Bug Bites and Potty Humor

So, Saturday, my youngest decided that ant piles are for playing in. He sat his chubby little ass down right in a huge fire ant bed. And proceeded to play. While the ants crawled all over him and into his diaper. I did not see the ant pile so was unaware that there was an issue. I think he didn't understand what was going on when they first started biting him. He did get up and start to walk to me. When I saw him crying I went running.

It was straight out of a horror flick. I started swiping at his legs to get the ants off and then pulled off his diaper. I swear, he was COVERED in fire ants. By the time I got them all off I was freaking out at all the bites. From the middle of his back to about his knees he is covered in ant bites. He has some on his neck, arms and feet but not many. His inner thighs and diaper area are the worst. I guess they went for warm, damp area and went to town.

He is doing fine with them, no signs of any allergies and he has an appointment at the doctor scheduled for tomorrow anyway so I will have him take a look at the bites to make sure all is well. But, it scared me to death. Poor baby. He doesn't seem to be bothered at all by them, though... a little itchy but he went right back to playing afterwards with no side effects.

On a lighter note.... we are working on potty training our middle child. Because of his speech problems, we are not pushing, just working at his pace. Since he cannot TELL us that he has to go, we are working slowly. But, the other night, the funniest things happened.

The Boy decided to go on the potty. While he was doing his business, the Baby decided he was going to go on the potty too. So he sat on the Boy's lap. LOL I got him off and when the boy finished, I took the babies diaper off so he could sit on the potty. The Boy was patting the potty and going "Here, Mal-Mal" (That's what he calls his brother). So, "Mal-Mal" sat on the potty and his brother proceeded to show him how to aim and then when he was done, showed him how to shake it off. I was trying my damnedest not to just laugh until I cried. They were very serious about the whole process. So, the baby hopped up and ran around for a minute. Then he came back and peed again. He did this four times! LOL He may be trained before his big brother!

Speaking of potty training......

The Boy was on the potty the other day and he was checking himself out. Must be a guy thing. Anyway, he looked at me and pointed at himself and said "Look, Mama, Bubbles!". I almost strangled myself trying not to laugh at him as I told him that they weren't bubbles but were balls. He got this weird look on his face and looked back down at himself. Then back at me. Then back at himself. And said, in a very shocked and suspicious tone, "BALLS??!!??".... LMAO. I almost had a stroke. So, I explained to him that they were really called testicles but we sometimes call them balls. I don't think he believes me. I just hope he doesn't decide to try to bounce them.

Stress, Worry, Anxiety

I took The Baby in for his 15 month checkup today. It went well. He is too too funny! He has an ear way issue and when we have to go to the doctors he generally has to have the wax dug out of his ears. Or flushed out. So, today, when he saw the doctor come in the room he grabbed ahold of both of his ears and cried. Sad but funny! The doctor thought so too.



He is growing fine and his development is right where it should be. No problems.



But, since I was there, I decided to talk to doc about The Boys sleep issues and his aggression/ violence. The Boy has an appointment in mid-July in Jackson at the Child Development Clinic for some testing. The doctor wants me to discuss his sleep issues and possible supplements or medications with them at that appointment as he is not comfortable/ does not have as much experience with these issues. So. More waiting. As far as the violence.... he has referred us to a Family Counselor. The Boys first appointment is July 15. They are supposed to, basically, discuss with us different options for discipline and how to help The Boy channel his aggression and anger, etc. blah blah... I have no idea. Wait and see.....



So. Two major appointments coming up in July. Both having to do with psychological issues. sigh..... more stress and worry for me. I hate having my boy have issues and problems. And then, too, I worry that I am overreacting. Maybe this is just normal two - three year old behavior and I am just not used to it anymore. I don't think so. But it could be. Anyway.... I will keep all updated as I find anything out.



Update on the pay issue..... Steven says that his boss says that he did not work so he is not getting paid.



Yes. I am angry. Steven said he just had to leave before he did something he might regret. We had a talk. Ha. I talked. I told Steven that if he is not going to quit then he needed to request that he be put back on hourly wages. He has been basically giving this man $150 a week for the past year. Because of all of the extra hours he has worked. And if the man is going to screw him then he needs to go back to hourly. He will either work 40 hours and have a fixed schedule (opening up the possibility of a 2nd job or of me working on off days) OR he will get overtime and be better off money wise.



