I am working very hard on not being "that Mom" on the playground/in the office/at the activity. We all know the stereotype: talks incessantly about all her child's accomplishments while degrading your child's (e.g. "Bugaboo is walking now." "Superhumanchild has been doing that forever, he is really almost running." As if next week she is signing him up for the Olympic trials.) , lectures you about what you feed your child (e.g. "Are you feeding your child processed food?" Asked while you feed your kid applesauce that has high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors.), lectures you about your parenting style (e.g. "Spanking is not good for children-it's barbaric." Said while you are spanking your kid for throwing a tantrum after they pulled some little girls hair and she cried.) and in general makes you feel like you are behind in every way (e.g. "Have you got Bugaboo on the list yet for [insert name of incredibly expensive and snobby pre-school that feeds into the incredibly expensive and snobby private school]? I put Superhumanchild on a year ago. Did I mention that I got a promotion and the volunteer of the year award last week?" Said to you when you have not slept in days, you have no makeup on and the shirt you are wearing has dried up food and spit up stains, while you check your blackberry and see an email from work needing something else after you left and forgot the papers at work.). A friend of mine sent me a really funny link to an animation about this Mommy-centered competition that we do. (Maybe Dad's do it too, but Adrian likes to retort that Teddy is so advanced that he still needs a diaper and that his puppy was easier to potty train than Teddy.) I am really trying not to be that Mom.
Now don't get me wrong, I am incredibly proud of my darling son and, if you read this blog regularly, you probably know that already. I love that he rolled over quickly (even if it was because he was born superhumanly large and was already in 3rd grade at 2 weeks old), crawled early and walked early. I am very proud of all of these things, but they have absolutely nothing to do with me or with Adrian. In fact, I am 100% sure they are attributable to being in daycare and watching his friends do them all day long and wanting to be like them. I wish I could take credit for them but the simple truth is that much of his advancement has little to do with me and is all about his personality. My amazing Godmother Ernestine wrote me about my last post and said that maybe they treated us like little adults but that we have to let kids be kids. And frankly, kids are messy, develop at totally different paces, learn to walk, talk and eat regardless of what we do, and will misbehave no matter style of discipline we adopt. So I am going to take this good advice and try to be less caught up in the pace of Teddy's development (but really, I long for the day that he will just tell me what is wrong instead of throwing a tantrum and will just do what I tell him to do instead of what he wants to do, is that really asking too much of a 1 year old?).
I tell a single girl I work with here in the office that I have 2 pieces of advice about your single years:
1. Spend all the money you want to on all the clothes, purses and shoes while you can. In fact, stock up because when you marry someone like Adrian, that will quickly be put to a screeching halt.
2. Travel all you want and veg in front of the TV all you want. Free time becomes a thing of the past. All my "free time" now is devoted to Teddy and I LOVE LOVE LOVE every single minute. (In fact, I actually cannot remember what I used to do at night and on the weekends before Teddy. Apparently, I used to do things but I have no idea what they were and how I filled up that much time...oh wait, I watched a lot of TV, cooked meals, had dinner with friends, saw movies, got manicures and pedicures regularly, went to the gym and went on weekend getaways. Yeah, I would not trade it all, not even for a minute. I even find that the nursery rhymes get stick in my head and I sign them instead of whatever is on the radio...Allee Galoo Galoo.)
So if I have an episode of being "that Mom" please excuse me, I am a work in progress. But if you hear me tell you that I just heard a seal crying, then slap me, I have gone over the edge and way too far.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Teddy is causing trouble....Again
Well folks, after a long hiatus, the terrorizer of the Koalas Room is back. We thought we had taught Teddy to be gentle and play with the others kids, but of course, we were wrong. I came to pick him up on Thursday only to find out he had pushed all the other kids down, pinned one little girl down and pulled her hair and insisted on eating lunch with the teachers and not the other kids. What are we going to do with this kid? Apparently, he intends to prove that even if he is the youngest and smallest, he is going to try and be the alpha in the room. Yikes! (Yes, this sweet little face he gives you after he misbehaves does make it hard to punish him.)
Back story is that he is still the youngest toddler in the room but likes to "fit in" with the bigger kids. I think when they don't do what he wants, he gets upset and does not really know how to express it except by being a bully to older and bigger kids??? <<>> Then when his favorite teacher went to lunch, he apparently threw a tantrum (yes, he is learning from the older kids to throw a tantrum at 1 instead of 2, thanks) and insisted to go with her. Then he ate her food, another teacher's food and got mad when they got in his view of the TV in the teacher's lounge. (He does not watch TV with us, it may be on but he does not watch it. Not sure what was on, maybe soap operas!) I have no idea where he gets this from.....okay, maybe we do but I expected this later not at 1. His personality is certainly developing early! Needless to say, he was in TIME OUT again that day.
