File under: people I want to be like

Playing in the Park

This weekend we were busy hanging out with Gram AND Auntie Meg.  Auntie Meg hasn't been down for a visit since Cole was born, so it was great to have her here and Cole loved showing off his mad park playing skillz:

 Like Daddy, Auntie Meg had almost as much fun playing on the park equipment as Cole did!

 I'm not gonna lie...he MAY be a better driver than I am already:

Thanks for coming down for a visit, Auntie Meg!

Deep thoughts for a Saturday

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness."

-Andy Rooney


This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately.  I feel as though some of my life has been spent waiting and anticipating, looking forward to the next step: eager to finish school, get married, move to a better job, be able to afford more things, and of course - have a baby.


Always with the thought in the back of my mind, "My life would be perfect IF ONLY..." 


The past year, however, it seems that has all changed.  Is it a conscious choice? Is it simply that circumstances have fallen into place to make life great?


Maybe a little bit of both.


All I know is that I have felt almost overwhelmed by how content, how blissfully joyeous I feel with our little lives and our little family.  There's no more of that burning desire to move to the next step, to push on with the next great thing. 

We have some rough days, sure.  Occasionally days where the tantrums make me feel like burying my head in the sand or fast-forward the days.  But every.single.day, I wake up and I am purely HAPPY.  I am looking forward to our day, even if it's a day spent in pajamas, doing laundry, and chasing Cole around the house.

I think it's what happens when everything you dreamed your life would be, actually happens.

I love my life.

What is a Homemaker Worth?

Found this article on Yahoo the other day - "How Much is a Homemaker Worth?"


According to it, as a homemaker and stay-at-home mom, my annual salary should be $90,000.


I must say, I do agree. Although, when I told that to Chris, he said, "No - you're priceless!"

Say it with me - "Awwwwwww..."

What are you "worth"?

Speech and Language

As I've mentioned before, Cole doesn't talk.  He babbles and says some beginning sounds, but he's way behind on his speech development.

So far behind, in fact, that he's been referred to a speech pathologist for testing.

Now, this is a GOOD thing.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.  If he does have a speech delay or some sort of impediment, now's the time to get it taken care of.  Better to get a head start and get things moving so by the time he starts school he'll be talking just like the other kids.

But even as I advocate for my son and request testing - because the pediatrician wasn't too concerned, but in my mama heart I knew something wasn't quite right - even as I make the phone calls to schedule the appointments, there's a sliver of doubt and dread in my mind.

Did I do something wrong? Did I fail him as his mama? Is his speech delay a result of me?

Sometimes I can brush away these fears.  Haven't I done everything right?  Haven't I researched and planned and made changes just so Cole could have every possible advantage? We don't expose him to TV, because of the risk of speech delay.  I talk to him frequently, narrating our actions to help him catch on.  When he babbled as an infant, I babbled back to him to teach him the cadence of conversation.  I never interrupt him.  I patiently tell him the word of each object when he points curiously to it.

Haven't I done everything right?  What did I do wrong?

Is it even my fault that he's not talking yet?  How much of a child's development is nature and how much is nurture?

Mealtime

I don't know what it is about watching Cole eat, but I love it.  I could watch this kid eat allll day long - wll, he eats 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, so I guess I kinda do.  Something about the concentration, the independence...I just adore watching him.

Hinder the morning routine

Every morning, I'm the first to get up when Cole wakes - usually around 6:30 or 7, bless his little heart. But every morning, without fail, the second Chris gets up out of bed he opens the bedroom door so Cole can come "help" him get ready.


And by "help" I mean "hinder".


Even though I'm the one who gets to stay home and Chris is the one in a rush to get out the door to work, he patiently allows Cole to empty all the bathroom drawers, stack Daddy's colognes on the toilet lid, and try on Daddy's shoes.  He even lets Cole "help" him shave:

The best part of this little morning routine? Watching Cole's face light up when he hears Chris' alarm clock go off, because he knows he'll get to spend just a few fun minutes with Daddy. "Dah! Dah!" Cole says, scrambling out of his high chair and pitter-patter runs to the door.

I know, Cole.  I like spending time with Daddy too. :)

Obsessive compulsive much?

I'm afraid my child MIGHT be slightly OCD.


Here's why.