All I know is that he had better keep me away from his boss. I do NOT need to see him right now.



On top of the loss of $350 of pay, we also found out that our Water bill for this past month is about triple what it normally is. Because we had a toilet that was running constantly. We told the landlord about this on May 29th. He did not fix it until June 17th. They read our meter on the 20th (I think). So, the damn thing was running for, basically, 20 days after we told him about it. I am going to have to talk to him. I cannot afford to be paying a $200 water bill. AND, our stupid electric bill is crazy right now with the heat and having to run the AC.



Sorry. Stressing out.



I HATE being this stressed about money and bills. It affects my ability to enjoy my children. And it affects my ability to enjoy just about anything!

Gack.

Send positive thoughts my way. I need them!

Boys Being Sweet, Sweet Peas and More

And now that I have the pictures off of the camera, I will show you why I need a video camera! This progression of pictures is just too cute. I wish I had video of the entire episode!

Here is The Boy "reading" to his doll.

And here he is after tucking a blanket around himself and the doll so that they will stay warm. He was showing each of the pictures in the book to the doll!

Here the boys are after The Baby climbed onto the couch and The Boy tucked him in too!

This one is a little dark but The Boy moved the doll to the other side and was playing "speech" with him! He was pointing at each picture and saying what it was and repeating it several times. Very sweet.

And now to something completely different.....

I have pea pods on my pea plants!!

And radishes! And other stuff that I do not have pics of! Yay!

The last pic for today is of a lonely little lady. My dress form. She has been sitting on my back porch for some time now. Waiting. Waiting for me to get around to adjusting her measurements and using her!

Now, what should I make on this lonely little girl?

Need A New Dye Job

I have had an extremely rough and trying day. I am skipping any question answering for today and am going to pour out my story for you and ask for some pointers, advice, ideas or just plain old sympathy!

My middle child is .... difficult. He has a speech delay and some behavioral issues. He also has sleep problems and night terrors. You can read more about any of this here and here. When we had the new baby I really expected major issues of jealousy. But he was wonderful! He rarely acted jealous and he seemed to really love and enjoy his brother.

Fast forward to about a month ago.... three weeks ago. Ever since the baby quit nursing, The Boy has been having fits about his brother being on me. I don't know if he has all of a sudden decided that he is not a "baby" anymore and so he is a rival now... or if it is just because he is walking and climbing and playing more now so seems like a "threat" to the Boy. Who knows what goes through their heads? Certainly not me! There has been a lot of shoving and pulling and fighting over moms lap and basic bickering for the last little bit. I do my best to keep them from fighting too bad and accept that boys will be boys. The Baby is an instigator and will start a fight just to get his brother in trouble. I am not kidding. I had to institute a rule that if either one of them starts crying, they both get punished.

So, today I am standing int he kitchen at the bar, clipping coupons, blah blah blah. The boys are in the living room about 20 feet from me, playing. I hear this weird gurgling noise and look up.

The Boy had a plastic bag wrapped around the Baby's neck and was trying to strangle him. The Baby was hitting him and trying to get away.

I hollered and started to run in there. The Boy dropped the bag and ran. he knew he was in trouble. he knew he had done something wrong.

The Baby was fine. He was coughing and choking but seemed fine. I picked him up and checked him over closely and he calmed down really fast and went back to playing. Then I had to go get The Boy.

I was so upset that I was shaking. I was sooooo ANGRY with him. I could not trust myself to touch him, hardly, because I was scared that I would hurt him. I picked him up and made him look at his brother and told him what he had done wrong. Then I took him back to his bedroom, put him in the bed, told him not to move until i came and got him, shut the door, picked up the baby, cried, called my mom and smoked a cigarette.

When I went in to get the Boy a little bit later he was crying hysterically. I got him calmed down and told him he needed to hug his brother and tell him he was sorry for hurting him before he could come out of his room. It took me ten minutes of talking to him to get him to go hug his brother. Then they seemed OK and we went back to playing. With mommy watching them a lot closer.

