2 Spoons Happy

Saturday night after supper Joshua and I shared a cup of ice cream. We had one cup and 2 spoons. He waited and watch excitedly as I found the scooper and spooned the ice cream.  It was fun to watch him try to scoop it out of the cup.

Earlier in the day we had fun by:
Playing in his room.
Reading books.
Watching Charlie Brown Christmas.
Singing Christmas songs like "Go, Tell it on the Mountain, and Jingle Bells."

Before we dug into our ice cream we said cheers and clinked spoons, and said "cheers!"


I wanted to be happy, and enjoying the moment rather than thinking about the other things we could have been doing. Our town had a Starlight Parade, lighting of the Christmas Lights, and a 15 foot snow globe with artificial snow. I wanted to go. I will admit in my mind the things that were happening were pretty childish! I wanted to be making fun family memories doing "Christmas-y things." So part of me was pouting about not going. I think the personal expectations that are put on the holidays are too stressful. I set up in my mind all sorts of ideas about how things "should" go.

My son was completely content, more than that, HAPPY to be home sharing ice cream, toys, books, movies and songswith me. That is what I will cling to.

News

On October 14 at 4:00 am I woke up to use the bathroom. I had been having trouble getting through the night without a bathroom interruption. I knew that it would be the day that would change me.

I woke Michael up and told him the news.

The following weeks have been filled with exhaustion, yucky tummy, and headaches. Looking at those thing, I take a step back to realize, there are people who would beg to have those symptoms if they were experiencing what I am experiencing.
So I find joy in them.

We shared the news with our son. Floods of emotions washed over.
We shared the news with our families.

Today, we share news with the world.

Yesterday, we went to the doctor hoping to hear a heartbeat. We were surprisingly mistaken. Not only did we get to hear the heartbeat, but we got to see our baby.

God is good. It is amazing to me that He has given me the opportunity to glimpse into what He did at creation as a person grows inside me. I am so blessed!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

We started putting up our tree on Saturday. I waited for Joshua to wake up from his nap. I got the tree box out of the closet and began the project. Joshua "ooo-ed and aaahhh-ed" when as i stood the tree up. 

I fluffed all the branches. Joshua got impatient and started exploring the Christmas decorations.  

He helped me untangle the lights and was very happy when we plugged them in! "Pretty!" 

Pastor Phil and Mrs. Becky called so we stopped our project after the first ornament. Joshua concentrated to make sure that it would stay on the tree. 

Day 2

We had Charlie Brown Christmas playing in the background as we began decorating on Sunday.

 Joshua uses such concentration when putting the ornaments onto the tree. After he got the ornaments to stay where he put them he would step back and admire his work. 

 The story of the Christmas Pickle is terrific! Every year the person who finds the pickles gets a special gift. My mom gave Michael and I our own Christmas Pickle for our first Christmas. Finding The Pickle at my mom's house has become quite the event, and I was excited to share this with Joshua.  Joshua was so excited when he saw the pickle he pretended to eat it. I have to admit it was adorable!

 Near the end of putting up the tree boredom set in. He started using the ornaments as kick balls. 

 We did take a moment to celebrate our accomplishment with cheesy smiles. (note the open door... it was roughly 77 degrees... the sleeves and pants help it feel Christmas-y)

Laying underneath the tree has become a delight. He lays underneath, "Oh, pretty!" 

We were nervous about putting the tree up with the joys of a 2 year old's listening ears, but I'm so glad that we did. We had a great time!

Counting Machine

I love that my son loves to count. At our last couple trips to the beach we picked up some shells to take home. We gathered up the shells and put them in a cup. Joshua has been taking the cup down and carefully laying the shells out and counting them. Here are some pictures of him caught in the act.

Last week after school we were playing on the playground when Joshua asked to go on the swings. Instead of swinging by himself, he sat in my lap. I asked me to count with him. 1... 2... 3... when we got to 20 I stopped the swing. Joshua begged/demanded Again?!?! So he climbed up. I started 1... 2... 3... "No, No. Spanish!" We were swinging and counting. Uno... Dos... Tres..

I love it!

Terrible Twos on Tuesday

I'm not sure who is to blame, better yet if anyone needs/should be blamed for our rough night.

Parents first, Michael and I let Joshua stay up on Monday night WAY too late (something like 10ish?.)
We paid for it.

When we got to school Joshua threw a fine fit over eating goldfish for breakfast. Throwing food, time out, screaming, and tears were all part of this tantrum. As I left his classroom, I may have had a tear of guilt myself.

After we got home that night, I asked Joshua what he wanted for supper. He opened the refrigerator with help, and after searching in his normal spots (fruit drawer first/ veggies second) he was unsatisfied with his findings and kept looking. He discovered the eggs... I let him hold one, but told him that they would break so we needed to be careful. Despite my better judgement, I decided to make an egg. I knew he didn't really care for them, but my "genius" idea was to have him watch and help. I pulled up the stool and let him climb up and watch me crack the egg. He got to stir them, scoop some butter for the pan, and watch as we scrambled the egg. I plopped it on a plate. He looked at it with disgust. Being over hungry myself, I at the egg. Michael made actual dinner for him and I which we then offered to Joshua. Again, uninterested.

I decided to try for the jammies because we were getting nowhere with food. Michael and I, as well as the staff at CTK, discipline with the Love and Logic philosophy (controlled options to avoid power struggles.) Love and Logic usually works wonderfully when used properly (perhaps my empathy in offering choices may not have been what it could have/should have been.) I ended up choosing his jammies and then wrestled with him to get them onto his body. (Jammie time for us has recently been a struggle anyway as Joshua tries to balance independence and reliance on others.)

After the jammies were on, and the screaming had subsided, Joshua remembered that he was hungry. Foolishly I tried to find him something else to eat rather than offering what we had for dinner. Nothing was right and the night continued to spiral during teeth brushing.

There were sorry-s and snuggles before I put him into bed, but no reciprocated, "I love you." My heart was broken. I struggled with parental frustrations with an over-tired two year old. Mistakes were made... hopefully some lessons were learned by him and by me.

Blueberry Muffins!

Recently there was an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that featured a mystery. Minnie made 6 blueberry muffins and someone ate them. The wrappers among other things were clues. This episode struck a cord with Joshua. He began asking for blueberry muffins. Michael picked up a bag of muffin mix. When he showed it to Joshua we had jumps and giggles of excitement.  He wanted to bag opened immediately. When we actually had a chance to open them and bake them, elated is how is I would describe our little boy. Michael ate one, and Joshua ate 5. He asked if Donald ate some or if Mickey had one. When he asked for more I told him to ask Daddy to put it on the grocery list. Joshua went running to Michael. Here is their conversation.
"Daddy! More Muffins. Please... TWO!"
"You want me to buy two muffins?"
"YEAH!"
"What kind? Banana?"
"No"
"Strawberry?"
"No, blueberry"
"You want two blueberry muffins?"
"THREE!"
Followed by giggles and smiles from Mommy and Daddy.

Little Boy Imagination

Imagination at work... 

This morning I sat outside of Joshua's bedroom door. I knew he was awake. Over the monitor I heard him giggling and playing and I wanted to have a closer listen before the "Momma, Where are you?!?" I got such delight from sitting there listening to him talking to his stuffed animals and bouncing from one end of his crib to the other. I knew opening the door would shatter the illusion that he was lost in, so there I sat silently listening to his "conversations" that weren't meant to be heard (at least not by me.)