And then I melted

Last night was a little bit of a bedtime struggle. So it's way too late and I'm lying in bed with Abraham, trying to help him fall asleep. Then he rolls over and gives me a big hug and says, "I love you. We're friends, Mommy."

What a sense of humor this kid has already. I had him all wrapped up in a towel after his bath and then threw him on the bed for fun. He said, "Oh no, Abraham broke all to pieces!"

Then yesterday he was singing "What a Wonderful World" (which he learned at library story time, complete with sign language) and I told him I would be right back, I had to go to the bathroom. He immediately changed his song and sang, "What a wonderful pee pee!" And then cracked up. Who knew potty humor started so early!

Cute talker

You always hear about how routines and schedules are good for kids, especially young ones, as it lets them know what to expect and helps make transitions easier and such. I've been getting some concrete proof of this lately, now that Abraham is so much more talkative and expressive. We've never kept a strict "schedule" with him, just some general guidelines, like, he usually naps about 12:30-2:30 these days. But if I need to put him down a little earlier or even an hour or more late, then he's fine with it. Lately, though, if we're out in the morning, when I tell him that it's almost time to go, he says, "Go home, eat lunch, take nap." He knows the routine and likes it. He'll also tell me if he's ready to take a nap. When he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he says is "eat food." One day we had dinner much later than usual, around 7:30 when I came home from a meeting. For the next week, on days when I worked until 9, he wanted to eat as soon as I got home. Just one exception to our schedule made him think we had changed things up permanently. It's so interesting and cute.

His talking has really exploded this past month. He can seriously narrate events and experiences. When Anderson gets home from work, he asks Abraham what he did today, and Abraham will tell him pretty accurately. The super cute part is that, if he is repeating something that someone else said, he will use a really high-pitched voice. For instance, he might say: "Abraham color floor. Mommy [high-pitched] noooo." Cracks me up.

Other things that are funny:
If he is looking for something, he calls to it saying, "come out!"
He tells me to sit next to him while he's playing, and then says "closer."
He likes for me to pretend that a toy is sad so that he can do something to make it happy.
He's still writing songs but now also sings along to things that we listen to. I wish I could get this on video! But the camera/phone distracts him. Nothing warms my heart more, though, than hearing my 2 year old belt out: "Wilco will love you baby!"

I ran across the idea today of keeping a one-sentence journal, to make it easy, sustainable, no pressure to come up with paragraphs each day or find the time to write. Just jot down a sentence each night that tells a little something about what happened during the day. I like the idea a lot, because there are a lot of random memories that I want to keep track of, but they don't necessarily lend themselves to an entire blog post. Or, I just don't have time to write a long post, even if I have ideas. But if at the very least I jot down a sentence each night, that's something. And knowing me, I'll probably have a hard time limiting myself to just one sentence! See: the paragraph you just read. Here's today's sentence(s):

I asked Abraham if he wanted some pita bread, and he said, "No thank you, mommy." First time he's ever said that. And he absolutely learned just by example, not me trying to teach him manners. So cute! He also calls one of his girl figurines "little miss muffin." Instead of muffet. I love it!

In other news (see? impossible to write just one sentence once I get started), I'm getting all crafty lately. Abraham's birthday party was a big success (I'll post pictures here soon, but you've probably seen them on FB already), so now I want to have a fall party! In all my spare time, I know. I also NEED to write more, and want to some. I've got these poetry ideas, but that stuff takes time and space. You can't write a poem in 30 minutes when you still have to do dishes and can hear a toddler running upstairs. At least, I can't. Maybe some people can. Tell me your secrets! I also want to bake more, especially now that it's fall. In fact, Abe and I made a sweet potato spice cake just the other day, that I sort of made up. I mean, I loosely followed a recipe. But that recipe didn't call for sweet potato. Or any of the spices I added. Or coconut. It was yum and reasonably healthy and real food.

And in kid crafts, I really want to make a quiet book! This seems like such an awesome (time-consuming, difficult, talent-requiring) project that you could really personalize for your kid, and would teach them things while keeping them quiet - a practically unheard of combination! Not sure that I can actually pull it off, but I'm dreaming about it. Maybe by the time Abraham is in high school I'll have one finished...

And that's a wrap! (Maybe next time it will be a rap. Groan. I know. I can't help myself.)

conversations

Early one morning:

Abraham: Get up! Peanut butter jelly sandwich!

Me: *groan*

Abraham: Sorry Mommy.



On our way out to eat brunch:

Me: We can get pancakes and eggs and bacon! Or sausage. Do you want bacon or sausage?

Abraham: Bacon AND sausage!


His first use of the word "and"! Haha. My little carnivorous baby!

The hills are alive

This is not much of a post, more of a question. A discussion starter. For all you parents and some-day parents out there: how do you decide what type of music is appropriate for your kiddos to listen to? Let's just agree from the start that of course anything obscene or sexy or violent is out.

From birth (and before), we basically decided that we wanted Abraham to listen to stuff that we like. We wanted him to like cool indie-hipster music and whatever it is Anderson listens to. So from an early age, we played (and he loved) The Arcade Fire, Wilco, Liars, Blonde Redhead, Deerhunter, Grizzly Bear, Interpol, Bright Eyes, and so on. You get the idea. Now, at almost two, he can identify and name these bands when he hears them. Of course, we skipped a song if it had bad language. But there have been some things we let him listen to, or have introduced more recently, that I am finding a little more questionable now that he is talking and repeating everything he hears. For instance, "shut up and go to sleep," "happiness is a warm gun," "how quickly will I die if I jump from the top of the parachutes?"

Right at this moment, some of you are all like, "what is the big deal?" while others are horrified by what terrible parents we must be. So what are your thoughts on music and kids?

Bee-tee-dubs, we do have some children's music that he listens to as well, although it's mostly stuff I/we listened to as kids (Red Grammer, Raffi).

To accept or decline

I got friended in real life today. It was...nice? Awkward? Surprising. I went to get my oil changed, and Abraham and I waited in the kid's room. There was another mom and her four-year-old there, who generously let Abraham play with a bunch of cars, trucks, and trains that they brought from home. The mom and I struck up a conversation while our boys played together. I am, as you know, shy and awkward, and unlikely to initiate such a conversation. But luckily I am capable of making appropriate comments and questions come out of my mouth in reply. Then when their car was ready, she asked for my contact info so that we could hang out some time, maybe go to the zoo! I don't understand why! I mean, I'm not that cool. We didn't really have anything in common, other than being moms and liking the beach and owning cars. We didn't have any deep, meaningful conversation. It was just the basic getting-to-know you stuff. The chatting-with-a-stranger stuff. No social security numbers were given out.

Of course, I gave her my number and asked for hers and said that would be nice. And then when she left, I wondered if I was lying. I would never have asked for her number, nor would the idea have even crossed my mind that we should hang out if she hadn't brought it up. But maybe it would be nice. Maybe that's how you make friends. Maybe it's not so strange. She seemed normal enough. She's a real estate agent and teaches swim lessons at the Y. Her husband is an electrician. They're about to go on vacation to the beach. Maybe I need to be more open to actually connecting with people. Maybe I should have made that conversation more meaningful. I don't know why I feel I have to stick to the shallow topics with strangers.

Anyway, I have decided that, if for no other reason than an interesting social experiment, I will text her after she gets back from the beach and see if they want to go to the park or the zoo. We'll see!