The things he says

As we are heading outside after a day at school:

Patrick:  Mommy, it's not cold anymore.  It's summer!

The Things He Does (and Says)

Patrick is really enjoying the gifts he received from Santa Claus for Christmas.  He is constantly asking to play with something or for us to open something or even for us to join him in his playing.

Last night, as we were cleaning up the house of most of the holiday decorations and putting away ornaments, we pulled out his new easel and put in a place where he could easily access it.

He certainly did.

This month, I've noticed a big change in Patrick's speech.  He is definitely speaking more, and has figured out a way to get his point across without having a fit.  I know it's normal, especially at his age, to accomplish this, but it's so different from the pointing, waving, and grunting of years' past.

A typical conversation:

"Mommy, can you open this?  Open this, please.  Will you open this for me?"
"Not right now, Patrick."
(Thinks for a second)
"Can you take the paper off?"

"Mommy, why are you cleaning the table?"
"Because it's dirty."
"Why it's dirty?"
"Because we ate dinner on it."
"Why we eat dinner?"
"Because we need food to get big and strong."
"Okay."

I have a feeling the "Why" questions are going to get a bit more elaborate as the year progresses.

"I do not think it means what you think it means"

Patrick, in his nearly three years, has started chattering away.  He spends many days just saying things.  Whatever comes to mind, actually.  He tells me what he eats for breakfast or what show is coming up next. He talks about cooking and daddy at work.

Lately, he's picked up on saying "I don't want (insert word here)" or "I don't like (insert word here)."

While I absolutely hate that he does this, I realized today, he doesn't exactly know what it means.

Example #1:

"Patrick, here's your lunch."
"I don't want lunch."
"Do you want to eat your chicken?"
"Yes!"

Example #2:
"Are you sleepy, Patrick?"
"I don't want to go sleep!"
"Are you tired?"
"I don't want tired!"
"Do you want Poochie (his stuffed dog used for sleeping)?"
"Yes, Mama."

(Sigh).  I'm not sure how to correct his choice of phrase.  For now, I just keep repeating, "I love lunch!" or "I can't wait to take a nap!"

I hope it starts to work soon.

Amazing how much he looks like his father

Happy Mother's Day

To all of you who are mommys (or have mommys): happy mother's day!

Some Days Are Tougher Than Others - UPDATED*

Today is one of those days.

It feels like I can't get anything done. I want to pull my hair out. I want to cry.

Patrick is ornery. He doesn't want to eat. He wants to eat. He doesn't want to play. He wants to play. He wants to sit. He doesn't want to sit. He wants to swing. He doesn't want to swing. He wants to play in his exersaucer. Oh, no, he doesn't.

He finally fell asleep. I think that's what's been bugging him the whole time. Why doesn't he just fall asleep? Instead, he fights and fights and screams and screams. No tears, just screams. Loud screams.

But it's quiet again.

I think I'll fold laundry.

*I never folded the laundry. It's still in a basket in the kitchen. Instead, I read my favorite magazine, Real Simple, which came in the mail today. Then I relished in the quietness of my home. Patrick woke up after an hour-long nap. As I was changing his diaper, he peed on his face not once but twice and is currently sitting in a onesie, drinking his milk. It's great to see him, drinking down the bottle, his chubdelicious thighs exposed. The day got better afterall.

Many Milestones

So, yeah, Patrick learned that he can scream. The last few days, he has been yelling and screaming and then squeals with delight and smiles at me, as if to say, "Hey Mama, I'm cool, I can yell. Don't you like it?"

While I am proud of this, it's always nice when he tires himself so much, he needs to take a nap. Twenty minutes later, he's awake again, yelling again.

On to the point of this post, though. Tonight, Mike and I were getting him ready for bed. I warmed up his bath water, while Mike stripped him of his drool-coated oufit. We decided to let him have a few minutes of tummy time and suddenly, Patrick turned over. Mike and I were so excited, we started clapping and cheering. Poor Patrick got so scared, he started crying. Milestone accomplished. I never knew I could experience such joy, watching my son roll over from his belly to his back.

Fast forward a few minutes. We've calmed him down from our cheering. He's happy again and since he's wearing only a diaper (because he is supposed to get a bath before bed), I started to kiss and tickle him. He's thrilled and smiling his gummy smile at me. And suddenly, we hear it: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Patrick is laughing. Holy crap! This time, we're wise: no cheering, no clapping. And he smiles his gummy smile at us and kicks his legs in delight. Milestone accomplished.

We finally got him into the bathtub. I had to reheat his water but it was well-worth it. A few minutes later, he was laying in his crib, ready to sleep, exhausted from all the work of rolling and laughing.

My son. The genius!

PSA for Moms *Updated

So, I don't normally ask my three readers to do anything for me, but I am asking something today - please join Kizoodle. It's a site for moms to 'trade' or 'sell' items, including baby stuff, mommy stuff, and even daddy stuff.

Basically, you check out the different categories (baby clothes, nursery items, coupons, etc) for things you might want. Then, with your credits, you can 'buy' them. Most sellers will list decent credit prices for newly new items and reasonable credit prices to ship them to you.

Here's the only catch - before you can buy, you have to sell one thing. Yeah, I know, really difficult. But when I got started on this about a month ago, I scanned the section where folks post items they need. I contacted the posters and voila! I made a sale.

Kizoodle will give you credits just for joining, so that helps. And if you do join, please use my reference code: 1JAGIK.

So far, I've sold fabric pieces, blankets, baby bottles, and coupons. I've been able to buy coupons for baby formula, which is my primary reason for being on the site. But I've also been able to get other items - even a holder for the dishwasher that holds the accessories for Patrick's bottles - for a fraction of what it would cost me at a store.

For more information on Kizoodle, please email me or leave me a comment. Thanks!

*Update: Apparently, you do need a referral to use my code - please send me an email withyou email and I will do just that - thesnowapewife[at]gmail[dot]com

Many thanks to acb for pointing that out to me!

Trying to Stay on Top of Things...

...but obviously I'm not.

I haven't been online as often as I'm used to and haven't been keeping up with my favorite blogs the last few days. I'll try to play catch up soon.

So far, things have been good at home with Baby Patrick. We've had lots of visitors, lots of flowers and candies, and lots of presents.

We're adjusting, adapting and learning. Slowly.

Thank goodness for my mom. I don't know how I would get anything done without her. She's a godsend - doing laundry, cleaning up after all of us, cooking.

More stories to come, but for now, the latest pics:

Finally, a week old! Hanging out with his monkey friends.

"Future Agent." The apple doesn't fall from the tree. A gift from one of Mike's bosses. No pressure, though.

Finally... Home

We brought Patrick home yesterday afternoon. There are many words to describe him: adorable, cuddly, tiny, beautiful. But my favorite:

Perfect.

Not because he's my son or anything, but just because he is.

Perfect.

I knew that the minute I saw him, I would be smitten and in love. But I never imagined it could be this intense.

Many thanks to my bff, acb, for keeping everyone updated on his birth, progress, and photos. And many thanks to the phone calls, emails, and comments on this blog with prayers, thoughts, well wishes and congratulations.

I will upload pictures soon, hopefully sometime today. That camera phone picture just doesn't cut how awesome this kid is.

More soon.