Thoughts from a Storytelling Mommy: May 17, 2009

I am going to take on the huge task of posting about all the crazy things that are going on with us at the moment. This will likely take some time, but I have already waited too long to write about everything. There are so many firsts taking place that I don't want to forget!! I want to get everything written down for my own record, so I apologize in advance for the extreme length of this three day in the making post. :-)

*About three/four weeks ago (time is becoming blurry!), Colin stopped taking his nap and bedtime bottles. We would relax together in his rocking chair and he would drink a bottle of milk. He literally woke up one day and quit. He will not touch one now. The strange part...he will not drink milk at all anymore. The same day he quit bottles, he quit milk. Even with chocolate, strawberry or hidden in an opaque sippy cup, as soon as he tastes milk, he throws it down. He has not had a sip of milk in almost a month. I have no idea what is going on with that. I personally cannot stand milk and have not touched the stuff since I was a kid (and was forced by my parents). I guess he might have gotten the same aversion? I still think it is pretty strange to wake up one day and hate the thing you loved!

*Also about a month ago, Colin started talking. REALLY talking. The language exploded just like the pedi said it would and this guy is off and running. He says lots of things now and usually surprises me with something new every day. We love it! He also gets very upset when he wants to tell us something and we can't understand him. He will repeat the same "phrase" several times and then stomp his feet and yell when we don't get it. I know this frustration is causing a lot of his "terrible two" behavior.

*On the subject of terrible two's...we have landed smack dab in the middle of them! There is absolutely no telling with this guy at the moment. He will have a major meltdown over things that he had no problem with the hour before. The biggest problem right now is the grocery cart. I would say that about 90% of the time, he won't get in it. That includes the back of the cart, which used to save me in a pinch. He won't get in at all. Yesterday we attempted to go to Kroger since they have the fun carts with the attached car. Nope, he would not get in that either. He was laying on the floor of the grocery store, kicking and screaming. This is because he also did not want me to carry him and was kicking out of my arms. Obviously we had to leave without shopping. You should have seen me carrying him to the car....I was holding him like a 30 lb football with him screaming. Beautiful. He also won't stay in a high chair/booster seat for more than 10 minutes at the moment. That is also cause for a major ruckus. For now it is fast food only, or somewhere with an atmosphere that works with a toddler running around the table throwing forks. Oh, and the THROWING. Colin throws everything all the time. This is the hardest part for us now. He will throw heavy things at everything and that includes pets and people. He is not angry or mean spirited about it, but extremely excited. The more excited/tired/reved up he gets, the more I know that trouble is coming. I have tried literally everything in every toddler book to fix this. Time outs do not work at all and I have tried lots of variations. He is unhappy to be in time out, but does not associate it with not throwing once time out is over. Spanking (my last resort) also does not even phase him. I did try slapping his hand and that seemed to at least upset him, but he still turns right back around and throws. He throws his heavy sippy cup at Enzo every time he sees that dog. UGH! I consider this one really important...when we were out with friends this week, he threw a rattle at their infant son. It knocked him right upside the head and he started crying his precious little head off. I wanted to DIE. I had been watching Colin like a hawk, since there were three infants in our group that day. We made it all the way to the end, we were packing up our picnic, I looked away for a split second to talk to my friend and BOOM! Thank goodness the baby was not hurt. However, this behavior is totally unacceptable. If I can't get it under control, we can't go out in public until he is four. And I am only slightly exaggerating. ;-) The more Colin likes something, the better the chance he will throw a toy at it. Colin had been petting and hugging and patting that baby all afternoon...he even played with his tiny toes and gave him a kiss on his head while we were sitting with him. I knew that he was enamored with that little guy and sure enough, he got a rattle to the noggin.

*Colin will eat fruit, macaroni and cheese and the insides of an Oreo cookie. Everything else depends on the day. He will love a grilled cheese one day and hate it the next. That goes for just about everything else. I still offer him lots of stuff like I always have and sometimes I get the right food on the right day. Luckily, I am a very well-read woman and know this is normal and he will live through it. He eats a lot of Cheerios and Goldfish. Last night he ate a ginormous bowl of Edamame and half a bag of grapes for dinner. Now that I think about it, maybe I should be eating more like Colin. ;-)

*This is the biggest change of them all...Colin no longer sleeps in his crib. I still can't even believe it as I type this. Also about a month ago (see a pattern?), Colin started to kick and scream at being put in the crib. It really came out of left field and happened right along with the bottle/milk thing. At the beginning, if I got him sound asleep first, I could put him in the crib and then expect middle of the night screaming. Within a week, however, it had escalated into screaming whenever he touched the crib. We spent a brutal two weeks letting him cry it out...this time it got worse everyday instead of better. You have never heard such screaming. I spent several days in a dark place while dealing with this...I have many friends whose toddlers would refuse sleep, possibly sit in the crib and play for two hours, but none that reacted so violently. He seems too young to be done with his crib, so it was only after that horrible two weeks that I started to think about the actual bed being the problem. I posted my thought on Facebook and immediately got lots of responses from my wonderful friends. It would appear that it is quite normal for Colin to be ready for a real bed at this stage of the game. I got lots of emails from my friends who have already made the transition and I feel so much better now that I have a solution. For the time being, I have been sleeping with Colin in the guest bedroom. He will go to sleep without a problem in a normal bed, so that has alleviated the screaming fits, thank God. Once he falls asleep, I tuck pillows around him and leave him there for a couple of hours while I try to get caught up on my life. Then I go to bed in there with him so that I can make sure he does not fall off during the night. Or at least be there when he does fall off, which happened last night! OOPS! The good news is that the screaming went away as soon as I gave up on the crib and moved him into the bed. Now we need to convert his crib to the full size bed and get him in there asap, before he is too addicted to the guest room. Not to mention that Mama would love a night in her own bed with her husband for a change! :-)

SOOO, the long story even longer is that a lot has been going on with my precious baby. He just seemed to pick a day and decide that everything needed an overhaul. He is so funny and sweet right now. Even with all this terrible two stuff, we are having a blast together. He seems to unveil a new trick for me every single day. Last night, we were all in the guest bed "getting cozy", which is code for going to bed. Colin got in the middle of me and Jer (facing us), put one hand around each of our necks, and gave us a group hug. It was so adorable that I almost couldn't take it. This post could just go on and on with all the sweet little things he does for me on a daily basis. I will leave it at this for now. If you actually read this whole thing, Happy Memorial Weekend!! :-)