A Bit of Cyn

I think he likes cake, originally uploaded by cynandron.

My goodness. How is it possible that my little baby boy is two already? In many ways, I still see him as a baby. (Which may not be the best thing for him, but it is what it is.) He obviously is NOT a baby, but he’ll always be my baby.

It’s amazing that he has gone from this little guy who needed me for everything to this trying to be independent guy who still needs mom when he’s tired, hungry, not feeling well, or is frustrated that life isn’t going as he hoped. Oh, and for the lap to sit on for cuddling.

He has many, many words now! Thanks to all of those who told me to just wait and not worry. Sure enough, this guy is picking words up left and right. He’s using 2 word sentences and surprises me almost daily with what he knows/can say. He’s still “advanced” when it comes to large motor skill activities. He is oh so close to being able to pedal his trike. Sophia just learned last year when she was 3!

The boy loves art. His daycare always tells me how he tries to be first in line for any of the art activities because he loves it that much. At home he’s always asking to color, do playdough, glue or cut. (He can’t really cut yet, but he wants to!) He loves using chalk outside, too.

And, he is ALL boy. He is obsessed with trucks and buses. If he’s crying, I’ll get a book with either of these and almost always the tears are gone. His favorite song is E-I-E-I-O. He’ll tell you which animal is on the farm, too. LOL

Here are some answers to questions I ask him:

Drew, what’s your favorite shape? Oval.
Drew, what’s your favorite color? Blue (or octagon; I keep telling him that’s not a color but he doesn’t seem to care)
Drew, who’s your best friend? Angie (daycare teacher) or Heidi (daycare friend)
What’s your favorite song? E-I-E-I-O
What’s your favorite animal? Mooo (I think that means cow)

Here’s to you, Drew (and me, for giving birth to you and having a birthday myself tomorrow)! Happy Birthday, Little Big Boy!

Anyway, we’re heading to IA to meet up with some of Ron’s family tomorrow. Hope you all have a safe, happy, and fun Memorial Day Weekend!

Fish Tank, originally uploaded by cynandron.

Taken this morning. I figured since I wrote about the tank, I should supply a visual for the written. This is our 75 gallon tank, which currently holds 4 neon tetras and 5 black mollies. (We thought we were down to 4 black mollies, but one suddenly reappeared last night. Bizarre!) Anyway, we’re really enjoying the fish and fish tank. Even the kids want to be involved!

DH and I have a 75 gallon aquarium. This is our first attempt at fish. We got a steal on the aquarium, and DH has always wanted fish. We read up on preparing the tank and getting it ready for fish. This past weekend we went to what is supposed to be one of the best pet stores for fish in the Twin Cities. We talked to a couple people there to help us decide what to get and how many to cycle the tank.

We ended up getting 6 black mollies and 6 neon tetras. We lost a tetra almost immediately. We lost another tetra later that night. The next morning we could only find 5 black mollies. We couldn’t find it. We moved all the rocks, etc. thinking it HAD to be some where. We still haven’t found it. This morning, we are down to 4 black mollies and again, I can’t find the missing one any where. Any ideas where/what happened to the missing black mollies?!

Next issue…we had babies. I just happened to notice ONE baby fish this morning. Mind you, we just got these fish on Sunday so I am no expert! I’m assuming that the fish ate the other babies. We do have a separator so I put that in and moved the baby over there. However, a big fish got in some how and I can no longer find the baby. I think it got eaten.

I got online to determine sex of our fish. I think we have 3 males and 1 female black molly. (We’ll have to buy more females, I think.) The female seems to be laying low, hiding behind rocks and plants. Is she going to have more like today or tomorrow? Should I separate her out? I’m not sure what to do/what’s best for the fish. Our goal is/was not to breed, but now that there are babies, I want to protect them!!

TIA!!!

When I pick the kids up from daycare, there is always a note in their folder telling the parent about the day and what happened. I was so excited when I read Drew’s today. It said that they changed his diaper and asked him if he needed to potty. He didn’t want to. He came back to them 10-15 min. later saying he had to go, and he DID!! They were so excited, and so am I!

We’re trying to set a date for when the pacifiers are going away completely. It will probably be in a couple weeks. Sophia and Drew will be giving them up, without their consent. Sigh… A couple weeks after that (maybe a week) I’m thinking of going full force with potty training. He knows what to do and how to do it. (He’ll go at night as long as I go, too.) The only part that really worries me is pooping in the toilet. But, one thing at a time.

Still, I’m really proud of Drew and his potty training!

I have to say, I’ve actually enjoyed most of the day so far. And honestly, it’s surprised me. Today is Wednesday, which means I’m home with both kids today. Usually Wednesday’s are hectic, anxiety ridden days. I enjoy the kids, I do. But it doesn’t take much for me to lose my patience, pray that the day will end soon, and wish that Ron would just come home already.

Today has been much different. It helps that Sophia slept well last night. She had a full nights sleep and woke up in a good mood. Last night she told me she wanted to go to the Children’s Museum and I figured why not? We ate breakfast, the kids watched TV while I showered, and off we went. (We didn’t even fight about getting dressed! Now THAT’S a miracle.)

The kids walked, without whining, into the museum. They followed me. They listened when I asked/told them to do things. (Okay, let’s be real, some times they didn’t listen on the first command, but they did it without me yelling or losing it. Again, another miracle.) We played (Curious George is the new exhibit and so much fun!), and really had a good time. Drew ran into the Curious George exhibit and hugged the statue. It was so dang cute. I wish I had my camera. They made transitions fairly easily, which does not usually happen.

