The Thumb Wars

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Lisa

I can remember the day that Carter learned how to suck his thumb.  We were at my parents house, he was only a few months old, and he stuck his little thumb in his mouth.  OMG, it was the cutest little thing that I ever saw.  There was my son, he was so tiny and cute (not to mention smart….I mean come on, it’s not easy to get a thumb in your mouth! LOL), and he found his thumb and got it in his mouth.    After that day he never wanted a pacifier again.  And that was just fine with me.

Carter at 2 1/2 months sucking his thumb. Doesn't he just exude cuteness and intelligence?

Fast forward 4 1/2 years and I still have a little thumb sucker.  And let me tell you, it’s not so cute anymore!  He is constantly sucking his thumb.  He’ll be sitting on the couch watching cartoons sucking his thumb.  We’ll be driving in the car and there he’ll be with his thumb in his mouth.  And I’m sure his thumb is in his mouth every night as he’s falling asleep (which wouldn’t be that bad….at least it would stop the teeth grinding!)

It has reached the point to where his dentist has told us that he really needs to stop.  He actually told us this about a year ago, and he’s still at it.  I’ve tried putting the nasty tasting nail polish on his finger nail….he liked the taste!  The dentist suggested wrapping it up so that he couldn’t suck it.  The little turd takes the wrapping off in a couple of minutes.  I’ve asked the dentist to talk to him…..yeah, that didn’t work!  And every time I see him with it in his mouth I tell Carter that I’m going to have to cut his thumb off if he doesn’t stop.  That works until I leave the room, and then right back in it goes.

So I knew when we had our second child that NO MATTER WHAT he was not going to suck his thumb.  And with Cooper it wasn’t really an issue.  He took to a pacifier really well.  He tried a couple times to put his thumb in his mouth, but I just stuck that pacifier back in and Cooper didn’t seem to mind.

I’d say that Cooper enjoyed his pacifier days.   And yes, I said enjoyed because being the mean mom that I am, I decided about 2 weeks ago to cut him off cold turkey.  We took all of the pacifiers that we could find and hid them.  We told Cooper that the little babies needed them.  I thought for sure we would have a riot on our hands (especially since Carter told Cooper that we were lying and that they were in his dresser drawer).  The first night he fussed for a little while and then went right to sleep.  He asks us on a daily basis where his “pacies” are, and then will go on to tell us that the babies have them.  I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was for him to give them up.

The last-known photo of Cooper with a pacifier. He's just learned his Nuk will go bye-bye.

I will say that he found two of them lying around.  He found one under his crib and then one under our bed.  And let me tell you, I have never seen a child try to squeeze themselves under a bed with such determination as Cooper.  I can tell you that Cooper is a big “little” guy, and there was NO WAY his big old head was going to fit, but he sure did try!  🙂  Both times I let him have his pacifier for a few minutes, but then took it away at snack time and he never asked for them back.

So I have learned a very important lesson.  You can’t cut your child’s thumb off, but you sure can take a pacifier away!  🙂

 

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, Parenting challenges | Tagged | 3 Comments

Avoid and Conquer

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Lisa

The following is a guest blog post from my husband Tim.

Ah, youth. So many great memories, so many things to cherish.  It’s funny what memories come rushing back to us in adulthood (and in parenthood) and even more amazing when these memories can help us out a time or two.  One memory of mine isn’t so much a memory, but a tactic that I’d employ in my younger years to avoid going to church.  I’d like to call it “avoid and conquer”.

On any given Sunday morning when my parents would be up and getting ready for church, I’d still be laying like a slug on a log in my bed.  The thing is, I was most-likely awake but dreading the chore of having to go to church.  My plan for getting out of this task was to pretend I was sleeping.  I’d close my eyes as tight as I could and even throw in a carefully-crafted fake snore from time-to-time.  Now this wasn’t 100% effective, but it worked a majority of the time, so I threw it into the #Winning column.  Looking back on it now, it was pretty damn ridiculous.  Until I did it again yesterday morning.

No, I wasn’t trying to get out of going to church, I was trying to avoid Cooper.  He’d gotten up at 3-ish in the morning with crying fits, so I brought him into our bed for a “little while” so he could settle down.  The “little while” lasted until I woke up at 6:30 and in between that time, Carter had decided to join us as well.  Imagine Four sardines crammed into a small can and that’s what we looked (and felt) like.

While waking up, I heard Coop start to rustle around and could sense he was looking at or near me, so in a momentary flashback to my youth, I closed my eyes as tight as I could and pretended that I was still sleeping.  I didn’t throw in any fake snores (though I suppose I could have gotten one or two past him at his young age) but I was clenching my eyelids closed as tight as possible. I was either really sleeping, or trying damn hard to be invisible.  Come to think of it, the invisibility thing might have been a good fallback plan, if not for the fact it’s humanly impossible.

After a few moments of this absurdity, I slowly opened one eye and looked around.  It seemed the coast was clear and I could start making my escape…er, exit from the bed.  After I made it out safely and was able to fire up my laptop and take care of some work, I did a little celebratory dance (in my head). I’d done it! I was free.  It was Timmy Time (no, not that Timmy Time)!  The good ‘ol Avoid and Conquer technique, though rusty and dust-covered from years of non-use, had worked!  A half an hour later Cooper woke up and tracked me down.  It was fun while it lasted.