Yesterday, a lightbulb burned out in the hanging light over our breakfast bar.  Cole FREAKED out.  FREAKED, people.  You'd think the world was ending from the state of his behavior.  He refused to be ok with that bulb being burned out - it was intense.


And then there's his food.  HEAVEN FORBID a pea gets into the compartment where is bread is. If, by chance, this HORRENDOUS thing occurs, Cole points at the offending pea with such a look of distaste and a loud "UGH!" that it's all I can do to not crack up.  Dude, it's a pea.  It's ok.

And if you ever come over to my house and happen to hold Cole's hand as he walks down the stairs, you will be treated to a show of pointing to every single mark or dent in the wall on the way down.  No joke, he's like a tour guide.  "Here's the black mark on the wall, here's the blue mark on the wall.  There's the dent."  On the way up the stairs, he'll pick up any miniscule piece of dirt or lint or chewed up tennis ball (thanks Chloe!) and hand it up to me like "Mama! WHY don't you ever vacuum!? DISGUSTING!" And he does this EVERY SINGLE TIME we are on the stairs.  And if we make it halfway down the stairs without him pointing out the marks and dents?  You can just bet we have to turn around and come back down again just so that he can point them out with his big grin on his face!

Now, you'd think with all those adorable obsessive-compulsive behaviors, I'd have a sweet little neatfreak helper on my hands, wouldn't you?  Nope. Cole has no desire to keep his toys in their neat state - on the contrary, he seems to be most happy when his toys are dumped out of the basket and all over the floor, like this:

But then? He'll take a few of those toys from that mess and do something absolutely OCD adorable with them:

OCD or no OCD, I love this little man.  He loves his routine just like his mama.

Nature Walk

Some afternoons Cole starts to get a bit fussy and I start to get a bit stir crazy.

And then I know it's time to get outside.

We are so lucky to be just a short drive away from a gorgeous state park with an awesome nature trail, so I throw a coat onto Cole and we head outside.

Cole is so happy just running around the trail, picking up dirt and rocks and smiling big happy grins.

It doesn't take much to make my little man happy.

Five things

Five quick things:


1. Cole is finally (sorta) saying a couple more words.  He has "mail", "more", "Da" (Daddy), and "Ba" (bath).  Yesterday we went to a nearby state park for a walk - when he spotted the river flowing next to the path he pointed at it and said, "Ba! Ba!"  Apparently all bodies of water are bathwater!


2. Nala can open the baby gates with her nose.  She is one smart cookie, that doggie of ours.


3. Lately, Cole has been perusing the newspaper with me in the mornings.  It is absolutely adorable to watch him "reading" while making official "Hmm...hmmm..." noises - and the occasionally "Whoa!" when there's something extra-cool.


4. I know this is nothing new, but Cole just adores music and insists we listen to it frequently.  His favorite is Adele - I think he has a crush.


5. Cole has been very into "tails" recently - when he sees an animal with a tail, he'll point to the tail emphatically, then to the dogs' tails.  Then I'll ask him if he has a tail and he'll grab his backside with a panicked look on his face - "Oh no! I've lost my tail!" It's beyond hysterical.

Snow!

My one complaint about living where we do is that it snows so rarely.  I'm one of those crazy people who LOVES snow.

However! We got some snow this morning!  Big, fat, beautiful flakes that fell mysteriously from the sky - and Cole was THRILLED!  well, thrilled and a little confused.  It's not his first snowfall, but it's the first he could really go out and experience - so he wasn't one hundred percent sure about the fluffy white stuff.

Here's hoping for more snow days soon!

You know you're in desperate need of a haircut when...

Your hair looks like this:

*Shortly after these photos were taken, Chris attacked Cole's hair with cutters and he ceased to look like an electrocuted little boy. Just in case any of you were worried.

Independence

Independence.


It's one of the top five qualities I want to instill in my children.


So why is it my hearts breaks just a tiny bit when Cole does something all on his own that he used to need my help for?


It's not the big events like walking and talking that really tug at my heartstrings.  It's the first time he reaches up to the counter and pulls down his sippy cup.  It's the first time he yanks off his socks and puts them in the hamper.  It's the first time he "brushes" his own hair.

Slowly, my baby is needing me less and less - which is the whole point, after all.  Everything I do, every interaction with him is designed with his eventual independence in mind. 

I am eventually going to render myself useless...but that is how I'll know I did a great job as his mama.