My jolly Ollie
First off, thank you, darling loves, for all your support for my New Year's post. I realized that I don't really think of myself as having a "mental health issue," as some people put it. I know there is stigma surrounding using drugs for anxiety or depression, but no one I love or care about attaches that stigma to it, so I don't. I'm not taking these drugs to fix whatever is wrong in my brain, I'm taking the drugs so that I don't haul off and bite out my husband's eye or say eff it, drop everything and move to the Bahamas to sell seashell soap. Thank you for the outpouring of love that I surprisingly received and shit, keep it coming! :)
Now, let's get to the reason I'm really here.
Everyone knows that as children age, they go through phases and stages. They'll say something extremely cute one day and the next day it's gone, replaced with something else - something either more womb-meltingly adorable or something brain-smashingly heinous. If someone had told me that even though I've made dreadful mistakes in my life, wronged people, lied, cheated and been an all-around nasty, obnoxious human being, as a loving mama, that I would still get to experience joys like these... Pfft. I wouldn't have believed them for a SECOND.
Favorite Christmas carols for 2013:
Fwossy da Noman (we especially love the "button nose")
Jingo Bewws
C is for Cookie, Where is Thumbkin and Old MacDonald (because those won't get old...oh, wait.)
Favorite Christmas movie for 2013:
Elf
Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol
Would not even TOUCH The Grinch. "Too scawy, Mama."
Favorite quote from Christmas Eve:
"Mama? Santa come down chimney? Yes o no?"
Favorite quote from Christmas Day:
(While opening his train set) "Dis is where da choo-choos live! Dis is where da choo-choos live!"
New Ollie-isms:
"Come get for me!" = Chase me
"Dat hurts my ear sound." = Too loud
"Trithmath" = Christmas
"Nopake" = Snowflake
"Lib-ary" = Mickey books
"Why-oshnis-tritch" = Rhinoceros
"Hanga-ber" = Hamburger
"Moncher" = Monster (we're very big into catching and chasing monsters right now. Get a flashlight and he's set for a while)
Favorite quotes over the whole month:
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Me: "Naw, we already have Mickey who's coming."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Me: "Nope, buddy. One's enough."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Me: "Ollie, if I hear you say you want to take Goofy to school one more time, no one is going to school with you!"
Pause...
Ollie: "I want to take Pluto to school."
In the car, on our way to daycare. Ollie wasn't happy and I wasn't impressed.
Ollie: "Mamaaaa...!!!"
Me: "Oh, Ollie, I know. You're a poor baby."
Ollie: "I'm not baby. I'm BIG BOY."
Me: (Gulp) "Yes, you are a big boy. Did you know that big boys sit on the potty and don't wear diapers?"
Ollie: "Big boys no diapers?"
Me: "Yup. So are you going to try at school today to sit on the potty?"
Ollie: "Yes, Mama! Sit on da potty!"
Olli (sitting in the bath): "I'm wearing water pants, Mama!"
Ollie: "Did you hear that, Mama?"
Me: "What?"
Ollie: "That was a toot!"
Me: "A what?!?"
Ollie: "A toot from my butt!"
Me: "Ollie, do you want to watch The Jungle Book?"
Ollie: "Wif da tigers dat go "raaarrr!" and da monkeys dat go "ooh ah ah?!?"
Me: "Yes!" (I show him the cover)
Ollie: "Mmm...I don't know about dat."
Current Phrases:
"What u talkin' 'bout?"
"Watch dis!"
"Dat match!" Or "Dis da same!"
"I know what to do!"
Calling us "guys," as in, "What animal should be on the farm, guys?"
Ollie also has a brand new bed. We finally swapped out the 4 in 1 crib-bed for a real-live big boy bed. It wasn't nearly as difficult a transition as we thought it would be. We made it a very big deal and he came to the store to pick out the bedding with us. Since the box spring made the bed too tall, Doug found a big board, cut it to size and we found some cheap Lightning McQueen fabric to staple to it. Ollie was STUNNED when it was all put together.
