An evening with Mister M Harbour
I got a lot of great feedback on the previous post so I thought I’d follow up with an evening blog since there is so much to share.
Today’s weather was a bit sketchy. It literally monsooned all over Vancouver and Burnaby. I was *hoping* it would be less rainy by the time I picked up Mason but no such luck. I offered a ride to a few coworkers so the car seat had to be put in the trunk to make room for 2 adults in my 4 door car. When I removed the car seat it was not raining.
Fast forward an hour and the car is being pelted with angry water. I arrive at daycare and stall Mason (who is watching the Canucks game on TV with Miss Yukie). I am hoping by the time I get him ready to leave, the rain would have stopped. No such luck.
Mason is grumpy, not sure why…he ate well at school and had a great nap (yes, I am a lucky Mom…at 2.3 years old he naps 2.5 hrs each day). We leave and I put him in the front seat while I go into the trunk, pull out the car seat and jump in the back seat to install (and avoid getting soaked). Once that’s done, Mason is having too much fun to hop through the two front seats to the back. I finally have to count to 3 (ooooh) to get him into his car seat.
Then my child acrobat turns his body into an arch and refuses to let me buckle him in. I’m trying to not let my patience in but my voice is firm and I ask him if he wants a time out (no). Finally with a bit of force, he’s in. His voice goes all chirpy but I’m a bit annoyed.
We get home and it’s still down pouring. The one day I wear a jacket with no hood and I put him in a down vest!!! I run to the trunk to pull out my umbrella and give it to him. I grab our 5 bags out of the front seat (including a heavy bag of groceries) and march him up the stairs to our place. He does well climbing stairs with two hands on his brella. I should probably get him a child size brella. He sees the toy bike outside and wants to play, I calmly remind him it’s a monsoon and we can pay another day. Thank God he doesn’t tantrum. Water is running off my head, I am soaked.
We get inside and strip off the wet clothes. I am tired and hungry. I’m also soon to be angry as I quickly check my email and discover I was overcharged on my cell bill. This is something I need to work on, instead of putting it aside and dealing with it later, I have to deal with it right now and put dinner on hold to call Bell. I put the phone on hold and put dishes away. I ask Mason a few times what he wants to eat and he says no. Finally I deal with Bell (only took 45 mins), calm myself down and make him a grilled cheese. I eat a square of it as I’m starving. He takes one look at it and says he doesn’t want it. Not only does he not want it but he’s pushing it across the floor like it is poison. Grrr. I ask him if he wants spaghetti. No. Finally he settles on two pickles, a slice of processed cheese and milk. Not exactly what I had planned but hey, he calls the shots.
Now that ‘dinner’ is over, I grab a few mins to check email and glance at the hockey game. Mason is littering the living room with toys. He brings me his toy bubbles and somehow manages to dump the contents on the carpet. Not a problem, it’s just soapy water. I then remember that I have a small stain I need to remove, so I make a vinegar solution and clean up the spot. Mason wants to help and in the process 1 cup of the solution is now in the carpet. Sigh.
Mason toddles off to play in his toy room. He’s quiet for a while and then comes out with plahdoh on his finger. I remove it and ask him where the rest is. It’s now obvious; some of it went in his mouth. He has ‘blue’ all over his chin. I get the video camera. I check the container and it looks like he just had a small amount, maybe the size of a pea. I know it’s not toxic, just hope it’s vegetarian.
The game is still on; I put Mason’s Canucks jersey on so I can get a pic of him. He manages to put on his gum boots and beach hat. What a fashion statement.
It’s now approaching 8pm and definitely time for him to go to bed, I really need some time to decompress and it’s hard to do when the house is a mess. We start the routine. He lets me change his jammies, even helps me wipe his bum with a wipe. Then off to read stories. He’s become more independent with reading time. He wants to hold the book, turn the pages and talk about what he sees. I encourage this but I’m always worried he’s going to rip the pages. We read a few stories. He calls a cheetah a 'cheetie' which I think is hilarious. He knows what a penguin and a hippo are. So smart! I decide that reading time is going over and I’ll finish by reading.
He isn’t happy with my decision and he pouts. He then rolls around the bed and says something I don’t understand. Finally he says, “Hug”. So I put the book down and go to hug him but he replies, my book! And grabs the book. He totally psyched me out! Little bugger! Okay book time is over. Time to brush teeth. No. He wiggles around the bed, ‘fluffing’ the pillow. In this 3 minute ordeal, he manages to accidentally hit me in the face twice (very enthusiastic pillow fluffer) and kick me in the rib (which coincidentally is broken…permanently…from mason’s feet).
Hold on….my child who is in his room is repeating over and over “mommmmy” in long sobs.
10 mins later…it’s 8:45pm.
Where was I? Oh yes, getting beat up. I tell him he can read in bed with the hopes he’ll read, get bored and fall asleep. He gets into bed but that doesn’t last long. He’s now grumpy and kicked his duvet onto the floor. I know he won’t sleep on a bare mattress, so I decide to let him tantrum, I wish him sweet dreams, give him a hug and a kiss and I close the door. He yells my name over and over.
So I go back in and get him settled, his bed is on the floor so I crawl in with him. I reach up to kiss his face and it’s wet…yuck. Hopefully that’s tears not nose drippings. He rubs his nose on my cheek, someone must have taught him 'butterfly kisses' cause he's been doing that a lot. Cute with a dry nose, not a runny one (lol). He then exclaims "Doody" and breaks out in hysterics. I don't react. He says "Doodoo". I still don't react. He is laughing like he's the most hilarious person on the planet. It's hard not to laugh myself. I ask him what a Doodoo is to see if he knows it's poo but judging by the giggles, I'm sure he knows.
He’s now happy and we accidently pressed on his ‘doll’ buddy, who now is talking….Great. I get Mason all tucked in and I start to sing my two favourite songs to him. Except now that he’s heard them, oh a zillion times..he knows all the words and sings along in toddler babble. He gets the right odd word in. These songs are not nursery rhymes! They are songs by Sarah McLachlan and Britney Spears lol. I switch over to nursery rhymes and he still is singing...loudly. This clearly isn’t working. He starts to squirm, he turns over and ‘bum butts’ me in the chest. Ooof. We have a few more minutes of cuddling and then I announce I’m leaving. He’s not happy with this.
However that was bout 5 mins ago and I can hear Buddy the talking doll and Mason has stopped calling for me…so hopefully sleep is soon (it's 8:55pm). Which is a good thing because I have a phone call to make and clean my house and make lunches and uh eat dinner (whoops) all before 10:30pm.
Yes, I’m an extremely organized person but when it comes to life with a Todder, *plans* go out the door. Hopefully this blog does not come across as me being a boring Mom, as I didn’t really go into detail about me crawling on the floor and playing (which we also did tonight). I usually spend a lot of quality time on weekends and weekdays are a bit chaotic with working full time.
Anyhow that’s a sneak peek into my crazy evening!
And it’s quiet…. :)