I awoke to rain and a toddler who refused to go to school. I knew the latter was crucial since said toddler would not be getting out of the house due to the former, so I started the long process of getting a writhing child out the door in a timely fashion. He’s usually very excited to go to school, so this was a little weird to me. He was adamant that he was not down with school today, not cool with walking to the car, and generally just “vewy angwy!”

And you know me - I started to wonder what awful thing had happened at school that made him so upset about going. Had a classmate been mean to him and the teacher didn’t help? Had he gotten into trouble and no one told me? Had he gotten hurt?

So as we drove there I continued to ask him why he didn’t want to go. I started talking about how they would get to go to the “big room” to play instruments since it was raining outside, and then he yelled, “No! I NOT want to pway Duckduckgoose!”

“Oh, did you play Duck-Duck-Goose at school?”

“Yes. It raining and I NOT want to pway.” Aha, so on rainy days they not only go to the big room for instruments, but also for games. That was a relief.

But then, about four seconds later, I started up again - Wait, why does he hate Duck-Duck-Goose so much? Does nobody pick him as the goose? Is he always the first one “out”? Do they put him in “the pot?” Oh God, they shame him and make him sit in the pot so that all the other kids can sit around him in the circle and stare at him because he was out first. He’s already having sport-related school anxiety! He’s going to hate gym. He’s going to have stomach aches on Field Day. He’s going to be like my brother and run himself into a wall to break his arm so that he can get out of P.E. because a shattered ulna feels better than the shame of being a non-athlete . . .

“You put your hands on the heads and I NOT want them to touch my head.”

“What?”

“I NOT WANT THEM TO TOUCH MY HEAD!”

“You mean you don’t like Duck-Duck-Goose because they touch your head? It’s not because of the part where you have to run around the circle and get chased and sit in the pot if you are out?”

“No, that a wittle fun. Running part is fun. I just not want them to touch my head.”

” . . . Ohhhhhh.”

When I picked him up two hours later I looked in the window to see Sam happily sitting in a circle with his hand stuck out so that the kid who was the ducker could walk by and tap him high five style - “Gooooooose!” - and Sam running and laughing around and around the whole room as the teachers tried to direct the two boys to at least head in the general direction of the circle, which had really spread out into something more like a line. There was no “out,” no “pot,” and absolutely no shame.

Labels: Learn More Every Day, Tales, Talking, The Big One

The other day, in a moment of awesome maturity, I called my husband and held up the phone so that he could hear the sound of both children screaming for several minutes. They were sort of trying to outdo each other…well, Sam was trying to outdo Robby, and Robby didn’t like it. Anyway, I’d been listening to both of them scream and cry with absolutely nothing I could do about for about ten minutes. Finally I just started laughing at the ridiculousness of it and called him, you know, just cuz. We couldn’t even hear each other.

Sam has been sick this past week (again!), and it makes him very clingy(understandably so). When he gets like this he sometimes just wants me to hold him and let him sit on my lap. Somehow, this act has acquired its own name because he asks to do it when he’s upset and needs to calm down. Now, when he wants me to pick him up and put him in my lap he walks around saying, “I need Mommy to chill me out.”

Chillin’

Labels: Mommyhood, Pictures, Talking, The Big One

A few nights ago we heard Sam yelling in his bed. I ran in to see if I could help him back to sleep. He was dreaming, having a nightmare I suppose, and he often talks in his sleep. And he kept crying, “That mine! Give it back!” It wasn’t in the way he would usually say something like that when awake; he was more sad and less angry. He seemed truly upset and hurt by whatever was happening in his mind. I got him back to sleep in just a few minutes, but it left me very sad.

I know we can’t shield our kids from everything and that it’s not healthy to do so anyway. But as I walked out of his room I couldn’t help but wonder where in his life he is experiencing a situation that would cause him to have nightmares about people taking things from him. He goes to school for a whopping four hours a week. He loves it and never wants to come home. His teachers talk about what a great day he had every time I pick him up. And those four hours are the only time that he isn’t with me during the week. I just wish I knew who he was speaking to in his dream, what they had taken, and most of all, what I could do to fix it.

It’s hard to let go.

Labels: Talking, The Big One

There’s a theme, a lovely theme for Sam’s best quotes of the week:

“It a big boogie; it have long arms!” and

“I have bigger boogies than Robby.” Leave it to an older brother to find competition in snot size.

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Now, I have a question for ya’ll. I was thinking about starting a book group here on my blog - “Total Mom Bookclub,” perhaps. It would be one of those things where we vote on a book, preferably one that is mom-related (I have a whole stack of possibilities - that’s what gave me the idea), we set some dates to discuss sections, then I post about the book, and we discuss it in the comments for the post on those dates. Others could also post about the book and we could link back and forth. Would anyone be interested in doing something like that? I don’t need a full blown commitment, I just want to know if anyone else might be intrigued by the idea. More details to follow.

Labels: Bodily functions, Brothers, Talking, The Big One

Pretty sure we can give credit to my husband for the little gem that Sam picked up this week:

“I NOT gonna change my mind, so DEAL wif it!” Excellent.

Although, he did tell me I was his best friend as he went to sleep last night, so I guess I can deal with it . . . sort of.

Of course, after he told me I was his best friend I snuggled up close to him and gave him big hugs and kisses, feeling all emotional and telling him he was mine too. He responded, “Mommy, move back over there.  That too close.”

Labels: Talking, The Big One

Yesterday Sam totally caught me sneaking M&Ms. I don’t know what I was thinking; I knew he was on my tail as I headed into the kitchen. But you know how it is - once you decide you want something there’s just no stopping yourself. I was tired and I have a cold and the day was dragging on. Then, all of a sudden, I remembered this tube of M&Ms I had hidden in the cookie jar from Christmas, and I made a break for it.

Sam was close on my heals as I raced around the bend to get to the cookie jar and retrieve some chocolatey goodness. I had my back to the door, but I knew he was in the kitchen with me and watching. As quietly as I could I poured myself a handful, but who am I kidding? I don’t think Sam has ever even had them before, but the kid knew it was a good sound, that satisfying tap tap tap of candy falling into a cupped hand.

He walked up to me as I tried to subtly hide them behind my back. He kept trying to peek around as I continued to turn in the same direction, obviously caught but not willing to admit it.

“I want some . . . what you got?” he said as he ran around me to see what I was hiding.

“Hmmm?” chew chew gulp “What do you mean?”

“What you got? I want that.”

And I knew I was busted, so I showed him the little circles of green and red (Christmas, remember?) and his eyes lit up.

“What that?!” and we shared some M&Ms. Actually, by the end he was saying he would NOT share with me, and it was more like both of us racing to eat them out of my hand as fast as we could before the other person could take them. I know, nice example I’m setting here. But hey, when you decide you want something there’s no stopping, right?

Labels: Mommyhood, Talking, The Big One

I didn’t have a favorite Sam quote from this week until we were going to bed last night, and then it was obvious.

“You happy, Mommy?”

“Yeah, I’m happy honey.  Are you happy?”

“Yeah, I lotta happy.  Let’s snuggle.”

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And for those of you waiting for an update on this, they’re pulling her blog off of their website, the whole thing.  So I’m a whole lotta happy.

Labels: Talking, The Big One