Reading Rainbow

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I wish I was feeling better today because this is Jalal's only day off this week and it would be wonderful to celebrate the holiday. But I started feeling crummy when I woke up yesterday and today is a little bit worse. Jalal didn't even get home until 5 o'clock this morning, so he isn't up yet (as of 10 a.m.). I'm just trying to take advantage and rest while I can. Rest--hah! Like that's possible with two kids under 3. Quinn woke up at the crack of dawn, and even though I'd cracked his door and left the TV downstairs on PBS, he still came in and bugged me, a few times. I guess the channel froze at some point, so he got bored watching a still image of "Arthur." I finally had to get up around 7 something and head downstairs, get everyone's diapers changed, and feed them breakfast. Maddie is fussing in her swing as I speak. However, there was a bright spot to my morning. Dear Quinn and I were about to read his "Finding Nemo" book when I asked him to read instead. I picked a word or two off of each page, and he sounded them out all by himself! I was so proud! Let's see if I can remember the words he read: Dad, off, in, on, but, met, back... That might be all of them. Isn't that awesome? I can't believe how smart he is. Well, I think we're actually going to get out of the house for a bit today. Later. Love, Us.

"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.

Sick and Tired

Oh what a week! Last Saturday was supposed to be my baby shower, but we got nasty sleet and ice the day before and the day of, so it was postponed until today. Earlier this week, Quinn came down with a fever and was miserable for three days. He managed to make me miserable, too. He was either listless and drooling on the couch (about 20% of the time) or screaming and angry (80%), which included lots of "mine!" and "No, Quinn do it!" He did not sleep well, which means of course that Mama and Dada did not sleep well. When he got over that, we all felt better. Then, last night, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. with serious contractions. I didn't want to wake up Jalal until I knew they were for real, so I eventually just came downstairs and tried to relax. After about three hours, they went away, but I couldn't for the life of me fall back to sleep until about 7:30, which means I got a whopping 45 minutes of sleep before the boys came downstairs. Still, I was so looking forward to the baby shower that I wasn't too worried about how tired I was. I managed to get Quinn down for a little over an hour's nap before we went over to Kim's. Everything was so pretty, especially the cake, which was pink and brown and had a baby with a cute little naked bottom on the top. Well, just as we were getting into the second game, Quinn comes out of the playroom and says his head hurt. He said he didn't hit it or bump it, so that was weird. He cuddled on my lap kind of whiny for a while, and then he started crying. Before you know it, he had thrown up all over himself, me, the big upholstered chair we were in, and I'm sure anything else within 5 feet. The poor kid. Everybody was so sweet and helpful, but I just lost it. I guess with all the crazy preggo hormones and hardly any sleep and of course the puke, I got a bit overwhelmed. A couple of women helped clean up Quinn and change his clothes, while Maureen cleaned me up. I insisted that Quinn and I at least move to the tile floor of the kitchen on a wooden chair with a trash can and a towel under us. So we were prepared when he got sick again. Quinn wouldn't go to anyone else, and he was actually downright rude, which bugged me. He's not like that often, but anyone who came near us was met with a nasty "Get out the way." Which means "leave me alone" or "don't touch me." As if him throwing up wasn't embarrassing enough. After making Sarah open up some of the presents for us because I was otherwise occupied, I made the call to just pack up and leave. It was too much to ask Quinn to hang out there when he clearly was miserable. Someone at least had the bright idea to pull out a crib pad from the presents and wrap it around him in the car so he wouldn't make a mess if he got sick again. Ali even followed us home to help me get Quinn into the house. After another round of sickness and a couple hours of sleeping on the couch (both of us), Quinn was feeling good enough to eat a bunch of cheerios and a banana and a half. He was in a great mood until it was time for bed (at 10, since he hadn't woken up until 8:30). Then he pitched a mega-fit until I had to carry him up the stairs, which did a number on my back, let me tell you. Now I'm totally ready for bed myself, and though I desperately need to catch up on my work, I don't really think that staying up past midnight to do it is a good idea. Well, that's enough about my crummy week. Oh, and the baby! We're at 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Talk about the end of the line! We're so close now I can taste it! Wish us luck and I will try to keep y'all up to date on the preggo progress. Love, Us.

