If there is one thing that I can say with certainty about being a parent, it's that there isn't much certainty to your days anymore! Having two kids now, I have two moving variables that can change my plans at any instant. You think one of them getting sick would be the primary cause of this, but thankfully I can say that my kids don't get sick too often (about once per month though). Rather, it's their moods and their growth spurts and their other phases that they go through that throw me for a loop!
I remember Evan doing things in phases as a baby, and for the most part even still as a toddler. And Emma is no different! One of the best things about the phases is that typically they are short! However, when something new occurs just after you think you've gotten the hang of things...it's just meant to keep us parents on our toes I guess! Here are my recent stories:
1. Shopping:
Recall that I recently wrote about how I felt confident going grocery shopping with both kids by myself? Yes, well as of last weekend I can't say that anymore given Evan not being willing to ride in the car part of the cart anymore and then also trying to dash out the front of the grocery store without me (recall that story in a recent "this and that" post). I got lucky that John had this morning off, so we were all able to do the shopping together, but I will have to figure out some new tricks for the grocery store eventually given that is one shopping outing I do need to do pretty much every weekend. Moreover, Emma is not taking her morning nap in her car seat while we're shopping as well either. She must be too intrigued by looking at everything at the store, so last week and today she had really late naps after the shopping was done. Either way, it all changed just when I thought I had a good routine figured out.
2. Bedtime:
Between Evan being pretty hard to get to bed these days (or perhaps another perspective would be that it's "easy" if you follow the easy 100 steps!) and Emma having some good days and then some bad days, I can rarely know what to expect at bedtime. Will I be able to get anything done after they are in bed? Or will it take all the rest of my energy from the day (as well as an extra hour or more) to get them into bed? If I plan to do something after their bedtime, you can figure that it'll be the latter.
Anyway, the most recent example of something that threw me for a loop was Emma refusing to nurse at bedtime! It was just me this past Thursday night, so Evan was either hanging out with me in Emma's room or playing in his room while I got Emma ready for bed. Then I sat down in the rocking chair to nurse her and she flat out refused it! She seemed happy right up until I started to nurse her, when she turned her head and started wailing!? I was baffled! The one thing that always seemed as the go-to thing to calm her (when nothing else could) and now it just upset her! I got up and rocked and bounced her and tried to calm her down. Holding her upright and bouncing was the only thing that worked. Then I tried nursing again and the same thing! So then I tried to nurse her while standing and rocking and bouncing her (I had to do that a few times at bedtime when she was much younger), to no avail. Evan even tried to make her laugh, which distracted her for a second, but right back to the crying. Evan was really sweet actually, he tried to help out as best he could. I figured maybe she was having teething pains so I gave her some infants ibuprofen, which she typically takes so easily, but she got pretty upset about taking it halfway through too. After trying to get her to choke down the last of the dose, I bounced her again (upright) to calm her and then after about 5-10 minutes I tried to nurse her while bouncing with her cradled in my arms....success! Finally...only 35 minutes later! She ended up nursing fine on both sides then at bedtime, but when she woke up at 4am for her wee morning hours feeding she did it again! Luckily that time when I got up and bounced with her cradled in my arms she latched on, so I nursed her at 4am, standing up bouncing and rocking with her in my arms...while being in a complete zombie state myself. The things we do for our kids! Thank goodness that "phase" was just the one night (so far) because after all that extra time getting Emma to bed I still had to get Evan down too. That was a late night.
3. Feeding:
Evan can be a really good eater, or a non-eater. For example, last night was our "Friday night treat night", and since John was working late I took the kids through the drive through at Freddie's burgers. Evan got a kids cheeseburger, fries, and chocolate milk and then we split a chocolate frozen custard. When we got home he devoured the whole cheeseburger (usually he peels it apart and doesn't finish the whole bun), all of the fries (I only gave him half of what they provided, as it was a lot for a little kid) and his chocolate milk. Then of course he loved the "ice cream". Perhaps he ate so well because it was a meal he liked, but either way he polished it off! However, not more than a few nights before he went to bed without eating a bite of food. We had grilled steak and veggies and made garlic bread. The meal was absolutely delicious if you ask me, but he didn't want any part of it. And strangely enough he didn't ask for any snacks later either!?
