Mr. Independent

Two nights ago Little Guy moved up to the toddler bed. He had heaved himself over the crib rail twice the night before, so we thought it was about time. It has been rough.

First of all, he doesn't ever want to go to bed so since nothing is physically keeping him in there and he gets as he pleases. Secondly, he knows how to control all of the electronics in his room, so he can turn those on and off whenever. LG makes me weary. Night one went horribly and I ended up sleeping in his bed with him for a couple of hours. Keep in mind this is just his crib with the side taken off. Not exactly big enough for an adult and a toddler who likes to spread out. Night two went better, but there were many tears shed. With that in mind, I was not looking forward to naptime today. I stick LG in his bed, we read some books, then I left. The yelling started out as "Noooooooo, Mommy! Open door!" and then simply to "I cryin'!". Then nothing. Complete silence. I listened on the monitor as I began to hear sounds of playing. One and a half hours hours later I finally got him out of his room! He never took a nap. Ugh. At least he was happy the whole time, but that is definitely not a habit that I want to start.

Little Guy has also discovered how to open the freezer drawer. It started out as just bringing me popcicles to open for him. It has now evolved into him getting out ice for the dog to eat, and frozen broccoli and fishsticks for himself. Isn't that nasty? I'm annoyed that this is even a problem. I have decided that since he is so happy alone in his room for hours and since he likes his food frozen I can just throw a box of fish sticks in his room and go out for a few hours. Right? OK, maybe not.

Oh no...

So, today I am getting ready for our weekend trip to see extended family. I have been running around the house like crazy all morning because once lunchtime hits I rarely get much else done. I went out in the garage to put the dog's stuff in my car so we can drop her off at the boarder. Then I came inside and double checked my packing list and fiddled around with my big pile of stuff that we are taking with us. Very faintly I hear a little "Mommy..." It is really far away sounding, which is weird because I thought Little Guy was sitting on the couch watching cartoons. I look on the couch. No Little Guy. I call "Where are yoooooooou?"
"I here!"
"Where?"
"I HERE"
He was in the garage. You know, the place with all the dangerous tools, chemicals, and creepy crawly creatures. Poor guy, his own mother closed him out in the garage. He wasn't upset at all. His tricycle is out there, so I am pretty sure he was happily riding in circles the whole time.

Hopefully I can go the rest of the day without losing him again.

Weemer the Worm

We had a fun afternoon planting some plants that have been sitting out on the back deck for way too long. At first, Little Guy wasn't too sure that he wanted to hang out next to the house when there was a whole yard to run around in. Then I started digging. There were lots of worms right under the weed barrier sine the soil was very damp. I handed one to Little Guy to occupy him while I got the plants ready. He loved it! Of course, after about 30 seconds of holding it he got squeamish and threw it on the ground. "Weemer jump!" I couldn't help but laugh! He can say "worm" just fine, but I guess this one's name was Weemer. Then he wanted a new worm. We repeated this several times until I was done digging holes. In case you were wondering, they were all named Weemer, and they are all very good at jumping. I can guarantee we will be outside looking for more worms tomorrow!

More Adventures with Little Guy

Tonight Little Guy and I made baked corn dogs. He dumped ingredients in a bowl and stirred, and I chopped and measured. We are quite a team! It was all going well until he accidentally flung a spoonful of the dry cornmeal up in the air. Little Guy tasted a little of it and decided it was "dross" (gross) and lost interest in cooking. The corn dogs turned out pretty good! And while they are most certainly not health food, they are not nearly as bad as regular corn dogs. I used fat free turkey dogs so that made them a little better. With fruit salad and chips, it was the perfect summer dinner.
Today I did a very mom-ish thing. I tried to put my groceries in someone else's trunk. Granted, it belonged to a car that looked exactly like mine, and was parked directly next to mine, but still. I felt really stupid when I realized why my keys were not working in the lock. I don't think that there is any experience that can compare to finally getting out to your car with a cart full of groceries after spending an hour in the store with a toddler who likes to run away. The sheer relief is immeasurable. Speaking of which, Little Guy did run away last Friday. He frequently makes attempts, but has never gotten too far. This time he did. He slipped in front of our cart at Walmart and went running down the front of the store before I knew it. I seriously panicked. He never left my sight, but he was way too far away for my comfort. A checker caught up with Little Guy before I could and scooped him up in her arms. "I'm a pretty good grandma, huh?" she said with a laugh. I felt rotten. Partly because I was so freaked out by the situation, and partly because someone else had to be the one to grab my kid. The cashier was very gracious about the whole thing, but honestly it didn't make me feel much better. I wish I had the option of not even taking him shopping with me any more because it is really becoming an unpleasant task.
Has anyone lost their kid in a store, or remember getting lost as a child? I remember being really afraid of getting lost as a little kid, so maybe that adds to my anxiety.

Little Treasures

Since Little Guy is so into the ABC's I thought that I would gather up his alphabet magnets so that he could play with them. This meant digging under the fridge. So I got a stick and slid it under there a few times. This was not easy considering that there were huge chunks of dust clogging everything up. All of a sudden, something plastic shot out from the left side of the refrigerator. I assumed it was a letter and kept digging. Then I looked at my little pile. Among the alphabet letters and dust chunks there was something else. They were little Perler Bead projects. Four of them. Considering the fact that the previous owners of this house have children in their late twenties, it is safe to assume that they had been under there for a loooong time. Like at least 15 years. I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe this is a sign that I need to clean a little more often.

Ta Da!

I got something HUGE done last night! I have been trying to decorate/organize my kitchen for over a year now, but it is finally done. Last week I started to repaint my kitchen wall that I had so much trouble with. Coincidentally, Claudia over at Highlowaha challenged her readers to work on an area of their house for 15 minutes a day this week. Well, that was just perfect! Here are my results.
This is the little wall that has been so annoying for so long. I still have to paint some of the white trim and fix the irregular area where the wall and counter touch, but otherwise it is done. I guess I need another apron too, huh?This isn't very impressive looking, but it would be if I had thought to take a before picture. The bottom shelf is all of Little Guy's dishes, and the rest is just junk that I didn't know what to do with. Organized junk though. Before I cleaned it out, things were literally falling out when I opened the door.
This is my spice cabinet. Again, not too impressive, but a big improvement. It is so much easier to find stuff now.

Twoishness

Little Guy must lay awake at night thinking of ways to test me, and then get up early to figure out how he can act cute to make up for it.

-I have had to tie my dining room chairs to the table. Literally tie them. Little Guy was constantly dragging them into the kitchen to get into things he shouldn't, and I was going batty trying to keep him away from them. In his quest for bubbles, cookies, and jelly beans he was willing to do whatever it took to get them. Even if it meant rearranging furniture while whining "I waaaaaant!"

-Today he was watching Ernie and Bert (or Burp, as he is known at our house) and they were talking on a banana like a telephone. He got up, crawled up on a chair, got a banana, and started talking on it! It was pretty funny. I only wish that I was able to understand who he was talking to!

- Little Guy has also started to not ever want me to sit down. He grabs both of my hands and starts whining. "I help you" It was a little cute the first time, but I am so over it. I already have to hide to eat and use the bathroom. I don't need any more "help", thanks.

- As a proud momma, I need to brag for a sec. Little Guy knows how to identify most of his letters! It is so fun to read his alphabet books with him and then have him "read" them back to us. I know it is just memorization at this point, but I think it is kinda cool.