"You Make My Heart Super Happy"

For those of you who don't get the reference, the title of today's post is from Ni-Hao, Kai-lan," a Nick Jr. show about a little Chinese girl and her animal friends. Quinn has spent the last 30 minutes pointedly NOT finishing his milk or dinner but instead singing "Jesus Loves Me" at the top of his lungs and asking for more "Jesus songs." It made me think about all the things in my life right now that make my heart happy, even when so many things don't. I could complain about my husband having to work six long days a week and not being around much. I could complain about how hard it is to get all of my work done while taking care of two small kids. I could complain about the fact that Quinn has absolutely no interest whatsoever in potty training but insists on showing me his backside every time he goes to the bathroom. But you know what? When Maddie gives me a big silly grin for no reason at all or Quinn pats my hair and tells me he loves me, all of that fades away. The fact is Maddie is a great baby. She sleeps through the night already and is a pretty calm baby whenever we're out in public. Quinn is a great kid, too, despite his temper tantrums. He still takes a nap (about 2 hours) most days of the week. He goes to bed without a fight almost every single night. He usually eats his vegetables before anything else. He says things like "That's the rules!" and loves on his baby sister. Tonight he was "helping" me cut coupons when I came across an ad for Baskin Robbins. He said, "Ooh, cake! I love cake. Mama, you say, 'Me, too'." I laughed so hard! Because, really, I love cake more than probably any other person on earth. Especially ice cream cake. I wish I had some right now. There is some really good ice cream in the freezer, but it's Jalal's and I can't eat it. He would say it was okay, but really I would never hear the end of it. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much a lose-lose situation for me. If ice cream lasts more than a week or so without me eating it, he says, "I can't believe we still have ice cream." Anyway, my point is that my kids make my heart super happy. Anyone who meets them falls in love with them. Well, I'm going to try really hard to get to bed early tonight. I've been up long past midnight every night this week, and catching some show last night on the History Channel about aliens being responsible for inseminating Noah's mother and then wiping out the "inferior" humans with the flood made me realize that it's not worth staying up late! Weird. So, goodnight. Love, Us.

Maddie's 3 Months Old!

Good morning! I woke up today with a few different things: a sore throat, for which I am drinking hot tea and hoping is not a sign of worse things to come; a prayer in my mind for my cousin (well, cousin's wife), Mary, who even at this moment is supposed to be in surgery; a plan to blow through some overdue housework first thing in the morning to catch up while I have no editing work to do; and a reminder to myself that Maddie is 3 months old today. I will have to take some special pictures today. I tried to find a recent one on the camera but after 10 minutes of deleting pictures of knees, fingers, foreheads, the ceiling, etc. (guess who got a hold of the camera?), I gave up. If anyone doesn't read my sister's blog, you should link over to it here and see the pics and video she posted of the kids while she and Wade were here a few weeks ago. Maddie is starting to put on some weight--slowly. She was only 9 lbs., 11 oz. at her 2-month appointment, in the 17th percentile. So we were having a tough time with clothes. She's long enough that she's almost too big for 3-month clothes, but her waist is so tiny that pants and shorts and even diaper covers fall off her. My mom sent us a couple of boxes of hand-me-downs from a friend of hers, and it was a jackpot! Tons of rompers in her size! Cute stuff, too. Rompers are perfect because there are no waistbands and most are shorts, so the length isn't an issue either. That makes it a lot easier to dress her. She is smiling a lot and cooing, but she's so vain. She will look at you like she's a little pissed off until you tell her she's pretty, and then her face lights up in a huge smile. Then you can see her one dimple and she'll start to talk. This morning, she was hanging out in her swing while I was making breakfast. I kept hearing this high-pitched shriek, which I thought was Quinn, but it was actually her. She also kept trying to roll over in her swing, but she just ended up slumped over. Going to have to watch that one! I'll put her at one end of her crib to sleep and in the morning she's at the other end with her feet sticking out of the slats. She's still a great sleeper, usually going for 8 hours at night without a peep! I don't know what we ever did to deserve two adorable children who are great sleepers. On the other hand, Quinn is trying to give up his afternoon nap. Guess who is not ready for that? Uh, me, in case you were wondering. I've had many different kinds of afternoons this week. One day, he took a 2 1/2 hour nap without a fuss. One day, he screamed and cried and pulled my hair and fought his nap so bad that he didn't get any rest at all. One day, he took a "rest" lying on our bed watching "Finding Nemo." That's the day he fell asleep sitting up in a cart at Babies 'R Us. He woke up after 15 minutes screaming and hysterical for a while. That shows me he is not quite ready for that either. I guess we'll keep working on it. We have a big playdate today with some other moms and kids, and I hope I can get him down for a little while so that will go better. Not only is he in a better mood when he naps, but he is safer. He gets really clumsy when he's tired. And he's such a boy that he doesn't need any more bruises and bumps and scrapes.