I think I was a bit smarter today in that we got there right as it opened, and we left before lunch time. We stopped at McDonald’s to eat. Both kids were quite well behaved, which again is different than usual when it comes to eating out. I got the kids home without any melt downs, screaming, yelling, threatening, etc. They even played together and laughed in the backseat of the car. It was really, really nice to listen to. We were back home before Drew’s nap, which I think also makes a difference.

I told Sophia how proud I was of her behavior today. How she did such a great job of listening and following directions. I told her I had a lot of fun with her, and that was really nice. She had a great smile on her face. It was really, really nice. We’ve decided that if the weather holds out, we’ll go kite-flying after Drew’s nap. Hopefully that’ll work out. It’ll be a fun activity for all of us. It would be nice to end the day on an up note!

I love my neighborhood. I may have said that before, but I really mean it. We moved to this house almost 3 years ago. We used to live just a 1.5 miles from here. I insisted that we buy a new house before we had another child. (And wouldn’t you know I got pregnant with Drew just 1 month after moving into this house? LOL) So we did.

We had no idea what this neighborhood would be like. I assumed it would be like our old one where nobody really paid much attention to anyone else. We all just did our own thing.

Life here is nothing like it was there! There are kids all over this block. They range in age, but that adds to the charm, if you ask me. One of our neighbors has a daughter 4 days younger than Sophia, and a son that’s 1 month older than Drew. How perfect, eh? And we like the parents.

Last night, one of our neighbors, who doesn’t even have kids, invited me to dinner with the neighbors I was just talking about. We went to a VERY nice restaurant. I mean, I’m not sure I’ve ever been to such a nice place. It was “friends and family” night, and this particular neighbor’s brother is the dining room manager. So we ate there at 50% off. And seriously, it was just amazing. Great company, great food, great staff. I can’t wait to go back!!

After last night, I find myself thinking how blessed I am to be living in this neighborhood. To have neighbors who are interested in me as a person, and being involved in my life. It’s such an amazing feeling.

Everyone talks about the benefits of homeownership. You aren’t throwing away a monthly payment, your building an investment, you can do what you want, when you want. The space is yours. But, there are downsides. Yard work, updating, and fixing anything that might break, when ever it breaks.

Take this weekend, for instance. Ron noticed water leaking from the water heater. There wasn’t a lot, but enough to know that something was happening. By Sunday there was a little bit more. Fun times. This morning we had a company come in and told us that we need a new water heater. Yay! So, that little trip Ron and I were hoping to take? Well, it’ll be postponed a bit. Ron was wanting to look at buying a motorcycle. Well, that’ll have to wait a while, too. All that “extra” money we had will be going to pay for our lovely, brand new water heater.

Every time I shower, I’ll think about how lovely our new water heater is, how hot the water is, how much more water we have (we increased the size). And I’ll try enjoy the hot water nearly as much as I would have enjoyed a little time away.

Tomorrow, I will be the parent of a four year old. A FOUR year old!! How can that be?! Seriously, it’s crazy. Looking back, it really DOES seem like four years (or more). But on the other hand, how could it have been four years already? Ugh, I’m so not ready for this.

Since Sophia won’t be at daycare tomorrow, they celebrated her birthday today. I brought in cupcakes for all the kids. They were so cute! All of them were so excited for the cupcakes and to help Sophia celebrate. The tradition is to have all the kids sit in a circle. They turn out the lights, turn a flashlight on, put it in the middle of the circle, while the birthday child walks around the “sun” (the flashlight) while holding a globe (representing the earth, obviously). Then the kids sing this song:

“The earth goes around the sun, tra la la, the earth goes around the sun.
The earth goes around the sun, tra la la, and (child’s name) turns one.”

You sing this song until you hit the child’s new age. It’s really kind of neat!

Then the birthday child passes around pictures; one from each year of that child’s life. Sophia loved doing this, telling all the kids “that one was when I was a baby, with my daddy.” Then we did the cupcakes.

As we were getting ready for the cupcakes, Sophia asked if Drew could help her celebrate, and have a cupcake with her. How could I say no? (Even though I knew it would just upset him more when I didn’t leave the building with him.) They sat right next to each other, eating their cupcakes. It melted my heart, that she wanted him there and that they were so happy with each other at that moment. *awwww* I got some good pictures, too.

I also got a great picture of her with her “marrying friend”, Jordan. Seriously, I think they’ve been talking about marrying each other for over 6 months. Though, they did call it off once, but have since decided to give it a go again. LOL I think all this talk is so cute at this age. They have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about which is part of what I find so cute. Anyway, I’m going to get the picture printed out and give one to his parents. (They love Sophia, so it’s kind of cute.) For the record, no one encourages this talk (as in parents), the kids just talk about it themselves.

Tomorrow we’re giving her a present: an Ariel baby to go with her other princess babies. She’ll love it!! My mom is taking her for the morning, alone, so I hope they really enjoy some alone time together. (I’m taking Drew to the doctor for a follow up on his tubes.) In the afternoon, our neighbors with kids the same age are coming over for a little, tiny celebration. It should be nice. We’ll be doing a party for both kids on May 12th. (Drew’s bday is May 25th, so it works out well to do them together.)

In other Phia news, I have to share something funny she said. We had just cleaned her room, and she look at all her stuffed animals and dolls and told Ron, “I have so many stuffed animals and stuffed people!” Ron looked at me, then back at her and said, “Um, we call them dolls. It’s okay to stuff animals, but we don’t stuff people. They’re dolls.” LOL