In other news, the pediatrician diagnosed Teddy's Exorcist ways as severe reflux, so we have him on Prevacid, and so far, (crossing fingers and knocking on wood) it seems to be a big help. He is eating and sleeping better (Praise Jesus!) and we are not having as many Exorcist re-enactions and spit up episodes. This is all after a rough two weeks of a cold that led to an ear infection while we were in Chicago (yes, we made him fly with an ear infection but in our defense, we had no idea it was an ear infection...). Being the little trooper he is, he smiled through almost all of it (biggest exception to this was when we tried to give him the antibiotic, he would scream and spit it out all over us causing a huge dry cleaning bill).
Teddy is showing an early interest in golf, or at least, eating golf balls!
Back story is that he is still the youngest toddler in the room but likes to "fit in" with the bigger kids. I think when they don't do what he wants, he gets upset and does not really know how to express it except by being a bully to older and bigger kids??? <<In other news, the pediatrician diagnosed Teddy's Exorcist ways as severe reflux, so we have him on Prevacid, and so far, (crossing fingers and knocking on wood) it seems to be a big help. He is eating and sleeping better (Praise Jesus!) and we are not having as many Exorcist re-enactions and spit up episodes. This is all after a rough two weeks of a cold that led to an ear infection while we were in Chicago (yes, we made him fly with an ear infection but in our defense, we had no idea it was an ear infection...). Being the little trooper he is, he smiled through almost all of it (biggest exception to this was when we tried to give him the antibiotic, he would scream and spit it out all over us causing a huge dry cleaning bill).
Teddy is showing an early interest in golf, or at least, eating golf balls!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Teddy's First Birthday
Where, oh where, to begin. You see, we have an incredibly spoiled child (what you thought that an only child of an only child could somehow not be spoiled...ummm, No). Not only did the Tedster have a birthday party in daycare with his friends there, complete with cupcake mashing goodness, he had another family birthday party on Sunday. It was a weekend of Teddy (I personally celebrate a week to month of my birthday, so Teddy has a ways to go). My parents flew in to spend the weekend with us and praise Jesus they were here. Poor Teddy came down with pinkeye on Thursday so he had to stay home on Friday (his actual birthday) with my parents as babysitters...dun dun dun. They survived, barely! He is a handful and into everything and lightening fast. I think he had them on their toes!
But let me begin with the daycare party. His beloved teacher, Miss Helena, made his grandparents a collage of all his fun at daycare. It was a huge hit. We brought down the cupcakes for him to share with his other buddies and they all had a lot of fun. (Cupcakes are big business these days but these were good old gourmet Safeway specials. The good stuff is to come.) I took many photos and Teddy had a lot of fun. He LOVES having people sing and clap for him (I think he just likes being the center of attention, but I mean he does have shy parents...okay, even I could not keep a straight face on that one. A guy in the elevator the other day said it was a real shame I had such a shy son after Teddy spent the ride giving him high-fives and bahbahbahing to him.).
That night GrandNan and Papaw arrived and it was fun fun fun for Teddy. He must have had the baby equivalent of a carnival with them. It was presents galore and lots of attention. We went to the park to play then we just let him run wild at the house (sugar rush I suppose).
In the middle of all this madness, Mommy ended up having to work some major hours and miss a lot of the fun. Adrian, Teddy, GrandNan and Papaw went out to eat then took Teddy to the driving range (clearly I was missing from this escapade, I mean, I would NEVER choose to golf on a birthday). It looks like they had a lot of fun. Then on Saturday it was riding his new Choo Choo Train from Murad, Benedicte and Alexander, playing in the pool, going to the park to swing, getting all the love and attention that GrandNan and Papaw can muster, and playing with all his new toys. We let him try some new foods, but like father like son, his favorite is fruit over chocolate (sometimes I question whether this is my actually my child, then I see the stretch marks and remember). Probably the funniest story from Saturday was Mommy going to get the balloons for his party. At his friend Jack's party the week before, Teddy stole Jack's balloons (literally, he tried to run away with them at the park, it was hilarious). So I made sure to order some balloons for his party. Problem that I did not consider was how to transport all these balloons in my car. You see, Adrian took our SUV to Baltimore to his friends wedding (yay Jason and Michelle, mazeltov!) and left me with our little sporty coupe. Umm, 40 balloons do NOT fit into a sporty coupe. I seriously looked like a clown car, as I had them coming from every place possible and I had to drive like a granny home, plus had them hanging out of the trunk. People were laughing and pointing at red lights...and I would have too, it was a sight.
Sunday was the big day of his Ferrari themed party. Teddy was decked out in Ferrari gear thanks to his Auntie Viv and we were off to the races. It was a super hot day, so we made sure to have everything outside of course. (I figured if I had to endure having a 10 lb baby in August everyone can endure his birthday outdoors in August.) We had a full speedway theme going on at the Azer estate on Mount Vernon Circle. Teddy loved every minute of it, especially the singing, clapping and cake. People showered him with love and spoiled him with many gifts! We appreciate everyone sending us gifts, as Teddy has already tried them all out, and surprisingly the wrapping paper was not his favorite toy from the party (the cardboard however could be a close second). It would not be an Azer family party without a story. Needless to say, I made home with about 36 of the balloons I purchased and I made sure to keep them separated to get them to the party. Guess who decided that they could just grab them all in one hand and try to shove them into our SUV??? Not naming names here <<cough cough Adrian cough cough>> but it was an unmitigated disaster. They become almost hopelessly tangled and we could not get the doors shut to get to the party and try to untangle them there. So, we spent about 30 minutes in our driveway untangling balloons while the neighbors laughed. Now you know who to call when you need me to untangle your fishing lines, apparently I am an expert according to my Father (thank you hours and hours of prom decorating at JMS and LHS in the 90's!).