Speaking of Quinn, I realized that if I don't start logging some of this stuff, I'll forget. He's such a great kid most of the time. He's wicked smart and very funny. Here are some of the funny things he says:
Peaner jeller (peanut butter and jelly, though he's starting to say this correctly, which actually makes me sad, because this is really cute)
Leave Quinn alone! (this is said in anger when he's in a bad mood or being disciplined, when it is really inappropriate to laugh at him. But the first time he said it [yelled it, actually], I had to walk outside so he wouldn't see me laughing my head off.).
Me too. Me three. Me one. Etc. (often he'll say "me too" and then tell me to say "me three" and so on.)
I go to Mickey's House!! (we're discussing a trip to Disney World this year, so this is a favorite, but it comes out of nowhere like when he wakes up from a nap.)
We're having a birthday party tomorrow! (One time, we had a party for Jalal and Uncle Wade. This is now said almost every day. He also tells me "Happy Mother's Day" about every few days. So sweet and not right.)
(Counting) One through twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty! He thinks 13 and 14 sound the same, so he only says 14. We always just thought he was superstitious.)
Watch out! Grandma's coming! (I swear I don't know where he gets this, but sometimes if someone is walking down the stairs, he says this.)
Hi Monica. (This just started. He's calling Maddie "Monica" sometimes, watching me to see my reaction. Monica is a little girl at our church, but she's a year old. Weirdo.)
Aw, so cute! Look at those ears! (He says this about Maddie mostly, but once to Jalal, which was really funny. It's from "The Tale of Despereaux.")
That's all I can think of right now. And Maddie's crying, so I better go. Hope you all have enjoyed this little glimpse into our life. Love, Us.

Frustration

I want to say in advance that I know I'm being irrational here. I just need to vent. I put Quinn down for a nap an hour and a half ago. He refuses to sleep. I have tried everything I can think of. We are supposed to meet some new people at the playground at 3:30 today, but at this rate, I don't see how we can go. He is upstairs screaming right now. I feel like he's doing this to me on purpose. (See first sentence.) I really really need to make some more friends, and I was really excited about today. We had a great morning, a good lunch, and I thought he would go down for his nap just fine--the same way he does EVERY SINGLE DAY!! But no, the one day that I really need to do work (I'm about 40 pages behind on my current job) and get out, and he refuses to cooperate. I tried letting him sleep downstairs on the couch where I was working. I told him we are going out to play as soon as he takes a nap. I tried begging, pleading, threatening, and ignoring him, hoping he would eventually get so tired he'd fall asleep. Nothing. The last time I went upstairs, it was because he was yelling and banging on stuff. The child has dark circles under his eyes, for crying out loud. I crouched down next to him to talk and when I dropped my head in frustration, he reached over and ripped out a chunk of my hair! WTH?!? I am so angry right now that I cannot go back upstairs no matter what or I will say or do something I'll regret. God help me, I need a day (or week) away from that child.

Show Us Your Life

Today I am doing a brief post to link to Kelly's Korner, who is doing a "Show Us Your Life" on baby names.

My darling son, born in August 2007, is named Quinn Jalal. My husband picked out Quinn from a name book (not a baby name book), and we knew it was perfect. Jalal is my husband's first name, so we followed the Lebanese tradition of using the dad's first name for the first-born son's middle name.


Just 2 and a half months ago, my darling girl was born. She is such a little skinny minnie. We had a much harder time picking out names this time, but we ended up with Madigan Ruth. Again, Maddie's first name is from a name book, but her middle name is the middle name of her grandmother, Louella, my mother-in-law, who passed away a year before we found out we were pregnant with her. I think she would be proud of her namesake.


So it seems we have an Irish thing ending in "N" going on for first names and a family thing for middle names. We like names that are unique but still easy to say and spell. We have a name picked out for another boy, should that happen someday, but of course we could change our minds before then. If we don't, it will fit the mold: Gryphon Lang. Lang is for Langston, my maiden name, after my dad, Red, who passed away when Quinn turned two. So there you go. Our kids' names. Love, Us.

