Simonisms

So a few of my friends have posted blogs lately about funny things that their kids say. I decided before I saw the latest one that I need to update this blog and decided that I want to put up some of the funny things Simon says. (I wrote this post a long time ago and neve published. It's been quite a while so these are not recent ones, but still worth remembering) There are tons. It seems like at least 10 times a day I am looking at Steve and asking where Simon gets these things from. He is crazy.

"Now where'd that go?" (He typically squints his eyes and looks around when he says this one)

"Now leave! me! alone!" (Each word with a pause between it)

Anytime he wants something he demands it, and we've been working really hard on asking nicely (which he used to be really good at). So he'll say something like "Get me more milk," and I will tell him that isn't asking nicely and you need to ask momma nicely if you want something, and he will shout at me as loud as he can and move his face forward using his whole body to get the word out and say "PLEASE!!" I don't think that is nice either so I take the cup from him and hold it and after a few minutes he will come back to me and calmly say, "Momma can I have more milk please?" and then I will get it for him.

Or with the pleases, he will say something like "I want Dora." And I will say how do you ask nicely, and he will say "please" and I will say, "please what?" and he says "Please to you!"

Simon watches a lot of Dora and Diego, they are his favorite shows and he is always running around pretending from the show, "Look a volcano!" "Stop the Bobos, freeze Bobo's." Really anything that comes from those shows. He likes to pretend he is Boots, I am Dora, Steve is Diego, and whenever anyone else is around like Renee, she is normally a tree. Lol, plenty of other characters in the show, but he makes her a tree.

funny Simon sleep story

Background:
Sometime last month Steve and I bought Simon a nice twin size bed (and nightstand) that we found on Craigslist. He has been doing pretty good sleeping in it, but still wants to sleep in our bed every night. We co-slept with Simon as a baby, and he just stayed in our bed after that. Steve and I were both fine with it, we loved it, and loved having extra cuddle time with our boy. Now that I am pregnant I am getting tired of Simon sleeping with us because he wants to sleep so close he is sometimes on you, and I just don't feel like tolerating it. And I also don't want him to be in our bed still when the new baby comes, because we plan on co-sleeping again, and I worry about Simon and the baby being in bed together. So I have been working really hard on getting Simon out of our bed and staying in his bed. Every night is a challenge, but he has been doing pretty good. It's normal for him to wake up around 4:30 to 5:30 and want to come into my bed, and I am normally so tired I let him, but the past few nights he has been staying in his bed all night! I have found that if I lay down with him, "just for a second" as he likes to ask, in his bed, he will stay in his bed, but I often fall asleep before him and wake up an hour or two later and head to my room. Anyways, now for the story.

The Story:

This happened Tuesday night.
On this particular night I didn't feel like laying down in Simon's bed with him, I was tired and I just wanted him to go to sleep in his bed and leave me along to sleep in mine. So I told him he needed to stay in his room. I said I didn't care if he played quietly as long as he went to bed in a little bit, but that he was not allowed to come in to my room and get in my bed. So we read our story, say prayers, say goodnight, and I remind him of the rules for the night. Don't come into mom's room or you will go to time out. So I proceed to my room to read for a little while in bed before going to bed.

About 10 minutes later I hear Simon fiddling with his bedroom door. He "snuck" out of his room ever so quietly, comes out of room, and then tries to quietly shut the door behind him, and pretend like he never came out of his room. At this point I am sure he is in the hall but I can't hear him or see him, so I keep reading and looking out in the hallway expecting to see him standing in my doorway, but not coming in- because then he will have to go to timeout. After about 5 minutes I hear him chattering out in the hall, so I climb out of my bed, and crawl across the floor to look out the open bedroom door and see what he is doing.

He was just sitting on the floor in front of my door playing with a ball and hanger and talking to himself. After a minute of watching him he looks up and realizes I am watching him, he got the biggest smile on his face when I caught him. I surrendered to his cuteness and asked him if he wanted to come sleep with me. Of course he said yes and climbed on up to my bed. Then I told him he was a turd, and asked if he knew he was a turd and he got a huge grin on his face, snuggled up to me and said yes! Little turd.
I am such a pushover, and if he waits til I am tired enough he knows I will just cave. But the rest of the week after that he has slept in his bed all night by himself and hasn't even came in the middle of the night!

Worries about having two kids.

