john's mom works

before and after haircut last saturday you may have found yourself asking, "where have you been, john's mom?" (if you really found yourself asking that, please please please find a hobby. we love you, but you need something to fill your time!) but where have we been? we've been juggling. last weekend john got a haircut - he was instantly transformed from rakish ragamuffin to dapper young lad, and altho he's cute as heck, i can't pretend i don't miss the mop a little bit. oh, well, it'll grow back quickly and he'll be a muss-headed tousled mess again. sunday afternoon, i picked john up out of his crib after nap and could immediately tell he was running a fever. (i always wondered how moms could tell that, and then i became a mom. it's like a super power you inherit with parenthood.) so ... monday i stayed home with john. he was mostly ok besides the fever, though i could see some red spots on his throat. he seemed a ...

looking at the bright side of his cracker. a little background: the past couple mornings have not been john's most shining moments. he's been grumpy and cranky and fully of crying jags and yelling fits. he shapes up before we get to school, but most mornings this week have been a battle zone. but not this morning. this morning, he was great. he was easy-going and sweet and gave hugs and told me he wanted to go to school instead of telling me he wanted to stay home. he was a dream. and that was just what i needed. see, the other day we got some bizarre news about my pregnancy. basically, when you have a negative blood type mother (me) and a positive blood type father (my husband), there's a possibility that the mother can develop antibodies that will fight against future babies that have positive blood types. they have a shot that they give to prevent those antibodies from developing, and i got that shot during and after my pregnancy with john. but somehow or...

my husband forwarded me this link today, with a note about how badly he needed this today: to parents of small children, let me be the one to say this aloud . and it got me to thinking, so often this blog is so celebratory of the amazingness of raising a little person -- and well it should be, it's an amazing process -- but i do tend to glaze over the less beautiful spots. like last night, when my too-tired husband and my too-tired self bickered at each other because john was being very difficult and not listening and not wanting any of the things we knew, as parents, he had to do -- things like dinner, and pottying, and going to bed. or like monday morning, when john started crying when he woke up and didn't stop for an hour . yeah, i probably mentioned that. but i didn't talk about how i was at my wit's end, trying to put on my makeup while he screamed (literally screamed) in the bathroom next to me. how i had tried spanking, time out, sweet talk, strong talk, s...

john only wanted to read his "apple book" this morning. last night as john and i snuggled before he went to bed, he suddenly stopped wiggling long enough to look at me and say, "what's my address, mommy?" i laughed, actually. "what, baby?" "what's my address?" he repeated. and then he rattled off his address, perfectly. (with a sweet little southern drawl on the five and the word drive in our address, no less.) somewhat amazed, i asked him to repeat it. he did. so i called daddy in so john could tell him -- which he did, perfectly again. and even more than being proud of my little bug for learning his address, here is what i feel: so VERY grateful for john's teacher at the daycare. she told me this morning that john and one of his little friends in class are just sponges who absorb everything, so she cooks up new things to teach them. she teaches them things (like their addresses) that will help them in growing ...

the video of john trying to lock himself in buddy's crate is totally unrelated to today's post, but it was just too cute for me to leave off. i love the part where he says, "it's stuck!" but what i really want to talk about today is this: yesterday after i picked john up from daycare, i told him we had to go grocery shopping, but if he was really good and it was still light outside when we were done, we would stop by the park for a few minutes. he was ecstatic. so we drove along for a little while, looking out the window at a tractor or a truck or two and just hanging out. then, john said to me, "mommy, i want to hold the sun that i can fly." a little puzzled, i asked, "you want to fly, baby?" he said, "no, momma, i can't fly. so i can't hold the sun." (i realized i had misunderstood him the first time - he had said "but i can't fly" not "that i can fly.") "you want to hold the sun?...