The Concept of Time

This afternoon, the clock struck 5:00.
Quinn: It's nine o'clock!
Me: No, it's five o'clock.
Quinn: Oh, it's seven o'clock.
Me: No, it's five o'clock.
Quinn: No, it's seven o'clock.
Me: Okay, it's seven o'clock.
Quinn: No, it's five o'clock.

That's just a day in the life of a mother of a 2-year-old. Oh, and don't buy into all that parenting advice that says to give them two choices to make them feel like they have control. When we give him a choice between, say, two pairs of pajamas or two kinds of fruit, he picks one. Then he changes his mind and picks the other, which I then give to him. At that point, he freaks out and wants both of them. Yeah, giving a little bit of control to a toddler is not necessarily a good thing.

Toddlers are also notoriously inconsistent. Most of my mom friends agree that all two-year-olds ought to be qualified as bipolar. They can turn from hysterically happy to spastically miserable in two seconds flat--for absolutely no reason at all. We took Quinn to the playground today. He was so excited to get out of the car and run up to the playground. He freezes at the blue bridge, which he insists on walking over first and last thing there. He then turns so sad and begs Jalal to pick him up. At the stinking playground!! Who does that? We have to manipulate, threaten, tease, and coddle him to get him to cheer up and play. Weirdo.

Speaking of inconsistent, Quinn has been eating lettuce lately like it's going out of style. I mean, one night I gave him a small bowl of lettuce with dinner, and he asked for seconds--and thirds, and fourths! He's eating salads every day, and he ate almost the whole bowl of lettuce last night as we were having tacos. Today at lunch, I made him a turkey sandwich and put some lettuce on it. He picked off the lettuce and ate the rest. I asked him if he was going to eat his lettuce. "No." "Why not?" I asked. "I don't like lettuce." Oh. Well, I should have figured that out I guess. Tried again with a salad at dinner. He picked out all the pieces of shredded carrot but did not eat the lettuce. Not a fluke. Oh, and another funny story. I made him his turkey sandwich and served him some peas and pasta. While I was making lunch for Jalal, I heard him say, "Mmm, turkey is good." "Oh, have you tried your sandwich?" "Nope!" Okay, then. It's really no wonder that I can't wait for bedtime every day. It takes a lot of energy to be Quinn's mama. Well, I have to go be Maddie's mama now. Love, Us.

Crummy Day

Jalal spent part of the morning dealing with some very frustrating work issues.

We spent most of the afternoon on the phone with insurance companies and doctors' offices.

While Jalal made dinner and I fed Maddie, the doorbell rings. It's two little kids from the neighborhood to tell us that they've broken Quinn's bike. After stealing it from our front porch, they broke the pedal off and threw it into the sewer. Can't find parents; don't know where they live.

A few minutes later, Quinn drops a wine glass on the floor and shatters it. I sweep it up.

While eating dinner, Maddie starts to cry in her swing. I go to give her paci back to her and notice that she has completely overflowed her diaper, all over her clothes and her brand-new swing. I take her, Jalal takes the swing. We clean it up while Quinn finishes dinner and continues to ask, "Mama, what's happening?"

Jalal goes into the kitchen to get a washcloth for the swing straps, the ones that won't come out of the frame, and steps on a piece of glass. I spend the next 10 minutes unsuccessfully digging into his heel trying to find the glass shard.

Um, yeah, we're going to hope tomorrow is a better day. Can't get a whole lot worse. Love, Us.

A Conversation with Quinn

Quinn: Mama, you doing laundry?
Mama: Yes, I'm putting Maddie's clothes away.
Quinn: I help laundry.
Mama: Ok, why don't you go into your room and get me any dirty laundry off the floor.
Quinn: Ok, I do it! [runs into his room and returns with a shirt] Here's laundry!
Mama: Is there any more?
Quinn: Yes, I get another one.
Mama: Ok. [Closes the door behind him, which is child-proofed from the outside.]
Quinn: Mama, you open the door? [I do.] I got another one!
[Repeat sequence three times until all laundry is off his floor.]
Quinn: All done laundry.
[Maddie starts to cry from downstairs. Quinn leaves the room and starts to close the door.]
Mama: Where are you going now?
Quinn: Going downstairs to calm down Baby Maddie.
Mama: Oh, okay. Thanks.
[running down the hall] Quinn: Good job doing laundry, Mama!
Mama: Thanks, Quinn.
Quinn: Bye-bye, Mama!
Mama: Bye-bye, Quinn!
Quinn: See you real soon, Mama!
Mama: See you real soon.