Long time no talk

There have obviously been lots of changes in the last month. I was very sad to have to turn in my NASA badge. My last day at work was October 2nd. I've been job-hunting and networking. So far, I've had two phone interviews from HR folks. The one job wasn't a good fit, but the other could be. Hopefully, I'll hear back from the hiring manager. Through my contacts I know I'm still in the running for another job that's an awesome fit, however, there is talk they may go with someone they were already considering before I applied. At the end of last week another job posting came up which would be a good fit. I applied. (fingers crossed)

The biggest thing with Little Bit lately is trying to get potty training. He just resists peeing on the potty at home. He won't tell us if he's pooped in his pull-ups either, even if we ask him directly. Last week we bought 10 pairs of cheap sweat pants and "big boy" underwear and put him in them except for nap or bedtime. He just held his pee as long as he could at daycare. By the end of the week, he was peeing in the potty all day, but had a poop accident in the afternoon. Still at home, he would just stand there looking at us and pee in his pants, so we had pee puddles on the floor and our rug. On Friday night and Saturday, he pooped in his pants another 3 times!!@ With the 4th pair of poopy underwear, DH and I were done. I put him in a pull-up at the end of the yesterday.

It seems he's just not ready to do this (at least at home) for whatever reason. We'll keep trying to send him to school in underwear, and talk up being a big boy and being able to move up to the 4-year old classroom once he's completely out of pull-ups. (Not having to buy pull-ups would certainly help our budget!)

On the lighter side of things, Little Bit dressed as Superman for Halloween. Too cute! He loved being a superhero! I bought butterfly wings to wear around while we took him trick-or-treating. DH bought some awesome real feather angel wings. Little Bit proudly told everyone that I was a butterfly and his dad was "an eagle".

I was going to write a post about the exciting things Little Bit is doing -- yesterday he learned how to trace his blocks and his hand really well. He also drew a very nice smiling face with representative legs and arms (an advanced drawing skill). The biggest thing happened earlier today. DH walked into his classroom at daycare to pick him up for the afternoon. Little Bit was playing with wooden letters by himself. That's when DH noticed that Little Bit had spelled out his nickname with the letters, all by himself!! I had shown him how to spell it the other week in writing; he remembered. I got a little teary-eyed when DH told me, because, that's my bayh-beee!!! He's only 3 years and 3 months old.

That was going to be my post, maybe going on about the excitement and awesome prospect of raising this gifted little boy. However, my manager pulled me into his office at the end of my work day today. Our departmental 2010 budget has been cut. I got the short straw. The 2010 fiscal year begins in less than 2 weeks at the beginning of October. They will try to find me another position on the contract, but if not...I'm out of a job. I feel like I've been sucker-punched. I'm the primary breadwinner right now. I don't even want to think about how much COBRA health care coverage will cost us if I'm unemployed in a few weeks.

Fabulous Friday

You have to check out this post from The Bloggess -- Tim Gunn, Iron Man, the Wienermobile, and a video of a cat taking a shower. What more could you ask for? The kitty in the video reminds me of our dearly departed kitty. He didn't take showers, but I sure do miss him sometimes.

Also, I want to have lunch with Tim Gunn! We could totally go shopping afterward with the $25,000 winnings.
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Last week, Little Bit was coloring a sheet with drawings of various farm animals. He started asking me what the animals were, like he was my teacher. As I answered correctly, he said, "Good," and wrote down a scribble like he was taking notes. After he had gone through all of the animals, he started going back over his scribbles, like he was adding up my score! He's only three, ya'll.

Politically Incorrect

Little Bit learns so much at daycare - songs, counting, ABCs, sharing, etc. Unfortunately, that learning includes things that we don't want him to learn. I'm beginning to see why some parents choose to homeschool. There are lots of good things about his daycare. The problem is one or two of the children in his class who act up. Several of the "lovely" things he has learned include:

1. pointing a stick-like object at me (or his dad) and saying, "You're dead. Ha ha ha ha." The laugh is a fake laugh that particularly grates on my nerves.

