Monthly Archives: November 2011
When Brody Grows Up…
Sometimes I Forget…
To remember how lucky I am…
So yes, sometimes I need to remind myself…
Chatty Brody
“Between 18 and 20 months, his pace will pick up as he acquires ten or more new words each day. If he’s especially focused on learning to talk, he can add a new word to his vocabulary every 90 minutes!” –BabyCenter.Com
As much as I was surprised to read this statistic, I am also not very surprised. Even though Brody is almost 22 months, this describes him perfectly. He constantly is saying new words that I had no idea he knew! Even when we’re not intentionally teaching him a new word, he’s learning it by listening to us.
Aside from the fact that I need to watch what I say (and do!), it’s amazing watching him pick up every little thing. Somehow in the last couple of weeks Brody has learned the word “Coffee.” So every morning he points to our cups and says, “Mama coffee/Dada coffee.” And I swear we don’t drink THAT much! Then we were out to dinner and he asked for our “fries.” I think he gets fries at daycare, but he’s never had them at home or out with us before. So I had no idea he even knew what those were! Guess I should probably start watching what I eat too…
He also likes to put ownership to everything. It’s “Brody’s milk”, “Mama’s coat” etc. He also generalizes certain things. Mommy and Daddy is universally applied to anyone that looks like a Mom or Dad….in books, at daycare, at the store… It’s akward the first time your child points at a strange man and yells “Daddy!” I just keep repeating, “yep – that’s one of your friend’s dads” and hope one day he’ll catch on.
You know you’re the mom of a toddler when…
When I first started working after Brody was born, it made me laugh at the stuff I had at my desk with me in my laptop bag.
Today I was reflecting on how I am so used to carrying around stuff for Brody that it doesn’t phase me, but it’s amazing how different life is with a toddler. A year and a half ago I blogged about having onsies, bibs etc. Check purse today:
–Toy Cars
–Pacifier (that’s being hidden in a zipper so Brody won’t find it)
–Hand sanitizing wipes & bottle of hand sanitizer
–iPad that Brody refers to as “Elmo” because that’s what he uses it for
–Lots of advil
And on the weekends you’ll find a spare diaper and wipes, sippy cup and a snack.
It’s not a glamorous life, but I love it.
2nd Halloween
Last year we were able to do quite a few fun Halloween activities with Brody, but with each year I know it will get more fun to do new things with him as he grows older.
Then we headed home to paint our pumpkins. Brody had a great time painting his pumpkin and my ever-so-patient Mom sat next to him to make sure paint did end up all over the floor and so Jason and I could paint pumpkins as well. The finished products:
Halloween at Brody’s Daycare is also a big celebration. Every year they host a Costume Fashion Show. Parents attend of course, but it also draws a crowd from many others in the office. By the time we got there it was standing room only!
All the kids walk (or are pushed in a stroller if they’re too little) across a stage. Walking is so much more fun, so I was excited that Brody was out walking on his own. He actually did a great job and I snapped a picture of him when he saw me. He pointed and yelled right away of course, but didn’t try to run over. Many other kids get pretty upset when they can’t run over to their parents right away, so I was glad that Brody did such a good job.
Then they headed home and he helped pass out candy. This was by far his favorite activity. He would run down to the end of the driveway with a piece of candy to drop it in a kid’s bucket. Then when it would quiet down, he would yell, “More Kids!!”
Toddler Talk
Weekend Getaway
Over Labor Day weekend we hopped in the car and drove a couple hours north to Green Bay. We had a couple things in mind for when we got there, but the best part is that it was one of those last minute vacations where every minute wasn’t already planned.
We got there Friday afternoon for lunch at Lambeau Field and a tour through the Packer Hall of Fame. It was my first time, as well as Brody’s, and it was pretty fun. Obviously Brody will enjoy it more when he’s older, but he did a great time hanging out in the stroller while we looked around. He also didn’t sleep the whole car ride up there, so it was a miracle he wasn’t melting down. Waiting for lunch & playing his first arcade game
Working Mom Struggles
As I mentioned before, the end of our summer got a little crazy at work. For a few months I was working crazy hours. At least 6 weeks of it Jason was basically a single parent, when I never even left town! I easily thought about quiting my job daily. (OK not really since I knew it was only temporary and I love my job).
I’ve gone through busy periods in my career and had jobs that never seemed to not been in a busy time. Everytime that happened though, there was only one person I was leaving at home. When it was just Jason and me, he was very understanding when I had to work late. Sure I’d get the occasional complaint, but at the end of the day, he understood that I enjoyed my job and sometimes that required a lot of hours.
Ever since Brody was born, I’ve been in a job where we have busy times, but that really only amounted to 50 hours a week. And I’ve been very lucky where I can work at home at night instead of staying at the office late.
Then we had an unexpected thing come up at work (it was accounting related, so I won’t bore you with the details), that not only did I have to work late and work weekends, it wasn’t optional. For the first time in my career, I was told that I had to work all weekend. We were here for 15 hour days for over 10 days straight. Which = not seeing Brody for most of those days.
Things I learned:
1. There is a reason I work where I do…this was a rare situation, where other career paths I could have taken would expect this on a regular basis.
2. I’m not emotionally capable of handling being absent from my family for long periods of time. There were a lot of tears shed… (Also, working 90-100 hours in a week is exhausting)
3. I have the BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD! Ok, I already knew that, but, he’s always been there for me when I needed it and this time was no exception. I normally take Brody to daycare every day. But in order for me to get home before 10pm at night, I had to start coming in earlier than daycare opened. So he had to go to work late a couple days a week, just so I could be in at 6am. His job is important to him too, so it wasn’t easy to have to balance that as well as taking on Brody full-time.
On the weekends when I was at work, Jason didn’t just sit at home with Brody staring at the TV, he actually took him out to do things. Our zoo passes were awesome because they would just head out to the zoo for a few hours and then head home when they got bored. He really is a great father.
4. We have a great family. Again, I already knew this, but we had a few people have to come and babysit last minute because I couldn’t get out of work. It’s a huge help having them around and knowing Jason wasn’t in it alone.
5. I do really work for a great company. There were many people who had to go above and beyond this summer and they made sure to recognize everyone.
Family Vacation
Every summer, my Dad, Stepmom and as many children that can make it, head to Grand Haven, MI for a family vacation. Between my Dad and Sara, they have 7 children, 2 extended children (Jason & my step-sisters long-time boyfriend) and 1 grandchild. So we end up with quite the crowd (all pictured above).
The ferry ride home? Awful! I’ll spare you the details, but it was stormy and the lake was choppy. Needless to say, it was 11pm at night, Brody was tired and seasick and I was on my own in taking care of him since everyone else on the boat wasn’t doing so well either. I’m never complaining about the 6 hour car ride again!!
So we walked him to the water….
He checked it out…
And within minutes he was laughing like crazy and loved running into the waves. This is the kid the can’t handle it if his bath is lower than 98 degrees. Yet he went running into a freezing cold lake with no problem. What a crazy guy.