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Daylight Savings

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Lisa

I hate (HATE HATE HATE) Daylight Savings.  Actually, let me rephrase that….I don’t so much mind the “falling back” part of Daylight Savings, it’s the “springing forward” part that sucks!  🙂

I knew that Daylight Savings was approaching.  I knew it was this weekend.  Then Saturday night came around and I was working on the computer and all of a sudden I looked at the clock and it was 10:30, which with the “springing forward” thing meant that it was really 11:30.  Yuck!  So I quickly finished up what I was doing and headed off to bed.

Now I will admit that I did get almost 8 hours of sleep, so I really shouldn’t feel as tired as I do.  What is it about Daylight Savings that completely throws me off?  The boys seem to adjust just fine, although Cooper still gets to nap every afternoon (must be nice!)

And now I get to look forward to “falling back” again in a few months, which I have to say isn’t as much fun as it used to be.   Before kids it was GREAT!  You set the clocks back and get an extra hour of sleep.  But kids don’t understand the importance of “falling back” an hour.  They don’t understand that you get to sleep in an extra hour.   If you’re child is up every morning at 7 am, then the morning you “fall back”, they will be up at 6am.  And if they are anything like my two children, they will decide that on that particular day they feel like getting up a little extra early.  I swear, it happens every year!

But for today, I will just be grateful for the fact that Cooper slept until 8, and that I won’t have to “spring forward” for an entire year.  And who knows, maybe I’ll move to Arizona and NEVER have to “spring forward” again!

Happy Daylight Savings!  🙂

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But MOM!!!!

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Lisa

I’ll be the first to admit that Carter is SPOILED!  It’s my fault…when he was little I wanted him to have lots of toys to play with.  He has almost every Little People set out there, a Thomas the Train table a TON of trains, and I think we have enough of the CARS vehicles to re-enact the entire movie.  Our entire basement is filled with toys (thank God for IKEA shelving!!!) and both of the boys have lots of toys in their rooms.  Luckily I’m a very organized person, so our house doesn’t look that cluttered/messy.  Everything has a home and the boys pick up their toys daily.

While I do take responsibility for the toy situation, I did have an accomplice.  Her name…..GRANDMA!  While I have started to crack down on the toys (I have learned to say NO when asked if Carter can get this or that)….Grandma always brings things home from her trips to Arizona, has to get that stuffed animal or toy whenever we go to the Milwaukee County Zoo, and still allows Carter to get toys when we take a trip to Target.  🙂

I started thinking about this today when I took Carter to the grocery store with me.  You see, they have the little prize machines AKA crap dispensers on the way out of the store.  Carter LOVES to get something out of these when we visit my parents’ house.  They have a chicken one at County Market and the chicken lays an egg with a little toy in it.  We don’t get to my parents house often, in fact they live in Arizona for half of the year now, but anytime Carter goes to the grocery store with Grandma he gets a little prize.  Every time (and I mean EVERY TIME) we leave Pick ‘N Save, Carter asks if he can get a prize.   And every time he asks I always have the same response, “Grandma will get one for you the next time she comes to the grocery store with us. ”  This answer has satisfied Carter for months…..until today.

Grandma comes over quite often from May-October, and we go to Target almost every time she’s here.  But I can probably count the number of times we’ve gone to the grocery store together on one hand…..and I think Carter is starting to realize this because today he said quite annoyingly, “But MOOOOOMMMMMM, Grandma NEVER comes here.”  Exactly I thought to myself! 🙂

 

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The Big Questions In Life

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Lisa

They start innocently enough with “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  How many times were you asked that as a child?  My 4 1/2 year old wants to be a farmer, dinosaur guy, and a construction worker.  This question becomes a little more serious after high school graduation when everyone wants to know “Where are you going to college?” and “What do you want to major in?”

So you’ve graduated from college, have met the love of your life and EVERYONE keeps asking “So when are you two going to get married”.  As soon as you’re married (and I mean at the reception) people will ask you “So when are you two going to have kids?”….like they half expected you to get knocked up on the limo ride over.  And you will get asked this question CONSTANTLY until the minute you get pregnant.

As soon as you’re pregnant the big question will be “So are you guys going to find out if it’s a boy or a girl”  As soon as that baby pops out “So when are you guys going to have another one”  The answer….oh in 5 or 6 years when I forget how much childbirth hurt and I feel like letting my husband touch me again.  🙂

And that is where I am today, out of college (although I haven’t quite figured out what I want to be when I grow up!), married, and the mother of two wonderful boys.  And now I’m the one asking questions of myself.  Am I a good mother?  Am I doing this whole “Parenthood” thing right?

Everyone will tell you how WONDERFUL parenthood is…..they are LIARS!  I shouldn’t say that, it’s not all bad.  I’d say about 5% is WONDERFUL!  🙂  Follow my journey through the ups and downs of parenthood.  I hope you enjoy the ride!

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