Feast or Famine - Mother of Temper Tantrum

Temper Tantrum: Proper Noun? Some days, I feel as if I am the mother of a temper tantrum, rather than the mother of a child. There are days where he wakes up with the horns already poking through his scalp, and other days, they seem to find their way through the skin between the door of his school and the door of my car. This past Wednesday was the worst - EVER. He cried for 2.5 hours straight. He really wanted mommy - bad! It was too bad that he was sitting on mommy's lap when he was screaming for her!

Then, we have some amazing days, where we literally enjoy every single minute and can't get enough of him.

Friday night, we drove to Cincinnati. The kid was very good, the entire way. He stayed awake the entire time and didn't even get into bed until after 1AM. (And for the record - my kid went potty in the big boy potty FIVE times that day!!) Next day - he did very well, even through the CARS2 movie - took a nap on the way home -and woke up with horns. Fortunately, they were retractable that afternoon/evening and he was a good boy for Grandma and Papa.

Sunday was a pretty good day. He didn't get a nap until late in the afternoon, but slept as we drove home, about half way, and then watched Lilo and Stitch in the car.

Monday was amazing. He was good in school, I took him grocery shopping after school, where he was AMAZINGLY good, (for once. He doesn't like grocery shopping), and even held my hand without complaining in the parking lot. We played outside, picked rocks out of the grass (there are a lot of rocks in our yard, which makes it hard for Adam to mow), ate dinner, took a shower, read a book etc etc - and he was SUCH a GOOD listener.

Today he's at Auntie Cindy's house, let's hope that he can be a good listener again! I have lots of pictures from the movie this weekend. I hope I can remember to post them when I get home!!

Lots of Pictures I've Forgotton to Post

My little athlete. He loves to play with the beanbags. He actually has a pretty good shot.

He LOVES to play in water. No matter how shallow or deep it is.

Day Out with Thomas. Grandma took him to see Thomas when they were in town.

He got to ride the train, play with toy trains, eat a cheeseburger and have fun! Grandma bought him tons of fun stuff!

My work had a carnival/summer patio party for us. They had a petting zoo for the kids, as well as a bounce house (he wasn't so sure about that).

He was a big fan of the animals though.










He really liked all of the turtles that were there. There were three crates of them. Plus ducks, llamas, alpacas, goats, geese, a big pig, lots of birds, bunnies, sheep etc.












The boys ended the day with a few barrel rolls down the grassy hill. I think Ares enjoyed himself.

Happy Father's Day

Today was an extremely relaxing day. Adam took Ares on a bike ride, we went to a picnic in the early afternoon, and slept the rest of the day away. It ended while watching The Incredibles and Cars (surprise surprise) on TV.

This is one of my new favorite pics of my two guys. Taken a couple of weeks ago. I don't think I've posted it yet.

Toddler for sale?

"This kid might not make it to three". That was my post on Facebook on Wednesday night. Dear - Lord! If any of you recall, for the first 25.5 months of his life, (aside from the reflux issues) I had the perfect kid. The one who slept from the day he was born, the one who never cried in public, the one who would go to anyone.

Now, I think my 'perfect' child has been switched with the spawn of Satan. If he doesn't get what he wants, he cries, if he gets what he wants, he cries. He just stands there and cries. and cries. and cries. I'm not even sure he knows why he's crying sometimes. The worst part of it all is the fact that you cannot reason with a two year old. He was in the pool and wanted to go swimming, he was holding a ball and wanted to play catch, he wanted to sit at his picnic table and eat dinner (when he was standing at the picnic table with the food and a sippy cup already on the table!). Yet, he. just. cried. 30 minutes later, he was in his crib crying, while we ate a semi-peaceful dinner for 15 minutes, got him up, spoon fed him his fettucini alfredo, read a book and put him right back into the crib where he (thankfully) fell asleep.

It was nice of everyone on Facebook to offer to take him. Of course, they were all either in Columbus or Cincinnati, (2 and 4 hours away, respectively). I know that I should probably just put him to bed earlier, but with dinner, brushing teeth, sitting on the potty, bath, book, PJ's - it's nearly impossible to get him down before 8:20. Especially since we don't usually finish dinner until around 7:30-7:45. The picture below shows last night, me reading him a book. This is a part of our nightly routine. The earlier we get to bed, the more books we read. It's a terrible picture of me, but the actual reason for me putting that picture down is what book we're actually reading.

A funny thing happened last night. Ares was getting his diaper changed, and he was whining, fussing, crying and rolling all over the place. It was only tantrum #3 for the 45 minutes I was home, but I was still overly frustrated, and I wanted him to settle down so we could change him and get his PJ's on...

... so I slapped his tush. Not hard. He didn't cry, but he did let me finish changing him. I asked him to pick a book out to read, and after searching his bookshelf for 5 minutes, he comes out with this book, and says "Mommy, hitting is bad." - What a little shit. This kid is SMART! Too smart for his own good, that's for sure. Well, perhaps he's just too smart for MY own good!

The VP of my department told me that 3 is bad too, 4 is worse, and that they coined the 5 year old stage the "Fucking Fives". Yay.