the best part of this outfit is that it developed in stages. first, the big-boy undies and shirt. second, the tutu. third, the slippers. finally, the glasses. that's our child, for sure: the one in the oddly mis-matched outfit including a swamp monster t-shirt, a pink tutu, monster big-boy undies, elmo slippers, and groucho marx nose glasses. on saturday while we were working around the house, my husband put the radio on so we could have some jams while we cleaned and organized. a great song came on, so daddy and mommy stopped working to dance in the living room. we invited john to dance with us and he yelled, "noooooo! stop dancing!" at first i was a little bummed - i wanted a family dance party! but then john elaborated. "i need my tutu!" so it was the return of the pink tutu. and as soon as he put it on, we danced and sang and laughed in the living room for a few songs. buddy didn't quite know what to make of his crazy family, but h...

dismantled pickup truck?  check. football? check. we're all packed! i have found there is a certain poetry in the logic of the two year old brain. it's not a logic that us grownups can really comprehend, i don't think, but there are so many things that john does that are so clearly intentional, so clearly purpose-driven ... there is no doubt there is a plan in place. i can't identify the plan, but it's there. so this morning, when i looked at the suitcase at the foot of my bed (we're not going anywhere - i am just a lazy butt who hasn't put it away since our last travels), i was somehow tickled by the tableau i found. it's like a visual haiku, or something. busted truck. football. ready to go! (yes, nerds, i realize that's not a haiku, but you take my point ...) anyway, i just wonder what was going on in john's brain when he created this still-life-with-toys. the football is so gently tucked in between the axles...

that, friends, is a little tiny dancing bean. i woke up this morning feeling very heavy. i was so nervous i was nearly sick to my stomach. thank goodness for my level-headed, funny husband, who kept me ok on the drive to the doctor, and in the waiting room, and on the table as i waited to see evidence of life on that hard-to-read ultrasound screen. at first, i saw nothing. just a black void. and i worried some more, since that's sort of what it looked like last time. but then ... then ... the ultrasound tech (a different girl, but just as sweet and helpful) said, "look, right there is your baby!" and sho' nuff, right there was a little bean. a tiny little bean. and you want to know something? that bean was already dancing. my husband squeezed my hand and said, "that's your child for sure. even now it can't sit still." us prices are known for not being able to sit still. we're also known for not being able to keep our s...

i need a really large yoga mat. like roomsize. big. huge even. why? because, as i learned last night, when mom does yoga at our house, it's a family affair. my hope was that john might join in a little -- i am actually looking for a good "yoga with the kids" dvd that we can try so maybe we can do some for real family yoga. but in the case of last night, i just intended to do a little prenatal yoga and if john took part, bonus. what i did not count on: nervous buddy dog, very curious about what we were doing, who decided that a yoga mat is the perfect place to lay down. in fact, the only appropriate place in a living room full of places. i can't count the times i said, "buddy, get!" in the whopping 10 minutes that i managed to stick with my plan. very adorable john sitting next to me in an easy sitting position with his hands folded in perfect namaste. very adorable john doing downward facing dogs next to me on the mat. very jealous mo...

where have you been, john's mom? that's what you were thinking, right? and the answer is ... i have no idea. the time has just gotten away from me. however, i have some fine photographic proof that we've been having some good times. so ... here you go! gotta wear the hood and the shades ... you just never know where the paparazzi are lying in wait. a big boy does need his personal space, after all. what self-respecting kid DOESN'T wear his undies on his head? nacho libre called ... he wants his mask back. i'm just a normal kid, from a normal family, who happens to love to ROCK AND ROLL. elmo style, natch.

so last night was kind of a big deal at our house. i picked john up from school a little early, and he immediately started telling me how he was going to go see "ernie and bert and elmo and big bird and all of our friends, mommy!" so we made our way to sesame street live, and to the "meet and greet" session beforehand, so not only did john get to watch sesame street on stage, he actually got to play with some of the characters! at first, admittedly, he didn't quite know what to make of elmo and cookie monster. they were, after all, somewhat larger than they appear on even the biggest of tvs. in fact, when i asked him if he wanted to go see elmo and cookie, he said, "no, mommy!" in a nervous little voice. if elmo talked, i think he would have said, "i won't eat you, i swear! but watch out for the blue guy." of course i didn't listen to his no, but forced the issue. isn't that what any self-respecting mom would d...