Throughout the rest of the day today I witnessed, stopped and punished the following:

The Boy sitting on his brother's back - 3 times
The Boy standing on his brother - once
The Boy kicking his brother - 4 times
The Boy pushing his brother off of the couch - once
The Boy hitting his brother with a keyboard - once
The Boy shoving, hitting and otherwise injuring his brother in the process of taking away any toy the Baby might have been trying to play with - at least 10 times
The Boy pushing his brother off of my lap and taking his place - every damn time I picked up the baby

And it goes on and on.

Obviously, this is a jealousy issue. And also a boy thing. And maybe a little bit of just being 2. And partly a result of his sleep issues/ over tiredness.

But what can I do? I am actually really scared to leave them in a room together now without me being right there. If they had been in their bedroom this morning I would never have known what happened and who KNOWS what would have happened?

Any suggestions on how to defuse the jealousy? When The Boy starts 3 year old pre-k in August, I have a feeling it will get much better. But until then..... I am at my wit's end with these boys. I think I need to go re-dye my hair.... about a million gray hairs popped into being today....

Mommy Instincts Get the Best of Blogger Fodder

The Wingmen of Mayhem were a hoot last night. Unfortunately, my mommy instincts overrode the blogger instincts and I have no pictures to show you! Wish I had waited to clean up until I snapped a couple....

#1 Funny Episode

Eldest WOM was hungry. I was cooking hot dogs on the stove. We cook our hot dogs in a frying pan with water. When the water boils away, the dogs are heated through and then brown quickly. So... I was boiling them, pushed the handle of the pan to the back and came in the office to check email real quick. Next thing I know the boy was poking me in the side with the hot dog tongs and holding out a plate! He was definitely hungry! LOL.... next thing I know he will be cooking his own dinner! I have decided that I can no longer leave him alone in the kitchen area if anything is cooking. The other day he pushed over his drum and used it to climb up to the microwave and get his food out. I also have decided I must unplug the microwave when it is not in use. Knowing him, he will try to stick a can of green beans int here to cook and blow the whole thing up!

#2 Funny Episode

OK. First, you have to understand how my kitchen is set up. When I come into the kitchen from the office/ hall area, I can look down the length of the kitchen. The bar is on my left and the stove on my right. When you walk to the end of the bar and turn the corner, you are looking the length of my sink area and into the living room. That area is blocked from sight by the bar unless you turn the corner.

Next you have to know that we get our milk from WIC. It is in cardboard cartons and is sealed. It is the kind that stays good for 6 months on the shelf without refrigeration as long as it is sealed. So I keep boxes of it in my cabinets until we need it.

Now, I was reading a blog and getting ready to comment and the eldest WOM brought me his cup and wanted some milk. I told him just a minute and he went away. The youngest WOM was playing in the living room. I was trying to finish my comment when I realized it was veeeerrrryyy quiet out there. Oh no. I typed faster and all of a sudden I heard a giggle.

I jumped up and rushed out to the kitchen where I saw the eldest WOM walking around the bar corner holding a carton of milk. I rushed to get it from him and when I turned the corner.... well. This is where, if I was being a good blogger, I should have grabbed the camera and clicked a pic. But, mommy instincts took over so you will just have to visualize it.

The eldest WOM was pouring himself a glass of milk. He did a great job. Only spilled a little as he overfilled the glass. However.... the youngest WOM was sitting on the floor...... surrounded by a puddle of milk. And two (TWO) empty cartons. He was in the process of emptying the second onto the floor as I reached him. We are talking two quarts of milk. In a puddle. Surrounding a baby who is really quite pleased with himself. And wanted to get up and get another one! I tried not to laugh. I really did. But the look on his face and the huge grin when he saw me was too much. It took three towels to soak up all of the milk. And the eldest WOM was laughing like a loon the entire time. The best I can figure is that the baby decided he wanted milk too, so he poked his little bitty fingers into the seals until he broke them open. And then decided to give himself a milk bath. His complexion is very clear today.

Hey, it's one way to mop the kitchen floor.....

Back in the Saddle Again!