M is for Mmmm

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, let me tell you. We spent a couple of days in Charleston, I survived the first two migraines of this pregnancy, I fought valiently against what seemed like a hopeless work deadline, Quinn threw up four times in one afternoon (only one time in the toilet), and he's decided that he refuses to sleep like he's always done. Yeah, that about covers it. His sleep habits are all out of whack, and I'm not sure why. We had been using a doorknob cover on the inside of his door so he couldn't come out until we were ready for him in the mornings, but for naps, he would sleep fine with the door left open a crack. When he got sick last week, I took off the cover so he could come get me if he got sick again. I guess he liked his taste of freedom. He did fine without it the first couple of days. For the past 4 or 5 days, though, he has been getting up and coming downstairs instead of sleeping. So I told him I had to put back on the doorknob cover. Well, that has added a new element to the nap and bedtime mix: screaming. It has been a struggle to balance leaving his door open with the risk of 40 minutes or more of screaming and crying when we close it. ("Take it off!!") I don't think it's nightmares because he never gets to sleep, and once he does, he's fine. He's already got a couple of his molars, but again, he's not cranky or anything until we close his door, so I don't think that's to blame. I think he just doesn't want his doorknob cover and likes to be able to come and go when it pleases him. Last night was horrible. We fought about staying in bed for over an hour, then he got up screaming at just after midnight, finally came to bed with me (oh, fun), then started getting really squirmy when Jalal got home at 4. I went downstairs to sleep, he followed me, I sent him back upstairs, and he bothered Jalal for the next couple hours. Now Jalal is exhausted, and he has to work all night. I finally grabbed a little nap this afternoon, but now I feel hungover. I hope he gets over this before Maddie comes, or that whole sleeping for two hours at a time with a new baby thing is going to be extra complicated by this little problem.

On a positive note, Quinn is still stinking adorable when he's not driving me up the wall (we're at maybe a 30%/70% mix of cute to "I'm about to lock you in the closet"). Today, the drycleaners gave Quinn a lollipop. He was so happy. She even opened it for him. As we drove away, he tasted it and said, "Mmm, tastes like chocolate milk!" (It was a chocolate Tootsie Roll pop.) Just because it's cute, here's the rest of what he said over the next couple of minutes: M says Mmm, mmm, mmm! Chocolate lollipop. Tastes like chocolate milk! D says De-licious!
Hah! Isn't that great? He cracks me up. He also still sounds like a little old lady half the time. "Oh, dear!" and "It's not quite right" are two of his favorites right now. Anyway, I better go now. It's almost dinner time! Pot roast with extra onions. Yummy! Love, Us.

The Mundane and the Sublime

So I was making dinner tonight and remembered this funny story I wanted to write about that happened a day or two before New Year's. Jalal and I went grocery shopping at Bloom. (I can't decide if I was happy about how nicely Quinn behaved or if I was pissed off because he is NEVER that good when I take him grocery shopping. But I digress.) Anyway, we were tooling through the produce section when this older black women walked right around us to a younger black woman a few feet away. She proceeded to ask this stranger if she thought the collard greens the older woman has chosen looked good or not. The younger woman admitted that she had no idea, and Jalal just started laughing to himself. Now I suppose the older woman assumed that we don't eat a lot of collards (true), but we just found it ironic that she had a choice between another black person (who was clearly ignorant about collards) and a professionally trained chef and restaurant manager who could have easily told her if she had chosen the best greens, as well as probably how to prepare them.

