a great park on the north side of town with a small pavilion we could rent. There is a toddler playground that is pretty nice and then a big kids playground that makes me wish I were 12 years old. It is freakin' awesome! If we still live here in a few years, we are going there to play all the time! So now that that is settled, we sent out Evites (to tech-savvy folk) and paper invites (to Nani and Grammy and so on). Now we'll see who can come! If it ends up being just Maureen and Sarah and us, so be it! Well, Quinn is awake and singing "Elmo's World" in his crib, so I had better go get him and fix him some lunch. Maybe he'll eat something besides broccoli. Love, Us.

P.S. He's also chanting "soccer ball, soccer ball, soccer ball" and saying "thank-you welcome bye!" What a trip!