Let's Get This Party Started!!!!

This afternoon around 3:30 as we were playing with his Legos, Tate looked at me, smiled and said "I'm having so much fun at our party Mommy."

I said "It's a party because we're hanging out at home and playing, huh?"  
He said "YES!!  A fun party"

My heart melted.

Goodness I love this sweet boy.

And it's been a great day of almost nothingness.  

He woke up a little before 530 and I snarled "You go back to sleep like we talked about last night until I tell you it's morning time!!!!  (I try to be pleasant and kind and benevolent before 6am, but I'm just not very good at it!)  I rolled over while he tossed and turned a bit.  I shook my finger at him over my shoulder one time, praying I would be able to go back to sleep.  He acquiesced and laid down and I got to have another dream!!!!

He woke me up at 6:30 with a smile, full of forgiveness and we made our way out of bed.  I stumbled around while he ran downstairs to start playing with his trains!  I made it downstairs a bit before 7.  :)  So very happy to have a 3 year old who can entertain himself.

I got his breakfast made and sat down with him to color at his request.  This is his new thing...he wants me to color with his color wonder pens.  He instructs me on the colors to use and for how long.  He's very particular.  He pretty much refuses to color himself these days...saying he's not strong enough or he can't color in the lines or mostly simply 'I can't.'  I haven't pushed it, but I'd like to get to the bottom of this.  It happens at restaurants as well when they give him the kids menu/coloring page.  So bizarre.

We skyped with Christian, so he could visit with Tate.  He's going to be away for the foreseeable future, so we wanted them to connect.  They've chatted 2 times in the past 4 or 5 weeks, so that's been good.  (And this whole situation deserves a whole other post, suffice it to say we have major issues, but my biggest concern is Tate.  I don't want him to ever feel less than or unwanted).  Anyway, we had a short talk, and all was good.

Tate and I then put his train tracks together and I got my instructions as to which trains I was to use and how.  I tolerated 10 minutes of that then took my leave to throw a load of laundry in the washing machine and started the bleach clean of our whirlpool tub.  Straightened up a bit then came back downstairs to color a bit more.  Laundry went into the dryer.  The tub was filled with vinegar and jets run again.  Tate loves watching the jets;  I love watching him run into the bathroom in his little pjs just a -smiling!!!  While watching the bathtub run Tate went into the closet and chose his outfit for the day...not surprisingly a train shirt and his train pants.  On a day it was supposed to be in the mid to upper 80s.  But he was happy.  

We got teeth brushed, clothes on and we headed out the door.  I wanted to give us an all day pajama day, but I had a few things I had to get done.  So we stayed in pjs until 10 and left at 1030.  

A quick stop to fill up the car and we headed to the newish Walmart.  I have not shopped at a Walmart in decades.  I did visit one while visiting Lindsey in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2008 when she was at OSU for grad school.  There was no Target much to my dismay.  That was an experience I would truly like to forget :)  In any event, there is now one near me, so I thought I would finally try it out.  Plus I was looking for a Chuggington color wonder book for Tate as I can only find them on Amazon and I needed one...today.  Tate had filled up his train sticker chart and was due a prize!  Target doesn't have the Chuggington one which he wanted.  

Neither did Walmart.  I did find a cute Garanimal outfit...I used to LOVE those when I was growing up and a couple other clothing items for Tate, but I don't see us returning anytime soon.  :)

We had lunch at one of our favorite places...Barnaby's.  Tate noshed on french fries, what else? while I had a yummy salad.  We colored, ok I colored and I drew trains.  He is the best date.

We then ran off to buy me some scrub jackets for work, and he was thrilled because I let him bring his leappad into the store...a real treat as it's a car toy only, and I try to only let him use it when we're driving distances....not great distances only, but like to my parents etc.  (30 minutes away).  But as he's doing more of the games and learning activities instead of watching the videos I've downloaded I let him have more often, but it must stay in the car...not in the house, not in restaurants, not at malls.  And he's ok with those restrictions so far.   

A quick stop at The Chocolate Bar for some chocolate covered popcorn, and we were on our way home.  

I can't tell you how many times Tate asked me when we would be going home!!!

We were ensconced in our living room by 1:30!  Tate couldn't have been happier.   We cuddled up on the couch and watched 3 episodes of Chuggington together.  Thank goodness those episodes are only 6-8 minutes long.  He played trains a bit while I folded the clothes and started organizing the baby clothes I'm sending off to be made into a quilt.  I'm photographing each item/set before sending and I cannot believe my sweet boy was ever so tiny.  Such precious memories.  

Tate was playing with his trains and smashed his little heel against the leg of one of my tables.  Many tears and hugs later I offered to read him a new book.  He was excited, and I pulled out 'The Giving Tree.'

