Motherhood has never been that hard for me. The last three years have been the happiest, least stressful years of my life. There have been lots of messes and not a lot of sleep, but no complaints. About life as a single mom, I am not quite as optimistic. It stinks. It is sucking every last drop of of my sanity. I have profound empathy for single mothers. Especially pregnant ones with two crazy toddler boys.
I barely survived this last week while J-P was away. I could write pages about all the naughty, terrible things the boys did...or about how I teetered on the edge of a nervous breakdown. But I don't even want to think about it. Instead, I want to document the positive. The cute things they've said lately (if I can remember them) and the special skills they are acquiring.
Ian is talking up a storm. He has been talking in sentences since he was 18 months old and always tries to say things to make me laugh. He dialogues the entire day. He doesn't stop talking until he surrenders to sleep and usually does about 5-10 minutes of talking with his eyes closed before he finally passes out. He knows his colors and can count to 10 on his own. The other day he even sang the catch phrase of a song he heard on the radio.
He loves to tease us, especially about his bowel movements. Last spring when his talking explosion started, he always joked around about poop. When I smelled something coming from his direction, I immediately asked "Ian, did you you poop?" To which he always responded with a very serious face, "no, Daddy pooped". Or, "no Max pooped". Then he started laughing hysterically. Every time. Other days he would come up to me and say (with a serious face) "pooped, mommy...check it". I would proceed to check his diaper, and at the very same moment I pulled it back and assessed the lack of stool he yelled out "Nope!" and started laughing hysterically again.
Speaking of bowel movements, he is also making them regularly on his potty. The other night he completed one, stood up and said "Did it mommy...pooped a lot!...five!", and he stuck out his hand for me to high five him. His other special skills include (but are not limited to): climbing out of the crib, climbing out of the shopping cart (even when strapped in tightly), climbing out of the stroller (even when tightly strapped in a 4-point harness), and climbing out of the high chair (even when strapped in tightly).
Max has the memory of an elephant. He remembers everything. Sometimes it scares me. When I take clothes out of storage that Max hasn't worn since he was a year old (he was much bigger than Ian) he throws a fit and says "hey, that's my shirt!" as he sees me putting his old shirt on Ian. He remembers names of people and stores that he hasn't seen or been to in months. A few months ago we bought him a train set on craigslist. A few days ago I found an extra box with some bridges and trains in it. When I gave them to Max he asked me where we got them. I told him we got them the day we drove to Phoenix and picked up his train set. He responded "oh yeah, we got them from Chris." Confused, I called J-P and asked him about it. He told me that the guy who posted the craigslist ad was named Chris and that he mentioned his name to me on the drive to pick up the trains.
Max is overcoming his fears and getting a little braver when it comes to swimming and getting close to animals. He is singing primary songs, rehearsing a few nursery rhymes, and expanding his talent of truck/vehicle identification. He always instructs Ian about the trucks and vehicles we see on our outings.
On a not-so-positive note, after his yearly check-up with the allergist we discovered that his peanut allergy has sky-rocketed. Not happy news. His dairy allergy has also gotten worse. He can have wheat now, which was much needed happy news after the blow about the peanut allergy. About 5 minutes before J-P walked in the door from his trip, Max took a bite of a cookie with walnuts in it. His whole body turned bright red and as soon as J-P walked in the door I handed Ian to him and whisked Max off to Urgent care. It was a horrible end to a horrible week and I barely kept it together.
I feel much better after a day of rest and relaxation. A big thanks to those that helped us out this last week. You are all life-savers. Check out the boys night out with aunt Sarah here.