I love being a mom. I love my Simon-son. He is amazing, and so sweet and he makes me so grateful that I have such a fun calm, well-mannered little boy. Knock on wood. Let's hope he stays this way. I am grateful that I get to be a mostly stay-at-home mom, and that I could be a full-time one if I wanted, but Simon loves going to his Vovo's house and playing with his cousins and I love my job and my coworkers. I am also grateful that I am not working as much through this pregnancy. I am feeling pretty good nowadays, but am always tired. How did I work full-time through the last one? I actually worked two jobs last time and sometimes went a few weeks without a day off. How did I do that? How do other moms do that? I have no clue, but they are amazing.
Some days I wonder how I am going to handle having two kids. I feel like some days I have absolutely no patience for Simon and I thought I was a pretty patient person. What am I going to do when I have a crying baby and a whining Simon? I have a feeling it will involve watching more tv and movies than we already do. It may involve reading more books. I think it will definitely involve more sitting on the couch, though I already do a good deal of that because I am tired all the time. And hopefully it involves more walks but it will be getting cold out shortly after baby comes so we will have to bundle up! I do plan on getting a Moby Wrap or similar type of wrap to have the baby close and my hands free for Simon, I had a sling with Simon and didn't like it, all the weight on one shoulder was not comfortable.
I worry about Simon alot though. He has become much more of a momma's boy than he was already since I stay at home a lot more now. How is he going to handle having a younger brother? Is he going to get jealous, is he going to love the baby so much? I think he will love the baby, he likes to see my belly to see the baby, and when the baby is moving a lot I will take Simon's hand and put it on my belly so he can feel it. I'm not sure if he feels it or not but he giggles and he likes to kiss my belly. Hopefully he is still as fond of the baby when it is no longer in my uterus.
We went to register at BabiesRUs the other day because if I went and registered I got a free $10 gift card, so I figured why not, and also at the end we get 20% off anything on the registry not purchased, so even if no one else looks at it, we still a discount on the stuff on it like swings, bouncers, bibs, blankets, whatever! But while we were there I realized there is a lot of stuff we never had for Simon and for two reasons. 1. We were in a pretty small 1 bedroom apartment and didn't really have the space for a lot of stuff. 2. He was in daycare 5 days a week, and got to play with lots of cool toys there and when he was home I was mostly playing with him and holding him and didn't have a need for lots of things to amuse him and keep him occupied, because I was that thing. Now that I am a stay-at-home mom, and have another kid that is going to need attention too, I am going to have to buy a lot of that gear I never had before. With Simon we had a bassinet, a swing, a tummy time pad, and his crib. He never had a pack'n'play (which we aren't going to get this time either), he never had a bouncer, or a vibrating seat, or a play exersaucer thing, or a baby monitor (his crib was in the living room, his bassinet was in our room, and we co-slept), or a boppy (i just used a small pillow). We never had to buy an infant carrier (carseat) because we were given a used one by a trusted friend, but now the handle is broken and doesn't lock in place so we need a new one. I am realizing now that these things add up, there is tons of gear we have to buy and it's a little scary- so much money! We have a swing already, but I am thinking of getting one that is a swing, bouncer combo, and you can take the bouncer seat off, but maybe it's smarter to keep the swing we have and just buy a bouncer seat, but having the two in one saves a lot of space in our small place. We are thinking about moving, but want to stay here because it is so cheap, we would rather keep the extra $350 a month we would have to pay to live in a larger place. Oh goodness having another kid is a little scary. So much to think about and buy to get ready for the new one, perhaps a trip to Once Upon a Child is in store instead of stressing about the cost of all the new stuff. Thank goodness we are having another boy so we don't have to buy an entirely new wardrobe too, and thank goodness Steve has a real job now, so money isn't quite as tight as it used to be, though it's still a little tight since we have to pay off his school now.
So, sorry about the complaining about all the gear we have to get, really if we just worry about the basics, we'll get a carseat, a double stroller (buying from my sis), and a moby wrap, and we should survive. And as far as Simon I plan on giving him his own special time at night like we do now, where I will rock him and read books and sing to him before I put him to bed, I am hoping that his special time at night will help a lot and I will try to give him special Simon time whenever the baby is sleeping. Any suggestions on how you prepared your first kid for the arrival of a second one and still made time for the first one so s/he didn't feel left out would be appreciated. When we get close to delivery time I will ask for suggestions on the hospital/delivery part and what you did with the older kid during that time- but we will worry about that part in a couple of months. Simon wants attention now, I have been typing too long and he is hungry and needs Dora!

having kids

No, I am not pregnant. But I very recently came to the realization that if you want more than one child, it is smartest to get pregnant with that second child before #1 gets much more than 18 months old. At that point Child #1 starts to get a lot of "personality" and starts to become more independent, stubborn, smart, and frustrating. And at that point you start to wonder if you really want more than one child. Seriously, there are brief moments when I wonder why I would want more than one child, and then you get those wonderful moments where you think you would want tons of kids because they are so wonderful and sweet, and want to call their dad before they go to bed just to say goodnight and I love you.
I love my Simon-son, but man, sometimes I ask myself, do I really want to go through this again- and then maybe even a couple more times after that? No worries though, we do want more kids, and intend to start trying in January while we are on amfabulous trip to Malta! And after that, maybe it will be a good idea to have the kids a little closer in age. I actually wanted them to be about 2 years apart, but I also wanted Steve and I to be able to go to Malta- which had to happen after he graduates, and I didn't want to be pregnant on the trip because that would be miserable, and I knew if I had a young baby at home there was no way I would be able to leave it behind for two weeks. Luckily I have finally gotten over my attachment issues with Simon, and I am pretty sure I can handle being apart for 2 weeks. I left him with Steve for 1 week while I went to Vegas for work, and it went very well.
So anyways, if you plan on having kids, have them about 2 years apart, because if you wait until Child #1 is almost 2, you are going to be seriously reconsidering your desire to have more kids.