I had heard such great things about this book, so I was so excited to receive it along with the audio CD read by the author himself.  (I've never read it, nor do I remember my mother reading it to me).  

What a strange little story.  The drawings are creepy to me especially of the 'boy' as he gets older.  I don't know...I was feeling a bit perplexed when I finished reading it to Tate, who sat enthralled while I read it.  As soon as I finished he wanted to put the audio CD into the Blu-Ray and listen to it.  Twice.  That was even more creepy...Shel Silverstein's voice as he read the book gave me the heebie jeebies .  I'm still trying to decide if I like it or not.  

I know one thing for sure....I'm hiding that damn CD.  I can't listen to his odd voice another time.

I suggested we play with his Lego farm which he received for Christmas and has shown absolutely no interest in.  Well today he scooted over and grabbed it off the hearth for us to play and put together!!

We had a ball!

Then we colored and I drew trains.  We had paper all over the floor!  And I convinced him to color and I drew many many poor renditions of trains which he gathered up to save forever :)

And of course we had to play 'The Game' as Tate calls Candyland!!!  Two rousing games later and he was the glorious winner.  I find it hilarious that whenever he wins at Candyland he calls out 'ZINGO' like one is supposed to do when playing Zingo.  Soooo very cute!!

I then got him some dinner...his favorite pizza cake better known as cheese quesadilla!!!  While he watched a few trains on YouTube I cleaned up and organized a few more of his baby clothes.  

Before I knew it, it was time to get him ready for bed.  He came up happily like he usually does.  Every night I go upstairs and start the bath water and get everything ready with instructions to him to come up in one minute.  

He almost always comes up with no further prompting from me.  A few months ago, I had to call him two or three times one night and he now tells me routinely...don't call me from upstairs Mommy, I'm gonna come.

I'm in so much trouble.

I let him watch a bit more of his Mickey Mouse on the computer so he was only allowed one story...no complaints from him.  I think he was tired...no nap today!  By design.    He was out by 7:45.

What a beautiful day.  Just a beautiful day with my little boy.  Though it's been pouring rain now for 5 hours and 52 minutes it's been a gorgeous day.  We had no meltdowns (which have been rare for the past 3 months or so), just a few tears when he spilled food on himself (He HATES to be dirty!!!!).  

I am so blessed to have this young man in my life.  How did I get so lucky?  What have I done to deserve him?  And for him to love just hanging out with me just fills my heart to the brim.  For all the toys, games, books, extracurricular activities, trips and shows, all he wants is my undivided attention.  

All he wants is me.

Which is absolutely perfect.

Because all I've ever wanted is him.

From Start To Finish

Our day started on a freeway.

Our day ended on a freeway.

5:27am.  Tate was awake, though not happy to be awake.  He woke up whining a bit, pretty much like he went to sleep.  I have realized that he usually 'comes up' the way he 'went down.'  If bedtime was a whiny, slobbery mess the night before, our morning starts off whiny and slobbery.  C'est la vie!

After 20 minutes of whining with no real conversation I told him I was going downstairs to finish sleeping and when he chose to speak like a human he could join me.  I came on downstairs and climbed onto the couch and huddled under the covers while Vincent wondered why my presence didn't mean immediate food for him.

Not 2 minutes later little feet came down the stairs along with a couple of hiccups.  His small face came very close to mine and he said in a nice normal voice "I want you to take my band-aid off my finger."

All this because he wanted the band-aid off?

Such drama.  

Off came the Winnie the Pooh band-aid he just HAD to have last night.  He climbed onto the couch with me and we cuddled for about 15 minutes.  And then we were up for the day!  I got him his breakfast...the usual plain oatmeal, plain yogurt and some cheerios.  He ate while I threw a load of laundry in the wash, packed his swim snacks, got myself dressed, the cat fed and my hair done (it was a make-up free morning!) Got my teeth brush, his teeth brushed, his swimsuit on and we were out the door at 7:18am on our way to pick up Aunt Lindsey and Miss Janine to take them to the airport for their flight to join my parents in Puerto Rico.

We arrived at the airport a little after 8, got them unloaded and they were on their way to sun and fun.

Tate and I made our way back to Houston with a little time to spare, so I suggested we go to the park.  Oh goodness, the whining.  This kids LOVES being at home.  LOVES it.  Once however I pulled up in front of the park and gave him a Happy Tots pouch he was happy as a clam. He sucked down that Butternut Squash/Apple mix like nobody's business and hopped out of the car; energy to burn now!

He played for about 5 minutes;  it was a gorgeous morning.