Warrior Dash 2011

This year was brutal - and better than last year. I must say, if we do the dash in Logan, OH again next year, I may not participate. It was all up hill, and completely killer. I did not enjoy any of it, except for the obstacles. Those was pretty cool.

The best part of Warrior Dash weekend was staying with Adam's family (22 of them!) in a cabin. The food was great, company was awesome, and we even had a cool light display (read:Massive storm) to watch one evening. Ares behaved himself for the most part, and we were all wet and muddy from dash.

My mother in law was pretty sick and weak, so we had to leave the dash right after racing, which kind of sucked, but we needed to get her back to the cabin so she could rest. (She's doing much better now, and hopefully will be feeling 100% in a couple of weeks.)

I have about 300 pictures - here's a few.

My kid will be a left handed batter. He loves the "beeseball field".

I love this outfit. Fireman boots from 'mama' she bought, and a rainjacket from GG found at a garage sale. Too cute. NO, he's not peeing here. =P

Fun playing with the water.
This shot here, was taken just before he fell in.

Another day in his raincoat. He loves this car, too bad it's my mom's neighbors.

We've had some terrible storms lately. One day we lost our patio furniture to the backyard and the neighbor's yards. Last night, we had a lot of hail. It sounded so bad that I thought our windows broke and it was hailing on our tile floors in the kitchen. Not the case, just loud-ass hail. We've spent more time in our basement this week than we ever have before.

Ares LOVES the thunder and lightening. He actually had us turn the lights off in the basement so he could play with his flashlight and watch the lightening through the tiny little block window. He slept through the midnight storms - I'm not entirely sure how.

2 years 1 month 2 weeks and 3 days

... Lord, please grant me the patience to make it through the terrible two's!!

Ares' Report Card

I'm trying to figure out how to turn a .pdf into an image so you can see his report card. My kid cracks me up - and obviously he cracks other people up to - my 'class clown'. Here are some of my favorite parts:

• ... such a smart boy and began talking so young, now it's one of his favorite things to do! (duh, he never stops talking, lol!!)


• ... so entertaining to hear what kind of things he has to say, I love it! (Obviously she doesn't have to sit in a car with him for long periods of time, hehe)


• Ares is super silly and adores to make his friends and teachers laugh! He is definitely going to grow up to be the class clown! (Oh, boy, I'm psyched.)


• ... one of the best listeners in class (we actually hear this a lot, whoda thunk?!).


• His smile lights up the whole room and his laughter lifts everyone's spirits. (He always lifts my spirits - my silly kid=)


• ... I can picture him as a doctor when he gets older. (And here, I thought he would be a left handed pitcher!)


• ... and then the typical 'joy to have in class and it wouldn't be the same in the room without him'. (No, it would be a lot quieter.)

He knows all of his shapes except for 'octagon', 'pentagon', 'crescent', and 'hexagon'. He knows 'moon' rather than crescent, and I'm not terribly upset that 'hexagon' is not in his vocabulary yet, lol. (I can't believe they even try to teach 'hexagon'!)

He knows 'sun', 'earth', and Saturn he calls 'spaceship' (because of the rings). *grin* He is a goofball. They are also working on Social Studies already. The U.S. flag and other national symbols. He knows all of his body parts, and all of his colors (even gray, finally!!)

Another thing we need to work on his how old he is. No matter how many times we work on it, when you ask him how old he is, he says "I'm a boy!!"

Happy Mother's Day (3)

I cannot believe this has been my 3rd mother's day! Crazy! Ares had a few tantrums, but, overall it was a good day. I woke up to a new Netbook! (Whoo hoo!!) and a nice travel coffee mug with his fingerprints spelling out the word 'Mom' with a heart. It's cute - he made it at school.

The morning was rough, with some tantrums and lots of family, but after his nap, we played outside all day, and went to the park. My 'scardy-cat' child is no longer afraid. Of anything. That scares me! He LOVES to play baseball, and wanted to play all afternoon. (Don't worry Dad-in-law, he played soccer all over the house in the evening, and this kid has some dribbling skills!)

Travels not-so-abroad

I've spent the past 3 days in Montana. I wasn't excited at all about going to Missoula, but WOW, is it a beautiful place! I didn't realize that it is surrounded by mountains! I got in around 1AM so it was dark. I woke up in the AM, went out to my rental car, and was in absolute AWE. Mountains, 360* mountains! Snow capped, beautiful, serene looking. After my meetings, I attempted (and failed) to hike up the 'Big M'. What a workout, it was amazing. I'm out of shape, I have terrible asthma in high altitudes, and it was freezing cold. (I wasn't expecting the cold, it was warm down on the valley floor. Then it snowed this morning).

Aunt Kassi (my cousin) watched Ares today. He told her 'There's hair in my mouth' and 'Aunt Kassi! I'm stuck! I need help!' when he was 'stuck' under the table. haha I haven't seen Ares since Friday afternoon, and I won't see him until tomorrow late morning. It's so tough being away from him for a few days. I wonder if it gets any easier when he gets older.