The other morning I had a fairly dramatic revelation about the collision between the mundane and the sublime. Now, when I say fairly dramatic, that might be a bit of an overstatement. I mean, my sense of judgment may have been a bit skewed considering it was 2 a.m. I was awake at that time for God knows what reason, but I had terrible heartburn. So I had to go find some extra pillows in the linen closet and prop myself up to a sitting position. And then I got stuck eating all the green (lime) Tums because I had been avoiding them for so long that they were about all that was left in the bottle and I didn't want to turn on the light to find a better flavor. So here I am, wondering why on earth I can't seem to get any sleep just when I need it the most, and Maddie starts squirming and kicking. My first reaction was to wish she would calm down so I could get back to sleep sometime soon. But then I started thinking about how amazing it was that this actual person was inside me, wiggling around and kicking and hiccuping and only 5 pounds! She's completely alive and completely dependent on me for everything. I can't wait to find out what she's like on the outside, but if my experience with Quinn is any indication, she's already showing her personality in there. For instance, despite the pink satin slippers she already owns that are just 2 inches long, she seems to be more Ralph Macchio than Anna Pavlova. There's only 7 weeks left until her due date, and though we are not ready for her yet, I'm so excited to meet her face to face. No matter how little sleep I get because of her, that, my friends, is truly sublime. Love, Us.

Could I Possibly Be Doing Something Right?

It seems impossible, but our gradual weaning of parental presence at bedtime might have been successful. For three nights now, Quinn has not cried or gotten up after we closed the door at night. This is huge! It's taken us months to get to this point. Last night was not really a success story, however. Quinn did not nap yesterday, unless you count falling asleep in the car on the way to lunch. The decision to wake him up might have been a mistake. He started acting up pretty bad later in the evening, but we had agreed to go to a small group meeting with some people from our church at seven. So I finally decided to pop a couple Tylenol, force him into his socks and shoes, and throw him in the car with his blanket. After 20 minutes of "NO," he finally settled down and played with the other kids there. However, it was a pretty late night, and we didn't get out of there until almost 10 p.m. Of course, despite his rambunctious behavior at the Beattys' house, he passed out almost as soon as we got in the car.

It was no problem to get him changed and into bed without waking him. After a trip back downstairs to collect his "arsenal" of bed buddies, I thought the night was over. I was so wrong. An hour and a half later, Quinn wakes up screaming. I expected to find him banging on the door, or at least sitting up in bed. Instead, he was still lying down under the covers, with his eyes closed. Oh, and screaming. Did I mention that? Though I hadn't seen one before, I just knew this was a night terror. I've read about them because whenever I mention that he has been waking up crying at night, they say that it might be night terrors. Let me just say that you can wonder if you've experienced a night terror until you do, and then you know for a fact that that's what it is. I had read not to wake up a child having a night terror, so I just sat next to him, shushed him, and tried to comfort him quietly. He was tossing and turning, crying, and screaming "No" over and over. Break my heart! I managed to hold it together until he started screaming "Mama! Mama!" I started crying and talking to him, telling him I was there, everything was okay. Finally I ran downstairs and searched "night terrors" on the Internet. It said absolutely not to wake them, to not even talk to them or touch them. Just stay with them and make sure they don't hurt themselves. The article I read said they can take up to a half an hour to end, and Quinn's was pretty close to that. Finally, he settled down to a whimper and then fell back into a deep sleep. I was heart-broken listening to that and not being able to help. Evidently they are more common when kids are sleep-deprived, so I'm guessing the lack of nap combined with staying up late contributed. Hopefully that won't happen again. I don't know if I can take it! Well, it's late, and you've heard our drama for the past day or so. Let me just leave you with the news that Maddie is kicking up a storm and making me so happy every time I feel her. Can't wait to see her in next week's ultrasound. Love, Us.

Dum dah dum dum...dum dah dum dum dum!!