Well, figuratively speaking anyway! My Mom and MIL are back home safe and sound. I miss both of them and not just because my mom folded all of my clean clothes and my MIL changed dirty diapers! LOL The house seems kinda empty without them....

So, I have pictures! Of the visit and Easter and birthday cake eating and miscellaneous stuff..... so sit back, grab a drink and prepare for a long update....

Ready?

Here goes....

My Mom... and I wonder where my daughter gets it from? LOL

My MIL playing with The Boy. He pretty much monopolizes her the entire time she is here visiting. Because she loves to play with him!

The Baby in bunny ears...

The Boy in search of the elusive eggs of yumminess....

The Girl hunting the eggs we hid so well that they may never be found again....

Now, here is The Baby right after he (with help) blew out the candles on his cake. I was focused on the fact that he was digging right into the cake! Whole hand fulls of icing were heading into his mouth. I missed the fact that The Boy was using a toothpick to gouge out an entire chunk of cake from the side. He ate a bit of the icing and cake before I noticed. It was pretty funny. You can see him working away at it on the right hand side of this pic.

Now, here is The Baby with his slice of cake to devour. He looks pretty happy with the prospect, huh?

And here he is AFTER the devouring has been completed. What a sticky boy! LOL It was ice cream cake so he REALLY loved it! But, every time he took a bite he shivered! It was very very funny to see.

And here he is as we try to wash away the evidence of his war on cake. Can you see why his smile makes me melt?

And one last pic of the birthday boy. Here is his take on the whole turning one thing. He had to go to the doctors for his one year checkup. He got 3 shots, blood drawn, a pee bag taped to his private area to collect urine for testing, an eye test, AND he had to have his ears flushed because he has lots of ear wax buildup. He was not happy!

And in other news...... I have finally completed one of my organizational goals! I have gotten all of my tupperware organized and out of reach of the children. It took a while to figure out what would work the best. But, here it

is! The actual shelves and shelving units/ drawers are behind the door. When you open the door, you can't see the tupperware! Out of site, out of mind as far as the kids are concerned. The drawers will be used for overflow of meds, vitamins and toiletries. Since I have been getting so much from CVS I have to have somewhere to keep it until I need it. I MAY end up trying to fit in a 3rd shelf there by tightening up the space. We'll see. This area is actually part of the room that I will be using for sewing. It has this storage area, our stand up freezer, a 2nd refrigerator, a corner full of music stuff (guitars, amps, speaker cabinets) and one whole half of the room is MINE. For my sewing tables, craft supplies and anything else I want to put there. Now if I can ever get THAT organized it will be a miracle!

And, here is a picture of DH hard at work. He has been down at his boss' OTHER restaurant for the past several weeks, trying to straighten out a mess there. Both the kitchen manager and the front of the house manager walked out in one weekend with no notice. And then they had 8 other employees quit. (All friends of the managers') So, DH has been working his behind off trying to get things in order down there. It is a gourmet pizzeria.

I'm talking fire cooked, brick oven pizza with things like duck and gorgonzola cheese. My favorite one has a white sauce and roasted garlic and cheese. Very yummy. ANYWAY. He will be down there until he gets a new manager trained. Maybe 2 more weeks. He hired a guy the other day who seems to be working out and has the experience they need for a management position. DH cannot wait to get back to his own restaurant and do some real cooking. To him, pizza is great but it isn't real cooking.

So, there you have it. I have three memes I will be posting soon. I have them done but did not want to overwhelm everyone with an update and memes all in one day! LOL

Coming To A Womb Near You

I have been having a lot of thoughts in my head lately. I know. Shocking. But, really, I have been thinking about being a mom. Or, a parent in general. And what it means to be a good parent. A good mom. How much can a mom do and still do right by her children? How many kids can a family raise and raise correctly? How much is too much?

This stems from a rash of pregnancies both here in blog land and in my real life mother's group. And I am wondering when and if we will have another child. On one hand.... I don't want this to be it. I want to experience pregnancy again. I want to have another sweet smelling, cuddly baby in my life. I want to have those feelings again.