Ollie also got mono already this year. Yup. I'd say poor kid, but it never seemed to bother him. One night while I was bathing him, I noticed that the lymph nodes in his neck were gigantic. Because my dad has had Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma, I definitely had a very large, very silent panic attack while sitting there. We decided to take him to an urgent care the next morning, where the doctor found his spleen enlarged and did a mono test. Apparently it's very common - though misdiagnosed - in kids, because doctors treat it as strep, and kids get over it very quickly.
For a week, I was in a world of antibacterial wipes (HOW am I going to clean all the items that he's possibly touched in the last 6 weeks?), makeshift crockpot dinners that turned juicy pork chops into patio pavers, a "work from home" laptop stuck (literally) to the kitchen table, and dried old blue play-doh clumped in the placemat.
I was also in a world of imagination where trains can be conjured up with 2 kitchen chairs , giraffes stand in the kitchen waiting to be fed, picnics consist of plastic muffins and eggplants, cows are milked and mooing in the bedroom and my house is a standard size football field where Ollie perfects his touchdown dance.
Stay-at-home Moms, you are to be celebrated.
Work-from-home Moms, you are to be sainted.
Tired smile. :)
Yup, motherhood is hard, but isn't it a complete blessing? While Ollie is in the terrible twos, as he reaches the gruesome threes and even when he settles into the horrible, no-good, very bad teen years, I'm going to try to remember all the cute things he's said and these times:
When he chased me around the house yelling,
"Wanna pay wif my toys, Mama?"
"Wanna pay twain and go to da zoo, Mama?"
"Wanna watch dis wideo wif me, Mama?"
When he arranged the kitchen chairs behind each other, gave me a "firetruck" hat and mardi gras beads to wear and punched my ticket to ride on the train.
When he invited me to have cake on his bath towel on the living room floor so he could present me with his car, Lightning McQueen, on a plate.
Sigh of happiness.
Tonight we're attending his very first concert. At 5:00, all the parents of the toddlers and the Discovery Preschool kids (mine) are going to sit and hear music from our littles. I can hardly contain my excitement. Don't worry, there will be pictures. Aren't there always?
Love.
Now, let's get to the reason I'm really here.
This kid.
Everyone knows that as children age, they go through phases and stages. They'll say something extremely cute one day and the next day it's gone, replaced with something else - something either more womb-meltingly adorable or something brain-smashingly heinous. If someone had told me that even though I've made dreadful mistakes in my life, wronged people, lied, cheated and been an all-around nasty, obnoxious human being, as a loving mama, that I would still get to experience joys like these... Pfft. I wouldn't have believed them for a SECOND.
Favorite Christmas carols for 2013:
Fwossy da Noman (we especially love the "button nose")
Jingo Bewws
C is for Cookie, Where is Thumbkin and Old MacDonald (because those won't get old...oh, wait.)
Favorite Christmas movie for 2013:
Elf
Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol
Would not even TOUCH The Grinch. "Too scawy, Mama."
Favorite quote from Christmas Eve:
"Mama? Santa come down chimney? Yes o no?"
Favorite quote from Christmas Day:
(While opening his train set) "Dis is where da choo-choos live! Dis is where da choo-choos live!"
New Ollie-isms:
"Come get for me!" = Chase me
"Dat hurts my ear sound." = Too loud
"Trithmath" = Christmas
"Nopake" = Snowflake
"Lib-ary" = Mickey books
"Why-oshnis-tritch" = Rhinoceros
"Hanga-ber" = Hamburger
"Moncher" = Monster (we're very big into catching and chasing monsters right now. Get a flashlight and he's set for a while)
Favorite quotes over the whole month:
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Me: "Naw, we already have Mickey who's coming."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Me: "Nope, buddy. One's enough."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Ollie: "I want to take Goofy to school."
Me: "Ollie, if I hear you say you want to take Goofy to school one more time, no one is going to school with you!"