Hope you got the tune. The excitement is at record levels around the Halaby household, as tomorrow is the day we find out if the baby is a boy or a girl! That is assuming the baby cooperates with the sonographer. I had a dream the other night that I was pregnant with a boy, but I'm not placing a ton of faith in that because I was also sharing a hospital bed (not room, bed) with someone I went to high school with and who was injured during some military maneuver after ice skating. So you see, it didn't make a ton of sense all around. Anyway, after some debate about letting Quinn come with us to see the pictures of the baby, we decided to share him with Maureen and Sarah for the morning because it was going to take a while at the doctor. It's a good thing we did that because we got a recorded message the other night that no children under 18 were allowed in the doctor's office now since the concerns are so high about H1N1. I guess it's supposed to be much worse for pregnant women, and they still don't have a vaccine available. I'm planning to get my seasonal flu shot tomorrow at the doctor, so that's one less worry. I panicked a little this morning when I woke up with a sore threat and stuffy nose and feeling feverish. Even though I have felt feverish all day, the thermometer tells me I have no fever. Now, if thermometers expire after say, 11 years or so, someone should tell me that. If 96.8 really means 101.8, I should know that, dontcha think? So I didn't make it to Bible study this morning, mostly because of the throbbing head. Quinn and I have pretty much taken it easy all day, napping and hanging out watching movies. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. On the bright side, I had tomato soup and a bread bowl (from Panera courtesy of the Bridge church!) for lunch, and it was very nice. I got my hopes up that Jalal was going to make chili but we didn't have canned tomatoes (boo!).

Quinn is cracking me up lately with the things he says and does. He adds "and" to everything, making his list of things he must sleep with "blanket and dragon and monkey (ooh ooh ahh ahh, his words, not mine) and frog and pillow." Sheesh! It has taken this long to get online access to the pictures we took at Picture People in his cowboy. I must say, they are stinking adorable. I don't think I can share a link on here but I can send it to anyone who emails me personally. I will also try to get a few scanned in from our hard copies to post.

Here's another milestone: Last night, for the first time since we transitioned to the toddler bed, Quinn did not scream, cry, or get out of bed when we closed the door. No sitting with him, no talking through the door, just the routine, the "night night" and "I love you," and we were done. Woo hoo! Tonight, there was a minute of crying but then nothing. This would be a great help to our nighttime routine.

So since I still haven't found a new job yet, I'm going to cut this short and move on to working on the only paying work I have right now. You never know when it's gone, so I'll take advantage of it. I'll be sure to post tomorrow on PINK or BLUE! Love, Us.

Quinn's Dirt-day!

Well, it has been quite a week. My sweet baby, Quinn, is now 2 years old. How is that possible? We were very blessed to have so many friends join us for his birthday, especially people from out of town. My mom came into town Thursday; Aunt Linda came on Friday; and the Connellys drove up from Charleston that night, too. Aunt Linda spent Friday evening teaching Quinn how to "do" his birthday: singing "Happy Birthday," blowing out candles, saying "thank you," and opening presents. It worked, but one of the side effects was that he got up at 4 a.m. on Saturday, too excited to sleep. I spent an hour trying to get him to go back to sleep, but he wasn't having it. After he woke up Jalal, too, he said to him, "Soccer ball dirt-day Quinn!" The soccer ball was his practice present the night before. "Dirt-day" is what he calls a birthday. So none of us got much sleep that night.

The party went off really well. The weather was wonderful, none of the kids melted down, the balloons and stick horses were a big hit, and the cake was adorable and delicious (chocolate with strawberry filling).




Quinn did pretty well opening a few presents. At one point, he even handed a gift to Sarah to open while he took a breather with a juice box. Now that's teamwork. All three of the 2-year-olds (Quinn, Sarah, and Christan) sat together politely while we sang "Happy Birthday." Quinn even spent a little time playing with Caleb, Leah's 7-month-old.

The evening rounded out with dinner with our out-of-towners. Jalal made an incredible Cajun meal of pork, risotto, broccoli, salad, and bread. Mmmm...yummy! Quinn was in rare form showing off, and he charmed the heck out of Barry, especially when he walked past Quinn in his highchair and Quinn said, "Hi, Uncle B!" After a great night with old friends and family, they left and Quinn decided to have his biggest freakout EVER!! I mean it. He was absolutely hysterical. Jalal finally calmed him down with a treat of cookies, which he refused to eat until Jalal also had a treat. We're going to have to talk to the doctor about that.