But is this just a yearning for the feelings? Or is it a true yearning for another CHILD. Because, as we all know, the actual raising of a child is much more than sweet smelling, cuddly baby feelings.

And I am trying to figure out where I stand on this. Am I, as a mom, capable of loving, nurturing and raising another child? Where do I draw the line and say... this is it? This is all that I can do and still do it well.

And, in the same vein, am I doing well as it is? What defines being a good mother? You can keep your child safe, fed, dry, clothed, with a roof over their heads and make sure they go to school. But that is not all there is to raising children. Am I doing what needs to be done to make my children into good adults? Are they happy? Will they BE happy? Who knows? Not me. I mean, I THINK I am doing a decent job. I KNOW that I am stretched thin. I would never even think about having another baby right now. There is no way in hell I could handle another one right now.

But when will the time be right? And if I wait for the time to be right.... will it ever happen? Do we really want it to happen?

arrrrggghhhhh........

Too many thoughts in my head. Too many questions. I know that we will be waiting at least until The Boy is in Kindergarten before we get pregnant. So why am I even worrying about it now?

Baby Fever. Coming to a womb near you.

Feel free to tell me your thoughts on what makes a good parent. And also on when, how and if you decided enough was enough. I really am interested!

Fourteen Fantastic Years Filled With Fabulous Fun, The Wingmen of Mayhem, The Flu.... and me!

Ahhhh...... yesterday was The Girl's fourteenth bday. I was going to do the traditional "letter" to her and talk all about her birth and her growin' up years... but she is a teenager. And oh.my.god.mom.... don't embarass me! Yeah. So I would totally not dream of ever metioning how I gained 75 pounds when I was pregnant with her. Or how she was a week late. And how I was in labor for like 14 hours with her. And how she was almost ELEVEN POUNDS when she was born. (yes. ow) ANd I would DEFINATELY not mention how I had never changed a diaper before and so her very first diaper was changed in the hospital by a complete stranger who happened to be visiting with my aunt. And never, ever would I mention that her going home outfit was sized 3 - 6 months..... I would never, ever do that. Not in a million years.

Seriously, folks. My girl? She is a rockin' kid. She has her moments (days) where all I want to do is strangle her. But, over all, she is a great kid. A good friend. A fabulous big sister. And an amazing person. Happy late bday kiddo. I love you! And, oh, I would never embarass you like this in front of any of your friends. I swear.

Really.

Have any of you ever seen that movie Ice Age: The Meltdown? The one where there are the little possums? There is this scene in there where one of the possums gets hurt and the other is crying and he says "who will be my wingman of mayhem?".... LOL... LMAO... this is my boys! They are Wingmen of Mayhem! I am totally getting them shirts. I don't know how many times I have watched this movie. And every single time... that scene makes me belly laugh. If you ahven't seen it, you should.

SO, the youngest wingman is under the weather. I ended up taking him to the afterhours clinic this evening. He had a temp of 104.8. I freaked out. He has been running a high temp all weekend but nothing like this. I rushed him to the clinic and by the time he saw the doctor the ibuprofin I gave him had kicked in and his temp broke. Talk about sweating buckets. (Him AND me!). I was sure he was going to have a seizure from the high temp on the way to the drs office. If I had not already called them and planned to go tonight I would have just been headed tot he ER with that high of a temp. Scared me. ANyway, they think he has the flu. They took a swab of his nose and will call with the results tomorrow. I sure hope it is not the flu. I cannot afford to have all of us down sick. But, if it is not the flu then it is a viral infection of some kind. ANd we will probably all end up with it anyway. sigh

THIS IS MY 100th POST! Yay me! I have to think about it but i may decide to have a contest/ give away in honor of this event. Check back tomorrow for more information!

9 out of 10 blog readers agree that catchy, fun blog titles are for wusses

ha.

I am alive. I am bitchy and feel yucky but I am alive. The Baby still has not cut his teeth. The Boy is determined to make me insane throught he use of crumbs and licking. The Girl is full of b-day plans and making me feel old old old. DH is working too much at work and not enough at home.

I am just depressed. I can't lose weight. I have no motivation or energy. I feel old. I feel totally un-sexy. And I am tired.

