Stuck

I've been running around like a crazy lady this week. Lots of wonderful school stuff happening that keeps me busy, but also James is keeping his Mama and Dada up at night! He's had his off days where he gets up several times in the middle of the night. I'm thinking night terrors. Poor James!

We had a fun weekend. On Saturday we went to breakfast early. Here James is eating his oatmeal and playing with his sugar packets. (Who knew they could keep him busy for so long?)


It was funny because when we arrived at Carole's that morning, in the parking lot, James said, "ChaCha!...Donkey!" like he was expecting his Tia and Tio to join us. He must have remembered the last weekend and associated a restaurant with his Tia and Tio. I thought at that moment that he'd happy with the afternoon plans then :)

After breakfast we went back to the Eagle's Nest park in New Brighton for some good play time.




Dada stands guard.








James played peek a boo with another boy.


He LOVES the ball pit!

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We took James to the big boy area of the park, following him through the tunnels and obstacles. It was hard work keeping up with him! It was also hard on our "old" knees.


Here's Dada in the tunnel.






Looking down at Dada below.


Snacktime!


James was very nice to the other kids. He let them enter the ball area. Nice!


"Who you pointing at?"


James' thick hair doesn't stand up on end like this.


We went home for naptime and soon after James woke up, Tia ChaCha and Tio Rich (Donkey) came over for play and dinner. Tia ChaCha played basketball with James. James is actually very good at making baskets! He stands a little distance away from the net and throws.

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Sunday: Hurricane James comes through the living room. Luckily, James likes to clean up when we sing the "Clean Up!" song. (The song consists of these lyrics: "Clean up!" "Clean up!" Haha.)


WARNING: Possibly gross POOP story below
Okay, so now about the funniest toddler moment thus far. I was reading books with James on Tuesday night when suddenly James stood up and got a pained look on his face and said, "Mama..! Poop!"

So we looked down his diaper to see if he had pooped. Nope.
A few seconds later, "Mama! Poop... stuck. Stuck!" (We didn't even know James knew that word.)

So we looked down his diaper again and saw a poop rearing its little head out of his small butt.
I guess James was having a hard time with his poop. He started to do squats and these cute little pelvic thrusts, probably to work the poop out.

When he looked done, I asked, "James, did you poop? Do you want to change your diaper?"

He enthusiastically said "Yeah!" and helped to get a diaper from the basket and then laid on the ground to be changed.

So... yeah, we're ready to think about potty training. He's become very aware of poop, wanting to be clean, and holding his pee for longer periods of time (I guess another sign of being ready). We're off to find a potty seat for James this weekend! I think we've been thinking about getting one for a while now, but now its official.

POOP STORY DONE

I'm sure there are other good James moments to share, but I'm forgetting them at this moment. Come back soon for updates!

Good Mama

I tried to be the best Mama I could be tonight. (I insisted Jim go to pool tonight, since he skipped last week.) From the minute we got home from daycare, it was all about James. We played. We went outside and played. We read books. We ate the same food- leftovers and PB&J. We read some more books. We colored. We played with his cups and other objects. We watched 15 minutes of TV only, right before bedtime. James fussed at going upstairs, and he fussed some more in the bath, but I got him to giggle as I tickled him and put on his lotion. Or "otion" as he calls it.

Oh, I can only remember James peeing one other time in the bath, but he did it tonight. He actually TOLD me and I looked down to see him pee slightly. He said, "Poop, Mama" and he peed standing up. I continued to rinse him off and didn't make a big deal of it. I actually thought it was cute that he told me.

Here are just a few pictures from outside. I didn't get too many pictures because it was just me with James outside. I also need to live in the moment a bit more! I didn't capture James on the sled. I pulled him up and down the driveway- it slopes a little and if I ran down, we hit a nice slope and James would say "Weeeee!"







James giggled when I picked up snow and threw it at him.



I need to go and watch more inauguration footage and cry with happiness.

Dear James

Dear James,
You have a new president today! I'm so happy that when you finally know what a President is, you'll know Barack Obama. He will be your first President and you'll grow up knowing a person of color can do ANYTHING. What a wonderful world!

Your future is great. You can do anything and we will support and love you always.
Love,
Mama and Dada

Don't Worry, Be Happy

That's James's new phrase :) Don't worry, be happy!!

I hope everyone had a great MLK Day yesterday. I took my group of students yesterday, along with 10 students from each middle and high school, to St. Paul for the march and rally. It was a good day.



I'm struggling to get a good feed online of the pre-inauguration events. I may need to go home to watch! Seriously.