Then he informed me he needed to go poop.  Sigh.  He was not happy that I had forgotten the portable potty, so unlike his other bathroom adventures at parks I needed him to hold it!  But he was a trooper.  We drove on over to his swim lessons and he got to go in the 'light blue' bathroom.

Swim lessons began at 9:30 with the beloved Ms. Veronica.  As usual Tate was fantastic.  She had them in the deep end (6ft) the majority of the lesson.  He swims the width of the pool with aplomb!  He starts off tummy down, then he flips onto his back and floats/kicks almost to the other side and turns over to swim to the side.  She even has them 'diving' in!  I'm so impressed.  I'm thinking that I won't need to be in the pool with him this summer...yay!  Of course I'll still get in sometimes, but it'll be nice to let him play with the big kids without me too!!!

We were dressed and on the road by 10:10.  I was starving, so made a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A for a chicken biscuit and some yummy sweet tea.  I always forget there is way too much bread on those breakfast sandwiches...just too much too much.  But the tea hit the spot.  Raced home to pick up Tate's lunch and my phone charger and dropped him at school at 10:35.  After lots of hugs and kisses I ran out to make it to my 11am hair color appointment!  I made it with 2 minutes to spare.  For 2 hours and 12 minutes I got to text, FB, relax, hang out and just be while I had my hair colored, deep conditioned, dried under the dryer and styled.  So very nice.  I left there around 1:15 and went to pick up some train cut-outs for Tate's sticker chart at the teacher supply store near my office.  I finally got home a few minutes before 2.  I heated up my leftover Pei Wei after throwing my laundry in the dryer and started the washer on its tub clean cycle with bleach!  (Now I gotta remember to go run the vinegar cycle!)  Ate a bit of ice cream then changed the sheets on my bed, folded some other clothes and made Tate's dinner for the evening, got his clothes together to wear tonight, changed my clothes, put on some make-up, 'fixed' my hair (how funny that I always have to re-do my style at least a little when it's done!)  Talked briefly to Christian then headed out to pick Tate up at school at 3:50.

All the kids were dripping sweat when I arrived!  It was about 86 degrees out today and they had run themselves ragged.  I chatted with the teachers as today had been the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon.  I wasn't able to really participate as I had had this hair appointment set weeks ago, but I knew of all the hard work that had gone into making it a success.  They all seemed just thrilled with the lunch we provided, their gifts and items for their classrooms.  And our PTO president came up with a fantastic raffle, so they all got something a little extra!!  We gave away Dynamo and Astros' tickets, movie passes, some gorgeous flower centerpieces and the PTO pitched in to provide a vacation day with pay for one lucky winner!

Tate dragged his feet about going to our big evening event.  Again he just wanted to go home.  He actually cried, when I had told him earlier this week where we were going and he was thrilled, as he was this morning.  He cried, didn't want to get changed and all around sucked some of my excitement away!!  But I persevered because I knew once we got there he would be excited, at least happy.  So into the car we went.  Halfway there at a stoplight he said from the backseat "Mommy, I REALLY don't want to go."

Sigh.

I didn't turn around.

We made it to the Zoobilee!!!!!  I had promised him we could ride the train...his favorite pasttime ever, so we did that first (thank goodness cause the line for the Zoobilee was horrendous when we arrived at 445!).  

There we are on the train after a short wait!!  Lots of smiles on this gorgeous spring day from my sweet boy.

We headed over to the zoo after our ride and saw some fantastic animals, heard some really fun live music (Tate's favorite song was the one about the turtles!  However, he refuses to dance and wiggle around with the other kiddos at these types of events...a bit shy my guy!) and had one turn in a huge inflatable slide (Had a 25 minute wait for that, so he only got to do it once!)

He ate dinner from home happily in his stroller as we meandered through the zoo getting his 'passport' stamped and seeing some really cool animals.

Hornbill

Flamingos

Shoe-billed Stork

Of course we had to have a potty break.  And we went to Tate's favorite potty...the one near the little wishing well.  He loves to lay down and put his hands in the water.  He'd hop in if I let him....he asks every single time.  Look at this joy...

Tate was ready to go though!  He just wanted to go home.  We made our way to the exit, picked up his coloring book prize for getting his passport stamped (!e had to make a few stops along our journey in the zoo.  There were 5 animals from all over the world whom when you saw them, a zoo employee would stamp the passport they gave you at check-in.  If when you left you had all your stamps you got a coloring book;  it's a really nice coloring book!)

I gave him his Singulair and Benadryl...he's been so stuffy these past couple of weeks.  I wish Zyrtec would help him.  The Benadryl makes him so tired, but it works on his runny nose AND his cough.  Zyrtec does nothing for his cough.  But I only do the Benadryl at night since it makes him so sleepy.  I'm thinking by Sunday I might try to go back to Zyrtec or maybe try alternating.  Anyway, I got his meds into him and we were back at the car at 7:20.  I changed him into his pjs with the intention he would fall asleep on the drive home.  