But my house is partially clean. And I have clean clothes. Even if they are not folded and are just in a pile in the livingroom justr waiting for The Boy to decide that he needs to take a running jump while naked and decide to pee ont hem and then they will not be clean anymore. phew.

I will return tomorrow in a (hopefully) better mood with (hopefully) amusing anecdotes to share regarding bday plans and potty training.

First of all, Infinity Goods has contacted me and will be getting her set of fabulous jewelry sometime this week. Hopefully, she will let us know what she thinks of it!

Now, on to the meat of the post... duh duh duh.. LOL. The stupid mouse in my house has stolen another glue trap. Kara suggested on my last post regarding the thieving mouse that I use poison but I am too too paranoid about the boys getting into it. Even if I put it in an out of the way place I am scared that the mouse will drag the poison out where the boys can get it. And both of them still stick stuff in their mouths. So... no poison. The glue traps are obviously NOT WORKING. And I don't think regular spring traps are a good idea, either. The boy gets up in the middle of the night and wanders sometimes. I would hate for him to get ahold of one. And the spot where I am seeing the silly mouse is right in the middle of my liviing room. It is by my fireplace. And so, I would nbeed to put the traps near there. So, no. I am running out of ideas. I might just have to call a professional in.

The weird thing is that I have seen no signs of the mice in my kitchen. No droppings. No chewed up food wrappers. I have a bunch of those ultrasonic pest things plugged in around the kitchen area so maybe that is helping. And we did not see the mice until winter. Maybe they will go away when it gets warm? Yuck.

On a brighter note, the baby has almost cut through his top teeth. He has been teething on these things for MONTHS. And making my life hell. He actually has six teeth up top that he is working on. But only two look like they are cutting through soon. I am hoping for tomorrow!

He has also decided to not nurse during the day any more. At all. Unless he is going to bed. He turns his head away from my nipple and cries. Kinda hurts my feelings. I think he is ready to wean. (Obviously) Maybe I can just keep the bedtime nursing for a bit. He does still want that. My baby is growing up! sniff sniff

The girl will be turning 14 in 2 weeks. That really makes me feel old.

Darling Hubby has injured himself. He has a WOUND on his foot! Yuck. So, I get to play doctor in a not so pleasant way with him. LOL

I had a yard sale yesterday. And made $200. Yay, me! I still have lots of junk to get rid of though. Now I have to decide whether I should hold onto it for a month and have another sale or just get rid of it (freecycle, etc). I do still have 2 rooms to sort through as I am continuing the unending chore of trying to organize my house. So I will probably end up with much more for the sale. If I decide to have another one. I probably will. If I could get DH to part with some of his carefully hoarded junk it would be nice.... The Girl finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and went through much of her stuff. I am so tired of being surrounded by things that we do not need or ever use. It is ridiculous! Clutter, clutter, clutter!

And, the spell check is not working on this thing. So, please forgive any misspellings. I think I at least spelled tomorrow right anyway!

Oh, yeah.....

btw... I am not pregnant. Just because I was wondering. And so I checked. And I'm not. Yeee-Haaawwww.... and also awwwww..... Why does the baby fever make us crazy? I kinda want another. And kinda don't. And KNOW that I could not handle another one right now.... but.... awwwwww.....

Get off of your brother's head...

This is the phrase I keep hearing come out of my mouth over and over again. With variations of course: Get off of your brother, don't stand on your brother, your brother is not a chair, your sister is not a trampoline, stop spitting on me (admittedly a bit different) and many more. Boys can be such a challenge to herd.... erm.... raise. Why do boys feel this need to hurt each other? And why do they find it so amusing? I have to honestly say that I don't find it amusing when someone headbutts me in the chest. But the boys seem find it hilarious. And what's up with the spitting? You would think I would be used to it by now... and I am. In a weird, grosstastic way. I still marvel at the amount of spit my 2 1/2 year old can conjure up at the drop of a hat.

I watched my two boys play and realized that I have a situation on my hands. I have a 2 1/2 year old boy, Braeden, who is pretty straight forward. What you see is mostly what you get. he is the kind of kid who gets mad at you and will punch you in the nose. No holds barred.

