My Privilege

Tate seems to be adjusting pretty well to his new daycare class.  PRESCHOOL!!  He is always telling me something Ms. J has said or told him to do or not do.  So very cute; he really likes her.  He has struggled quite a bit with napping;  in fact last week he skipped napping 2 days and only slept a small part of the time another day.  Two days he did ok.  I took in a lovey for him thinking that would help to no avail last week.  He also had several pottying accidents last week.  Poor little guy.  He had been having trouble with napping since he started, but last week was by far the worst.  So though he has been in the room for a full month as of today I think it's been a hard transition for him.  This week though he napped really well each day.  Except today!!  No nap at all today!  And I know he had to be exhausted.  He didn't fall asleep until 9pm last night and was up around 3:40am crying off and on for about 5-6 minutes (I didn't go to him;  I let him sort himself out) and then up for good by 6am.  Add in swim lessons this morning and he should have been absolutely exhausted.  No dice.  Tonight he didn't want to go to bed he said, and cried quite a bit, but I rocked him to sleep and he was out by 7:20pm.  Of course he also had some benadryl on board as he's been coughing since last night.  It's a post nasal drip/allergy cough per his physician.  It's off and on, but got markedly worse today.  Ms. J thinks that's what prevented him from falling asleep...he was coughing constantly.  I've got the dry cough as well;  it's like a constant tickle in my throat that doesn't tickle.  I've been giving him Zyrtec since Monday night, but not his Singulair as I was hoping to wean him off the Singulair.  However, the Zyrtec doesn't help his coughing at all.  (I also wonder if the drowsiness it causes has helped him nap!  Though he falls asleep later at night when he takes those 2 hour naps...say 8:30, though he's in the crib between 7:45 and 8).  And I don't like giving him Benadryl, but boy does it knock out his cough.  His pediatrician doesn't seem keen on it, as she's always telling me to try Allegra or Claritin, but the Allegra totally hyped him up, so ummm no.  Maybe we'll try Claritin.  I believe they're both 24 hour drugs like Zyrtec and the Benadryl is q6h, but I only give it to him at night.  Sigh.

Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be a vent about his sleeping because that is just a blip in his life.  He is so damn cute these days I could just eat him up.  In addition I've totally changed my outlook on mothering thanks to my SMC friend Abby who in the post linked there said she finds it a privilege to care for her daughter.  A privilege.  

And it is a privilege for me to be raising this young man.  A real privilege.  God could have given this sweet soul to any number of mothers AND fathers on this planet.  Anyone, but He chose me.    I have looked at Tate with new eyes since that post of Abby's.  And it's been eye-opening.  It's almost as if Tate sees me seeing him differently.  It's amazingly beautiful.  I love this child, this person, this soul.  He's funny, he's loving, he's cute, he's quirky, he's joyful, he's special, he's mine.  It is truly my privilege to share my life with him.

He's still changing every single day.  Learning new things, doing new thing.  His new big thing is saying "MOM!!  Watch this!"  And then he does something like hop up and down, or walk from sofa to the ottoman (because the first time he said 'Watch this' and jumped from sofa to ottoman he got in big trouble :)  ).  Or when he does a forward roll.  When we're pulling into the driveway, anywhere, he'll say "When the song is over!", meaning he doesn't want to get out until the song is over.  He likes being able to get out of the car and clamor into the front passenger seat and push the button to turn my car off.      After bathtime as we sit on the floor on a huge fluffy towel, he says, every single night "I'm cold."  I put his towel over his head and around him as he faces away from me on the floor then he turns around and cuddles me like nobody's business. He burrows his head into my chest and throws his arms around me and truly won't let go for 3-5 minutes.  It's glorious.  He adores his BFF, Leo.  Anything Leo does, Tate does (though I wish he would be a bit more of a leader sometimes).  He listens really well.  I mean he has his moments, but for the most part he is an excellent listener and does what is asked for him, especially by his teachers and anyone in authority, other than me :).  He's doing so fantastic at swim lessons.  I'm just so impressed by him and his ability (Christian was a semi-professional swimmer, so this shouldn't surprise me).

I've signed him up for most of the extra-curriculars at school.  Mondays he does soccer and he loves it.  In fact, Leo cried the first couple of times until he saw Tate out running about enjoying himself.  Tuesdays he does dance!  So very cool.  On Thursdays he is continuing with gymnastics.  I just love all that his little school offers.  Obviously, we're still doing swimming on Friday mornings and we just started the next session of Music Together classes on Saturday mornings last week.  I'm surprised by how much he still enjoys the music classes.  

We seem to have started birthday party mania!  I truly hope we don't become the family that has birthday parties every weekend, both days.  Luckily, his daycare is super small and there are only 7 kids in his class.  I'm not one to want to go to birthday parties for kids whose parents I never ever speak to...I find that so weird especially when my kid is 3.  There are a couple of families whom I really like in his class and a couple whose kids had to be split into the younger preschool class.  Those parties we readily attended/ will attend.  Otherwise, no.  I also hope to not be the mom who invites the entire class to his parties when he's in elementary school.  I mean seriously I've been to parties where there were 30-40 kids present.  (a) The sheer cost of that overwhelms me (b) It seemed to me the parents of the birthday child didn't even speak to half of the parents present (c) The amount of gifts is sheer insanity.  No child needs that many gifts.   

However, we've enjoyed the parties we've attended (I've turned down several invitations usually because the parties were during his naptime).  I'm certain to do my best to attend the parties of my friends' kids (LOL).  In fact we're off to one tomorrow for my sweet friend's son who is turning 7.  Tate will have a blast as he's with all these kids all the time...our urban tribe.  And I love that there is a nice age range...everyone gets to be older and younger.

We went to a party last week.  I didn't know anyone else there except the mother of the birthday girl and the two moms from Tate's school.  I made like glue and stuck with Sonya :)  Our kids did the same...

I've lamented several times about having to spend 10 hours a day away from Tate while I work.  Very often when I come to pick him, I take a few seconds, a minute or two, to watch him.  I so enjoy seeing who my little boy is when I'm not around.  It's just about my favorite part of pick-up besides when he races to me screeching "That's my moooommm!!"  Here's what I saw on Wednesday...

My little guy, just hanging out, reflecting it seems.  Taking care of the girls.  Such a gentleman.  

I just love this boy.  

It is my honor, my privilege to care for him.