Thank you to everyone for helping us celebrate the Teddy Roo's first birthday! Here are some photos of the event in a slide show.
Oh, yeah one more thing. Someone though that Teddy needed a haircut. I personally thought it could wait. So someone just took our kitchen utility scissors and whacked at Teddy's hair cutting a gap. I tried to fix it but I think we need a professional, when it grows out some. Here is the evidence of the first cut before I tried to fix it....the guilty shall remain nameless <<Adrian>>.
But let me begin with the daycare party. His beloved teacher, Miss Helena, made his grandparents a collage of all his fun at daycare. It was a huge hit. We brought down the cupcakes for him to share with his other buddies and they all had a lot of fun. (Cupcakes are big business these days but these were good old gourmet Safeway specials. The good stuff is to come.) I took many photos and Teddy had a lot of fun. He LOVES having people sing and clap for him (I think he just likes being the center of attention, but I mean he does have shy parents...okay, even I could not keep a straight face on that one. A guy in the elevator the other day said it was a real shame I had such a shy son after Teddy spent the ride giving him high-fives and bahbahbahing to him.).
That night GrandNan and Papaw arrived and it was fun fun fun for Teddy. He must have had the baby equivalent of a carnival with them. It was presents galore and lots of attention. We went to the park to play then we just let him run wild at the house (sugar rush I suppose).
In the middle of all this madness, Mommy ended up having to work some major hours and miss a lot of the fun. Adrian, Teddy, GrandNan and Papaw went out to eat then took Teddy to the driving range (clearly I was missing from this escapade, I mean, I would NEVER choose to golf on a birthday). It looks like they had a lot of fun. Then on Saturday it was riding his new Choo Choo Train from Murad, Benedicte and Alexander, playing in the pool, going to the park to swing, getting all the love and attention that GrandNan and Papaw can muster, and playing with all his new toys. We let him try some new foods, but like father like son, his favorite is fruit over chocolate (sometimes I question whether this is my actually my child, then I see the stretch marks and remember). Probably the funniest story from Saturday was Mommy going to get the balloons for his party. At his friend Jack's party the week before, Teddy stole Jack's balloons (literally, he tried to run away with them at the park, it was hilarious). So I made sure to order some balloons for his party. Problem that I did not consider was how to transport all these balloons in my car. You see, Adrian took our SUV to Baltimore to his friends wedding (yay Jason and Michelle, mazeltov!) and left me with our little sporty coupe. Umm, 40 balloons do NOT fit into a sporty coupe. I seriously looked like a clown car, as I had them coming from every place possible and I had to drive like a granny home, plus had them hanging out of the trunk. People were laughing and pointing at red lights...and I would have too, it was a sight.
Sunday was the big day of his Ferrari themed party. Teddy was decked out in Ferrari gear thanks to his Auntie Viv and we were off to the races. It was a super hot day, so we made sure to have everything outside of course. (I figured if I had to endure having a 10 lb baby in August everyone can endure his birthday outdoors in August.) We had a full speedway theme going on at the Azer estate on Mount Vernon Circle. Teddy loved every minute of it, especially the singing, clapping and cake. People showered him with love and spoiled him with many gifts! We appreciate everyone sending us gifts, as Teddy has already tried them all out, and surprisingly the wrapping paper was not his favorite toy from the party (the cardboard however could be a close second). It would not be an Azer family party without a story. Needless to say, I made home with about 36 of the balloons I purchased and I made sure to keep them separated to get them to the party. Guess who decided that they could just grab them all in one hand and try to shove them into our SUV??? Not naming names here <<cough cough Adrian cough cough>> but it was an unmitigated disaster. They become almost hopelessly tangled and we could not get the doors shut to get to the party and try to untangle them there. So, we spent about 30 minutes in our driveway untangling balloons while the neighbors laughed. Now you know who to call when you need me to untangle your fishing lines, apparently I am an expert according to my Father (thank you hours and hours of prom decorating at JMS and LHS in the 90's!).
Thank you to everyone for helping us celebrate the Teddy Roo's first birthday! Here are some photos of the event in a slide show.
Oh, yeah one more thing. Someone though that Teddy needed a haircut. I personally thought it could wait. So someone just took our kitchen utility scissors and whacked at Teddy's hair cutting a gap. I tried to fix it but I think we need a professional, when it grows out some. Here is the evidence of the first cut before I tried to fix it....the guilty shall remain nameless <<Adrian>>.
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