Weaned

So back in mid-January Steve, Simon, and I went to see my sister Leslie and her family. After that trip and having a hard time with getting Simon to take a bottle in my presence or even a sippy cup we decided it was time to finally wean Simon. It's really not much fun to spend your vacation trying to get your son to take a bottle and I didn't wan to spend the whole time pumping and trying to nurse him still It was hard for me the first two days, but we did it very quickly and Simon never even seemed to notice, so I would say it went very well for us. I did enjoy breastfeeding Simon and I think we ended perfect timing for us. It was getting really stressful for me pumping at work and I was just really tired all the time. Since weaning, I feel more energetic and happy, I am less stressed, I actually get to hang out and do nothing during my breaks at work, I get to eat lunch with both hands, I don't have to stress about getting enough to eat and drink so I can produce good healthy milk, and I feel like I have more time to spend with my son at home. Granted, we have just as much time to spend together, but now we can spend it together playing! At nighttime I do still rock him to sleep and give him a bottle, but it just feels more relaxing now. I let Steve put Simon to bed at least once a week now which I think is nice for Steve because it isn't something he ever got to do in the past.
All in all, breastfeeding was wonderful. I am huge fan of breastfeeding and plan to do it with our next child also. The other day Steve was studying for his OB class and asked how long I want to nurse our next kid, and I said just as long as we did with Simon, and maybe even to 18 months. Yes, I am one of those people... Simon was weaned at about 14 months, and I think if I hadn't been working it would have been a lot easier, it is definitely a huge commitment and lifestyle decision, but for anyone willing to do it, it is totally worth it. I think as a working mother I enjoyed it even more because I felt like since my son is in daycare I don't get to be around him as much, so for me, pumping was a way for me to still provide for my son and take care of him even though I couldn't be with him all day.

Some things about Simon

I decided I have put enough blogs on my normal site, so I want to post on this one too. I noticed a common in thread all of my posts, they are all about breastfeeding pretty much, which before now has been a large majority of my time spent with Simon. I am still doing it, pumping at work and everything, but this boy is getting to a point where I cannot keep up with him anymore. He has been eating 20 oz a day at day care!! Not to mention what I feed him in the morning before I leave, and what he eats at home at night, this kid is incredible!! I said a couple sentences back that before now eating is what Simon and I spent a lot of time doing. But now he is getting to a point where we are getting to spend a lot of time playing together. My little boy is so much fun already. Yesterday he rolled over for the first time, so that was pretty exciting. Here are a few little things about Simon.
At his last doctor's appointment March 13th he weighed 14 lbs which is in about the 30th percentile. His height was in the 15th percentile. His head was in the 90th percentile! So I have a short semi-chubby man with a huge noggin!! But that's ok, I think the big head thing must run in the family because Leslie was asking me about Simon's size because Bryant's head is in the 97th percentile!! I think it just means they are really really smart babies and need bigger heads because they have bigger brains.
His right pupil dilates more than the left one, so I need to make an appointment and go see an opthamologist about it. It's called unequal pupil size, it is probably nothing, but we are going to make an appointment just to make sure. Our doctor said it's more important that his pupil's constrict and his do that just fine. You can really notice it in the following pictures where he has one freaky red eye and the other eye is not nearly as big. I have noticed this for a while, and finally remembered to ask the doctor about it last week, she hadn't even noticed. (If you click on the pictures they will be bigger and then you can really see the difference in pupil sizes.)



Simon loves food! He doesn't really eat baby food yet, though we are starting him on rice cereal now. But he has an intense fascination with whatever I am eating, he doesn't seem to care as much about what Steve is eating, just my food. Today Steve and Simon came to have lunch with me and Simon kept grabbing my food and then he grabbed the to-go box and was shaking it all over the place so I couldn't even get my food. The other day I was eating yogurt and he kept trying to grab the spoon out of my hand so a few times I let him have it and he took it and put it in his mouth, and another time he hit himself in the face with the handle. It was really cute. Sometimes if I am eating soft mushy liquidy food I will give him a little taste. He really seems to like yogurt, but I don't think he should be eating it yet.
He loves putting anything he can find in his mouth, especially his toys like his giraffe and his monkey. He eats hangers, spoons, mom's necklace, mom's hair, mom's face, anything really. I just love, he does the most adorable things.
He has been super duper cuddly since he had the flu last week.
When he isn't smiling he is either asleep, or you can't tell because his hands are in his mouth. He is just a super happy smiling baby, I love it.
We have been co-sleeping with him which seemed like a great idea, and was very good for me as far as being able to sleep at night and not get interrupted too much by feedings, but now that he isn't waking as much as night I am starting to try to get him to sleep in his bassinet. It's really hard, I think he doesn't like it because he loves his mommy and loves sleeping with her. The bassinet thing is hard, but I am slowly working on it, starting with naps and hopefully we can get him to sleep in there through the night soon. I think he likes the comfort of having someone near and being able to hear my heartbeat.
His favorite radio station is 105.7, a classic rock station, he LOVES classic rock!
His favorite game is peek-a-boo.
Flying/getting tossed in the air makes him laugh.