Well, James is sleeping about the same- occasional great nights, and then 2-3 wake-ups on other nights. There doesn't seem to be a good reason. His eating is okay. His behavior is getting worse. When he is crabby, he is extremely crabby. I know we spoil him, maybe indulge him, so I am determined to be consistent with what he is allowed and not allowed to do. No more foraging in the pantry whenever he wants, no more picky eating, and it is not a terrible thing to let him cry. I even had him in a time-out yesterday because he was VERY defiant and he (purposely?) gave me a good smack to the face. Umm yeah, that's not happening. So I put him in a time-out and had to keep picking him up and returning him to that spot. I need to work on it. I hate to think that we need a permanent time-out location. I mentioned all this to Sandra this morning and she was in disbelief. He never acts up at daycare. Well, from the other Moms, I hear that THEIR kids do the same, so I know kids save it for their parents :)

Saturday morning, in pajamas:







A tantrum started because I wouldn't let him hold my camera.

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Later that morning we experimented with Crayola Tadoodle paint balls. I wasn't impressed with this product. The paint was very inconsistent. James had a good time though.





On Sunday morning we headed to Edinborough Park in Edina. They have a GREAT indoor play area. The structure was several levels high. James is too little to explore on his own, so his Mama and Dada took turns escorting him up. He LOVED it. Lots of climbing, obstacles, tunnels, and slides.

James starts the climb up.



Dada follows.





Hiya Mama!

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After Edinborough, we met Bucka, Bucko, Tia ChaCha, and Tio Rich (Donkey) for brunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Yum.

In the car, James started to get crabby. I was amusing him with this monkey while we waited for Dada to get Caribou treats. James was NOT amused.




Later in the day, we had fun with chalk! Tia ChaCha is brilliant and found this chalkboard mat (like a tablecloth) so James can draw with chalk anytime he wants! It washes off so easily and rolls up for easy storage. James LOVES it! We had a great time drawing shapes and animals.



James found one of my toys. Jim found this old school Little Professor a couple of years ago. James found it and has liked pushing the buttons.







Lately James has loved playing with cups, bottles, spoons, etc. Here he is using Dada as a table :)

Star Wars summarized

This is told by someone who has never seen the complete movie, but only bits and pieces.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone that's never seen it) - watch more funny videos

I thought Jim would find this funny.

Hmmmm

James' new obsession- Oobi:


A normal Oobi episode is usually at Oobi's home, he's playing with his sister Uma or has some other family drama. Its like Oobi speaks "toddler" because he speaks in very short sentences. I guess James can relate?

I grabbed Mr. Potato Head's eyes and pretended to be Oobi. James loved it for a few minutes and even put the eyes on his hand. It was funny.

James screamed again at bathtime. I had to hold him tight to get him to stop crying. We don't know what's happened because he used to LOVE LOVE his bath.

Sleep update

Well, the penguin humidifier did work!!! For one night... James slept through the night on Sunday and we were thrilled. We hoped it would continue but it did not. He woke up several times on Monday and Tuesday, but not as bad as the week before. We've had some crabby toddler issues right before bedtime- he hates his teeth brushed and has been less enthusiastic about bedtime and baths. Last night was the worst screaming I have heard and at bathtime! I was so surprised. I could hear Jim struggling to give James his bath last night, so I went up and we ended up tag teaming to get his pajamas on him and then calm him down for night-night. The two of us worked well as a team, but it was so frustrating! Where is our happy boy?!

Last night James woke up twice a little bit after bedtime, and then again at 10:30. We had just fallen asleep ourselves and we thought, OH NO, its going to be a long night! But James slept peacefully through the rest of the night. Wasn't too bad, but sleep issues are still present.

Food issues are still with us too. He's been refusing the toddler appropriate foods I put in front of him, not really eating any meats or vegies. We gave up on the gummy vitamins (too chewy and tough), the vitamin drops were horrid tasting, and so now we have the First Flinstones that are chewable. James likes to play and throw them while in his highchair. I finally smashed one to powder and snuck it in his applesauce. Yay! James got some vitamins yesterday! I won't worry so much about the eating, but I'll still try, if I can continue this.

Well, we're doing the best that we can. James is a happy boy otherwise!

James had some creative play last night. He grabbed this little jar of au jus from the pantry and pretended to mix a drink in his Elmo cup. We are saying it is chocolate milk, but I'm thinking he's a future DrinkMaster for our parties.

I had to upload this video differently because I'm at work, on my lunch break.