Then I have the 10 month old, Malachai, who seems so sweet and innocent. So angelic. Such a cherubic demeanor. Butter wouldn't melt in this kid's mouth. But.... he is sneaky. He is an instigator! An instigator, I say! He is the kind of kid who will grin at you and when your back is turned take you out with a tire iron! No shit! I watched him playing with B and he tackled him, knocked him over, blew raspberries on his belly, pulled his hair and bit his nose. When B started to fight back a little, M started to cry like he was hurt. B had barely touched him. If I had not seen the whole thing I would have assumed that B had hurt M. And punished B accordingly. Little M just grins up at me when I reprimand him. And I smile back cause he is just so damn cute. I have a feeling this little guy is going to be a handful!! Suggestions? How do you deal with such wildly different personalities?

Who me? I didn't do nothin'!

Speaking Of Speech...

I have had this post written (and several others) but just haven't really gotten a chance to post them. Today I will try to catch up...

Braeden (The Boy) (I am giving up trying to be anonymous. Cause I keep forgetting) was supposed to have his therapy session again on Wednesday. His therapist called and had to reschedule as her daughter was sick. No problem, I have kids, I understand. But, I did get to have a good conversation with her about B's speech issues and his progress and future plans. It was a conversation that I really needed to have with her. She feels that B is saying many more words than I think he is saying. His pronunciation is just so bad that I am not understanding. Also, with my hearing problems, I may not be hearing what he is saying all of the time. She definitely feels that he does need the therapy. For pronunciation as well as to push him to use words more often. I am not sure how him making sounds that are not understandable is different from just babbling. Speech, to me, is words that are consistent and understandable. If he is saying Peas when he means carrots.... do I praise that? Or do I correct it? (Not that he says either of these 2 words, mind you... I am lucky to get a vroom-vroom when he wants to play cars...) I guess I am worried that he won't get as much help as I feel that he needs. But she did say that she will be concentrating on getting him to verbalize and praising attempts at words. So, I guess that is OK. I am just confused as to what she will be doing that I am not already doing! She is going to bring me some informational packets about speech development at different ages and how to encourage speech. This will give me something concrete to work with.

She also told me that I am too hard on myself. That I am a wonderful mother and work much harder with my children than many of her other parents do. That made me feel good. Although I still feel like I should be doing more. When my son says "peeese" for "thank you" ... well.... what do I do there? I just say thank you, that's right, Braeden, Thank you. And I try to make sure he is looking at me when I speak... maybe one day he will just pop out with thank you instead of this sound that bears no resemblance to thank you at all. It sounds like please but not in the correct context. arrrggghhhh... it's so hard to figure out how to handle things and what to say and do. Kids are such a challenge.

He also seems to be having more issues with jealousy of the baby lately. Wanting to be on me when I am nursing, weanting to hurt his brother, lots of roughhousing. I am not sure if this is something i should just ignore or not. I try to spend one on one time with each of my kids. Maybe it will settle down once the baby is completely weaned from the breast.....

Boob Ninjas Unite!

Ok. I am so totally not a breast feeding nazi (bad word choice maybe). I support every mother's right to choose how she feeds her baby. But, I also acknowledge that the breast is best. I am still breastfeeding my 8 month old. And, despite the teeth, mostly still enjoying it and feeling good about my decision. There has been a lot of recent controversy regarding breast feeding in public. My baby eats when he is hungry. Walking down the aisle in Walmart, sitting in a restaurant, at the park, wherever. I generally will cover up with a blanket. Not because I am ashamed, but because I choose not to make people uncomfortable. It is a regrettable fact of life in America that some people find the natural act of breast feeding a baby makes them uncomfortable. Fine. I respect your feelings. But, if I do not have a blankie and my baby needs to eat... I am feeding him regardless. And I am not going to go into a filthy public restroom to do so. Do YOU want to eat in a bathroom? I didn't think so.

Take a look at the videos posted here of breast feeding. The League of Maternal Justice and the Boob Ninjas did a great job responding to the Facebook and Applebees issues. If I had any video of baby boy chowing down I would so totally put it up here and on You Tube. No doubt.

So... that was my mini rant for the day. More later....