Read it again, Mommy!

Reading is my favorite hobby. I am always reading a book, and I do mean always. When I finish one book I am digging into the next one immediately, to the point where I used to carry my back-up/next book with me once I got down to 50 pages or less of a current book. I would be delighted if my love of reading were to translate to Kaleb, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t trying to influence this since before he was born. I used to read my own books aloud when I was pregnant. Once Kaleb was born, I continued reading my own books to him while we cuddled and quickly got to work on building his board book collection. At this point we easily have over 100 books for him, I can’t help but order more every time day care sends home one of those Scholastic book order forms. People who know me have given me the board books that their children have grown out of, and books are always included in gifts that Kaleb receives from both his grandmas, who are also avid readers.

I share all this in an attempt to convey how thrilled I am that Kaleb has chosen a favorite bedtime story, one he asks for again and again! He loves to pick out books and come crawl into my lap for a quick quiet time snuggle. For months I would read to him the same books, in the same order, as part of our bedtime routine. I then started mixing in some new stories to our line-up. Recently he started pointing at the one book we read every day from when we started a bedtime routine, at 4 months old, titled I Love You More Than Rainbows. He wants this story, and only this story, at least 3 times every night before bed. I’m so happy, this is one of those dreams I dared to have for my future kids, that they would have a favorite bedtime story. And now I am seeing that dream come true, what a blessing!

Actions Speak Louder Than Words, right?

Yesterday was a big day for Kaleb. One event that I have conflicting feelings over, and one event that I’m very proud of.

I get a daily report sheet from his day care, detailing things like what and when he ate, when and how long his nap was, diaper change info, and some notes in the comments section about fun things he did that day. Usually the comments are benign little things, like “Kaleb colored a picture of a fire truck today!” or “Kaleb had fun singing songs with his friends today!” and other cute stuff. Here is what yesterday’s comment section said:

Today @ snack a friend spilled his water and Kaleb said “s**t”

How do you react to that?? The deviant side of me thought “haha! Kaleb’s first swear word!” and then the growing-stronger-every-day Responsible Mom side of me thought “oh my goodness! what a horrible influence Kyle and I have been on this poor innocent little boy!” Since that first reaction of both extremes, I have settled somewhere in the middle. I’m not exactly proud that my kid swore at day care at the tender young age of 15 months, and I don’t particularly care for the testament to my parenting that this little incident represents. However, as they say, shit happens (sorry, couldn’t help myself!) and there is nothing to do now but re-commit to the eradication of all curse words from my and Kyle’s vocabulary at home.

Now, for the news I AM very proud of. We have those cardboard blocks that look like bricks, a favorite of kids everywhere! Kaleb has graduated from chewing on them to actually playing with them. Last night we were having play time in the living room and Kyle asked Kaleb if he could build a tower. That amazing little dude started building a block tower and wound up with one that was taller than he is, standing up! All by himself! I remember as a little girl being extremely impressed with the “taller than me” tower of blocks. To see Kaleb build his own, with no help from anyone, at only 15 months old, that was a very proud moment for this mama!

So, I'm going to invoke the "Actions speak louder than words" doctrine while I reflect on yesterday's events. I'll be very proud of his actions (building a big tower all by himself) and allow that to speak louder than his words, at least in my memory.

Wonderfully and Uniquely "Normal"

As the mother of a toddler, the two words I crave more than any others these days are “That’s normal”. Talking to Kaleb’s day care teacher this morning, I was telling her about how all he has wanted to eat for the past couple days now is the Aunt Millie’s Swirl Bread (either Cinnamon Raisin or Apple Cranberry), and how he’ll eat 2-3 slices at a time. She smiled and said “Oh, that’s totally normal!” and I just felt a million times better.
I know I read in all my parenting books and websites that toddlers go through these phases where they will only eat one thing. But you can’t really prepare yourself for the day it happens with your kid. And, even though I’d read about this being a possibility, I got to worrying that maybe a bread-obsession wasn’t normal, like it would only be “normal” if it was cheerios or goldfish crackers or something. Honestly, what kid only wants whole wheat bread with raisins in it?? The relief I felt when she told me that my kid’s most recent behavior was “normal” got me thinking about how much I crave hearing that. How, every time I share stories with other parents of toddlers I’m really hoping to hear them say how their kid did something like that as well. Every time I go on a google search about dealing with tantrums or getting my son to let me brush his teeth, the thing I find the most valuable and reassuring is not the word of the professionals, but the comments from other mom’s who have been, or currently are, dealing with the same thing. Because, as much as I know my little boy is special and unique, ultimately I just want to know that he is “normal”…at least in the toddler sense of that word :)