2. doing something he's not supposed to do (like yesterday, throwing a pillow directly at my face), then saying, "I was jus' kidding."

and, 3. in general, he's started getting an attitude sometimes where I get flash forwards of him as a teenager.

When I was young, I tested as "gifted" at a fairly young age. From fourth grade on through high school, I was in the separate gifted program classes. We moved at a faster pace and had many more hands-on and field trip activities. Maybe it's snobbery, but I was glad to not have to deal with the lowest common denominator in the regular classes who only wanted to cause trouble in class. DH and I and our pediatrician suspect that Little Bit will test as "gifted"; he's already show some signs. Part of me looks forward to getting him into the gifted programs where he will be surrounded by other bright, inquisitive children who want to learn.

Fabulous Friday

In honor of the premiere of "Project Runway" last night...

Three things

Three things important to me in parenting

1.) This one you've probably hear before. Pick your battles. Or, as we say around the avonlea household, Is this the hill you want to die on, soldier? I ask myself if whatever I want Little Bit to do (or not) is really that important? Does it matter if he eats his food one way or another, as long as it ends up inside his tummy and not on the floor? Then, why try to force him to do it my way? Does it matter if that item he wants gets "toddlerized"? No, then let him carry that advertising booklet around and color on it, or drop it on the floor. Related to this is...

2.) Respect Little Bit as a person. Yes, he's still a child, but if I can give him choices, if I can give him some say in his life, then he gets a little autonomy. He has his own likes and dislikes, and they can change. At one point, he was fine with us cutting up his dinner roll into bite-sized pieces, but one day, there were going to be tears if he didn't get a whole roll, unblemished. So I gave it to him, and laughed when he smooshed the whole thing against his mouth trying to get a bite. Sure, that's a trivial example, but there are lots of little choices he can make.

3.) Let him play! I do not want to overschedule him with a bunch of activities and lessons. First, he's only three. However, when he gets older, we'll sign him up for one or two things at a time, eventually working our way through different sports, scouting, martial arts, music, etc. so he can find out what he enjoys. For now, just playing is pretty darn good. I will not be pushing tutoring on Little Bit, like the people mentioned in this article, in order to prepare him for kindergarten.

[Play is] also a critical way that children develop language, express their creativity, expand their social skills, solve problems and generally learn about their world — all important abilities that will help them in kindergarten and well beyond.

-- Joan Almon, Executive Director of Alliance for Childhood

Big Boy

Me, speaking to Little Bit: Let's take off your sandals; they make your feet stink.
Little Bit: No, they don't. My poo-poo makes me stink.
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We took Little Bit for his three-year old checkup. The pediatrician says that he is still in the 75th percentile for height and weight. His vocabulary is good. She had him try to draw a few shapes that she drew first. He got the circle (a three-year old skill, she said) and the plus sign (a three and a half year old skill). He's not quite up to drawing a square yet (a five-year old skill), but he did get one corner on the shape he drew. Just in the last few months his coloring skills have grown. He no longer just colors with big swipes of color across the outlines on the page. He tries to color inside the lines and does a pretty good job of it.

When we told the pediatrician that he likes to "read" back his bedtime story books to us, she was impressed. She said that telling stories was closer to a five-year old skill. We need to video Little Bit "reading" The Cat in the Hat. It's hilarious. "You go 'way now t'ing One and Two. No here while Mommy away! You go 'way!! Please!"

Last week, he was reading a bedtime story back to me. The story had asked questions like, "Do you see the present with the big red bow?" Little Bit asked me the questions and when I answered correctly, he said, "Good, Mommy!" My little teacher. Then, he surprised me by coming up with his own new questions. Though, of course, he is still only three. "Can you find the red... with ladybug spots?" I pointed to the picture of a ladybug.