Sassing his Mama

My little E. bear at 10.5 months of age is sassy. When he is getting into something he shouldn't, and you say, "Ethan no." He stops what he is doing (most of the time) and gives you the raspberries. I don't know where this came from, but it is pretty naughty. My Mom thinks it is the funniest thing as she was trying it out on him yesterday when we went out for lunch. We'll see how funny she thinks it is when it is her time to babysit this Monday.

E. bear will also clap when you say, "good boy." It is super cute. He is applauding himself.

Another sign that Ethan will be a handful as he gets older is he sort of pushes the other children at Kindermusik around. Head butting is his method of greeting other children, which is okay when it is the cats, dog, or 5 year old cousin. However, I suspect other parents in the class don't look so fondly upon it when it is their 10 month old baby. He will also push his way in to make sure he can see the book the teacher is reading or to get himself a space at the floor drum. I'm glad to see that he is assertive and not shy, but I don't want him to turn into a bully. And I don't want to stop him from trying to make friends and I'm afraid if I stop him from head butting he will stop trying to play with other children. I don't want him to develop some sort of social anxiety because I put a stop to his chosen method of showing affection.

How do you discipline a 10.5 month old?

Hi Penny, this is Josh. Here's how to make a link. Love, Josh

Tagged

So I've been tagged by Eric over at Squished Frog.

Here's what I'm "supposed" to do: 1.) Link to the person who tagged you. (See random fact #1) 2.) Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours. 3.) Post the rules on your blog. 4). Share 7 weird/random things about yourself. 5.) Tag 7 random people at the end of your post (See random fact #2).

1. I have no idea how to do a pretty link in my blog. I know how to paste a url in but I don't know how to make it say Eric with an underline so it will take you to his blog.
2. I read lots of blogs, but I don't know any of the people. I'm a cyber stalker.
3. My stupid human trick is the gorlin sign. (You will just have to google that if you want to know).
4. I haven't met anyone famous.
5. I'm tone deaf.
6. I have Ophidiophobia, which I blame my parents for since they took me to see Indiana Jones in the theater. I have a very vivid memory of sitting in my car seat watching the snake pit scene.
7. I'm kind of granola crunchy.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday. Sigh. I don't want to get older. I want to be young, healthy, free of aches and pains, free to eat whatever I want forever. I can't believe I'm the responsible one now. I have a house, baby, husband, pets, 3 soon to be 4 jobs, car payments, aches and pains, sleepless nights, the list of responsiblities could just go on and on. I'm sure I'll look back 10 years from now and think if I only knew then how good I had it, like I do now looking back on my 20s.

I do enjoy my life. I love watching Ethan explore the house and walk with his walker and cuddle up with me after nursing. I like my house and new car. And my husband is fabulous. I just have to keep reminding myself of all of that when Ethan is throwing a temper tantrum because he doesn't want what I'm trying to feed him and he can't tell me what he wants or when one of the cats pukes on the rug and I have to use my leg to keep Ethan out of it while scrubbing with my hands while pushing the other cat away from it. Or when I look in the mirror and see my belly and think ugh.

I've been trying to make an effort to eat more whole grains and veggies this new year. So far we've discovered we like quinoa and kale isn't so bad. I need to work on finding better things to eat for lunch and to stop snacking on candy during the day.

I hope 2008 is a fabulous year. Other than Ethan's arrival I wasn't a fan of 2007.

Happy Birthday Me!

Lucky boy

When I was growing up the Patriots were awful. So bad in fact that my parents continued to root for the Redskins and Buffalo Bills even though it had been years since they lived in those regions. The Red Sox seemed pretty pathetic too.

During Ethan's first year of life the Red Sox have won a world series and the Patriots are systematically dismantling and stomping on every team they play. Ethan's a luck boy.

We're in trouble now

Ethan started walking on Monday at the ripe old age of 10 months and 2 days. He pushes his fire engine, walking stroller, or the stool around the house. We spent at least an hour on Tuesday doing laps around the house. My back was killing me from leaning over to assist him in turning when he got to a wall or got stuck. If you are in front of him and he is walking towards you, he just has the biggest, happiest grin on his face. I am just amazed every day. However, much to my dismay he has started to climb the stairs. It used to be that I could run upstairs to brush my teeth or grab some socks and he would wait at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me. However, on Wednesday he was sitting on the first step. It took me a second to realize that he wasn't on the floor, and as I ran down the stairs, he fell off backwards. I caught him just as he fell, so he didn't bump his head. But I nearly had a heart attack.

One last piece of news is that after 19 months and 6 days I got my period again. It actually made me sad to see it (and also a bit relieved). It made me sad because my body is finally finished with Ethan's pregnancy and ready physically for another. Physically yes, mentally noooooo. But still it is another phase in the ending of the special bond Ethan and I shared. I imagine that when we finish breast feeding, I will be even more sad, because that will be the last physical connection I will have to him. After that he will be independent of me. Of course, he will still need me, but it will be different from the pregnancy and life as an infant where he relied upon my body to nurture him.

Big Boy Carseat

We made the move out of the infant carseat today into the bigger carseat. No more carrying him in his carseat or using the infant stroller. With a baby it seems like there is a milestone a week.

I never have time to blog these days and it is only going to get worse as I pick up 2 teaching jobs for the semester. Crazy busy. Hopefully, I can handle everything.

I had thought about writing a blog about my new year resolutions or what i'm looking forward to in 2008. However, I haven't even had time to think of resolutions or the future year. It is all I can do to get the household stuff and entertain Ethan done during the day. No Penny time. I should give up tv watching and do something more productive for myself, but tv watching is too easy and requires no thought. I keep thinking that if i was better organized I'd have more time and feel less stressed. Plus I don't think that would really help.

Oh, and i'm a boring blogger.