For Emma, she has just started solid foods. She's eaten rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peas, pears, and carrots. So far she's eaten them all, although her first tastes of the pears made her scrunch up her face several times (maybe it was tangy?). So far she's the one that eats last, because I usually dish up our dinner and try to eat mine while it's hot with Evan and John, and then I feed her baby food after. I usually eat fast so that I can try to feed her while Evan is still eating his food, but on the nights when he doesn't eat anything that usually means he's throwing things around (or off) the table wanting down when I'm trying to finish my food or finish feeding Emma. When it's just me I like to keep them both strapped into their chairs until we're all done (I view it as family meal time), so he will have to learn that even if he's done or not wanting to eat that he needs to sit there with us still.
Emma sometimes eats her food fast, but some times lately she's seemed more interested in playing (i.e. blowing her lips together, which blows the baby food off the spoon!). When I'm trying to get her fed quickly, to avoid a big fit from Evan, that makes it tough, but totally bearable (it's Evan that will just have to deal with it!). Either way, dinners take so much longer now. I'm finding that I have much less time to play with the kids after dinner now, because by the time we all finish eating it's nearly their bed time (especially if it's a bath night, because we start the bedtime routines earlier then). While the amount of food eaten by these kids varies from night-to-night, the length of the meal is pretty consistent. I don't plan to have much evening time free for many years to come.
4. Potty training and diaper duty:
This is definitely a roller coaster! Some days he'll keep his pants totally try (except naps/sleep times), and sometimes even tell us on his own he needs to go potty. Most days, though, we have to watch him for signals and then suggest he go, and then there are still many accidents that happen. A few good days of him keeping his pants dry can sometimes make me think we're on the road to being potty trained, but then twice that many days in a row with accident after accident and then I'm reminded of the reality that we are in. Just bought another big box of Pull-ups today. :(
Emma's roller coaster ride for us on this topic is related to blow outs! I thought for sure once we got onto solid foods and her poo thickened up a bit that the blow outs would become less frequent. However she still seems to soil her outfit nearly every morning all the way up her back. Sadly nearly all of her current outfits/sleepers have stained backs as a result. I think I may lay them all in the sun one of these sunnier days to see if that can help rid us of those reminders of the horrible diaper changes that we are facing most days.
5. Nearly everything else
Between behavioral things (Evan pushing or hitting, or throwing tantrums) that come and go to all of the developmental things that babies and toddlers focus on for short periods of time (i.e. phases), there are many more roller coaster rides that we go through. Emma's into grabbing things right now (and she grabs things good and fast too!) as well as rolling and rolling all over the floor. Evan's into so many things (singing now, talking more and more, and jet airplanes as always) but some days he really gets into TV shows/movies, others are all about playing with airplanes, and others are about wanting to go outside or dance to music. The same thing one day cannot be guaranteed to work the next. But speaking of my cute little boy, he just awoke from his nap. Now when he wakes up he slowly walks out of his room and downstairs to find me, often in a sleep daze still (we call that feeling "foggy"). Today he had a cookie before nap and then we told him if he ever wanted cookies again he better brush his teeth (because he was refusing to brush, speak of another thing he does well sometimes but not so willing to do most days). So sure enough that worked...he started brushing! Then when he was done he wanted a cookie. He misunderstood what we had said thinking he'd get more cookies right away when he was done. That didn't go down well, but we said after his nap he could have another one, and so this is what he just said to me:
"Guess what mommy?"
Me: "What?"
"Guess what I get?"
Me: "What?"
"I get cooookiessss" (last word all drawn out with a cute grin on his face)
He definitely has a good memory! I guess it's cookie time. :)
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