Pause...
Ollie: "I want to take Pluto to school."
In the car, on our way to daycare. Ollie wasn't happy and I wasn't impressed.
Ollie: "Mamaaaa...!!!"
Me: "Oh, Ollie, I know. You're a poor baby."
Ollie: "I'm not baby. I'm BIG BOY."
Me: (Gulp) "Yes, you are a big boy. Did you know that big boys sit on the potty and don't wear diapers?"
Ollie: "Big boys no diapers?"
Me: "Yup. So are you going to try at school today to sit on the potty?"
Ollie: "Yes, Mama! Sit on da potty!"
Olli (sitting in the bath): "I'm wearing water pants, Mama!"
Ollie: "Did you hear that, Mama?"
Me: "What?"
Ollie: "That was a toot!"
Me: "A what?!?"
Ollie: "A toot from my butt!"
Me: "Ollie, do you want to watch The Jungle Book?"
Ollie: "Wif da tigers dat go "raaarrr!" and da monkeys dat go "ooh ah ah?!?"
Me: "Yes!" (I show him the cover)
Ollie: "Mmm...I don't know about dat."
Current Phrases:
"What u talkin' 'bout?"
"Watch dis!"
"Dat match!" Or "Dis da same!"
"I know what to do!"
Calling us "guys," as in, "What animal should be on the farm, guys?"
Ollie also has a brand new bed. We finally swapped out the 4 in 1 crib-bed for a real-live big boy bed. It wasn't nearly as difficult a transition as we thought it would be. We made it a very big deal and he came to the store to pick out the bedding with us. Since the box spring made the bed too tall, Doug found a big board, cut it to size and we found some cheap Lightning McQueen fabric to staple to it. Ollie was STUNNED when it was all put together.
Ollie also got mono already this year. Yup. I'd say poor kid, but it never seemed to bother him. One night while I was bathing him, I noticed that the lymph nodes in his neck were gigantic. Because my dad has had Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma, I definitely had a very large, very silent panic attack while sitting there. We decided to take him to an urgent care the next morning, where the doctor found his spleen enlarged and did a mono test. Apparently it's very common - though misdiagnosed - in kids, because doctors treat it as strep, and kids get over it very quickly.
For a week, I was in a world of antibacterial wipes (HOW am I going to clean all the items that he's possibly touched in the last 6 weeks?), makeshift crockpot dinners that turned juicy pork chops into patio pavers, a "work from home" laptop stuck (literally) to the kitchen table, and dried old blue play-doh clumped in the placemat.
I was also in a world of imagination where trains can be conjured up with 2 kitchen chairs , giraffes stand in the kitchen waiting to be fed, picnics consist of plastic muffins and eggplants, cows are milked and mooing in the bedroom and my house is a standard size football field where Ollie perfects his touchdown dance.
Stay-at-home Moms, you are to be celebrated.
Work-from-home Moms, you are to be sainted.
Tired smile. :)
Yup, motherhood is hard, but isn't it a complete blessing? While Ollie is in the terrible twos, as he reaches the gruesome threes and even when he settles into the horrible, no-good, very bad teen years, I'm going to try to remember all the cute things he's said and these times:
When he chased me around the house yelling,
"Wanna pay wif my toys, Mama?"
"Wanna pay twain and go to da zoo, Mama?"
"Wanna watch dis wideo wif me, Mama?"
When he arranged the kitchen chairs behind each other, gave me a "firetruck" hat and mardi gras beads to wear and punched my ticket to ride on the train.
When he invited me to have cake on his bath towel on the living room floor so he could present me with his car, Lightning McQueen, on a plate.
Sigh of happiness.
Tonight we're attending his very first concert. At 5:00, all the parents of the toddlers and the Discovery Preschool kids (mine) are going to sit and hear music from our littles. I can hardly contain my excitement. Don't worry, there will be pictures. Aren't there always?
Love.
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