Anyway, amidst the delightful weekend of celebration and sugar, I also had the very trying anniversary of my dad's passing 1 year ago Friday. I hate that Quinn's birthday will always be so tied up with his death, especially when Quinn reminds me so much of my dad. Even my Aunt Linda (Dad's sister) remarks on how much Quinn looks like Dad when he was little. My sister wrote a really touching post on her blog about Dad, but I guess I am just trying to process things internally. I don't know.

So on a lighter note, Quinn's language skills are progressing at an alarming rate. In just a couple of weeks, he has gone from 3 or 4 words at a time to entire sentences! And he is so polite! Thank you, please, sorry--he never fails to know the appropriate time to use his polite words, even when he is upset or crying. He sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" at the top of his lungs and almost word for word. He likes to sweep the floor (I got him a broom for his birthday) and cheers anything in sight--drinks, forks, belly buttons (yes, that was weird). When my mom got off the plane the other day, he popped up with a perfectly clear "Hi Grandma!" She wanted to be "Grammy," which he pronounced as "Gree-gree" (awww!) until just the other day. Then she showed up and it was "grandma." Go figure.

My birthday was a week ago, and it was delightful. Very low-key, but I got to spend the whole day with my wonderful family and I didn't have to do any dishes!! Yay! Here's to 29 and fabulous. Anyway, I know I'm overdue for a vacation post, and it's coming. I promise. In a week I won't have a job and I'll have all the spare time in the world! Ha! (Insert panicked nervous laughter here.) Just to give you a preview, there are a few pics on the left side of the page. Enjoy! Love, Us.

Fun Game--No Fun Game

This is great fun. Quinn pulls a crayon out of the box and thrusts it at me. I tell him what color it is and he says no. As in, "Blue." "No blue." "White." "No white." "Magenta." "No Genten." Yay! This is after he freaked out wanting the crayons and I said he could have them and he freaked out AGAIN: NO COLORS! For crying out loud! Ah, to be two and have the freedom to act like a nightmare for no good reason and then come kissing and hugging on your mama.

This morning, Quinn started playing around with my cell phone. He grabs it, flips it open and takes it over to his Pooh chair. He starts pushing buttons and Jalal says, "What are you doing? Don't call China." Quinn holds the phone to his ear and says, "China? Hello?" We both cracked up. Jalal said, "There you go. Put that in your Sunday Silly Stories." What? He reads my blog? ; )

Our transition to a toddler bed is really trying our patience. There have only been a couple of nights that he has slept through the night. One of us has had to stay in his room with him until he falls asleep, for every nap and at night. It is getting so old. We leave in two days for our vacation. This ought to be interesting. On the plus side, when we stay in a hotel, we always sleep in the same room, so maybe all will be well.

I made breakfast for dinner tonight. Pancakes with a booster of flaxmeal and scrambled eggs with cheese. They were pretty good, if I do say so myself. I threw a couple of pieces of broccoli and cauliflower on Quinn's plate because he's been eating so poorly lately. I thought it was a lost cause, but he ate the cauliflower right away. Hmm. Since when does he not eat green vegetables? He's had entire meals that consisted solely of broccoli! Maureen thinks Quinn and Sarah have traded places because Sarah is sleeping well, eating well, and behaving great. I just want my kid back. Granted, he can still be so sweet and funny. He loves giving big smoochie kisses (when he feels like it), and when he starts, he doesn't stop. But most of this evening I've felt like that stereotypical new mom who just wants to yell, "Why are you crying?!" Maybe the change of scenery on our vacation will do us good. Well, I should go get started on packing. I have to have everything done by tomorrow at 7 p.m. because I have to go bowling with my new league. It's much different than the last league I was on. For one thing, our team is just Maureen and me. The alley doesn't have smoking, so it much easier to breathe there. And even though it starts two hours later, it only finishes one hour later because of the smaller teams (most have three people). So, I'll post again soon. Promise. Love, Us.

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.