The best laid plans.  

He was in a fantastic mood.  Gorgeous smiles and just content.

I think he was so damn excited to be going HOME.

And good grief, this forward facing business is for the birds.  Now he's all interested in the world. 

I realized he wasn't getting sleepy, so opted to hop on the freeway to get him to fall asleep.  Always works for me!

Sigh.

No.  Nope. Nyet. Nada.  

I drove 15 minutes out of my way, which doesn't include the 15 minutes it took to get to the street that would have taken us home!!  Another 15 minutes back and he's still awake, and I'm ridiculously fuming.  I hiss at him every few minutes "Close your eyes."  

We finally got home at 8:15.  I put some dinner in the oven for me and took him on upstairs.  I rocked him for about 5 minutes then put him in bed complete with kisses and 'I love yous' and "Don't you get out of this bed mister."  He was out within minutes.  

And here I am.  I've blogged, eaten dinner, downloaded our pictures, fed the cat, loaded the dishwasher, hand washed a few dishes and now I'm headed off to wash my face, wrap my hair, run the vinegar cycle on the washer and get into bed.  

Even though our night didn't end as sweetly as it began, it was a really good day.  A long day.  A full day.  

And I'm content. 

What A Night!

Tonight was THE night!  

The BIG night!

The HUGE NIGHT!

BIG!  HUGE!  PHENOMENAL!  OUT OF THIS WORLD LARGE!

Tate and I played Candy Land for the first time!!!!!!!!

I have waited 3 years 9 months for this moment.

195 weeks and 5 days.

1370 days.

Sadly his introduction to the game occurred not in my presence.  He played for the first time this past Sunday while we were in Dallas for the Day Out With Thomas and staying at the Great Wolf Lodge (that fantastic trip will be blogged about VERY soon!).  But no matter!!

Tonight was his first time with ME!!!

A true rite of passage for all American children!

A trail we all must blaze as we begin our lives as children.

Candy Land!

Man, I love being a Mommy!

Let the games continue!!!!

And What Did You Do Last Night?

Scene:  A Conversation
Time:  8:16am 
Date:  Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Place:  My office at work
Key Players:  Me. 45 1/2 year old single mother by choice to 3y8m old son.  Oh yeah-                pediatric dentist.
                      Dr. B.T. 28 year old single, female, newly graduated pediatric dentist as of      June 2013.

Conversation:  Dr. B.T.:  What did you do last night Dr. C?

                         Me from inside my office:  (confused as to who she is talking to) Me?

                        Dr. B. T.:  Uh huh
   
                        Me:   Ummmm...Hmmmmm.  
  (I could not think of one thing to say that would sound interesting or exciting.  :)  I wondered what she thinks I do with my 3 year old in the evenings...run to the movies?  go to the mall?  It's patently obvious I don't put him in a jog stroller and run 303597 miles every night...I mean just look at me.   Hit the bars on a Tuesday night;  even in my single days I waited until at least Wednesday nights to troll happy hours and the bars.)
                       Me:  Oh just normal Tate and me stuff...dinner, dishes, laundry, bathtime, stories, cajoling, consoling, rocking, laying down with, reminding of staying in bed, cleaning up, packing.

I didn't even have the heart to ask what she did.

I remember being 28;  well I was in dental school at 28.  I remember being 33, single, female, cute :),  fun-loving and working full time making good money.  Oh I remember.

And sometimes I miss it.  I miss deciding to randomly go hang out with some girlfriends.  I remember calling someone on the way home and saying let's go get a drink.  I miss having the nights to myself.  And I think it's ok to miss all that.  I miss the pure joy of really enjoying MY life.  

But goodness now I enjoy MY life and this little boy's life.

                 
  

I wouldn't have missed this for the world.  So, tomorrow if she asks me what I did tonight, I'm gonna say 'I played with my little boy, ate dinner with him, put him to bed after lots of hugs and kisses, and I wouldn't change a thing.  I wouldn't have missed one minute of the 2 hours we spent together last night no matter how tired I was after work, no matter how many times I had to tell him to stop doing something he shouldn't be doing, no matter how frustrated I got when he fought going to sleep.  

Because one day, like those days when I miss all the things I did as a single person...

One day I'm gonna miss THIS.

Tate's 3 1/2 Year Old Pictures - March 2, 2013

Another Sleep Post

Well I was halfway through composing a post about Tate's sleep habits the past couple of weeks.

I then realized I just did this a couple of weeks ago.  An almost exact replica.

I obviously need more sleep. :)