Playground Politics

We've had some issues over the last few weeks with little Bit's daycare/preschool. I'm going to copy and paste my Facebook statuses about it so I don't have to retype. So, if anyone comes by here (I know I haven't been posting) and has some advice...

May 6th -
School has called us three times to come pick Little Bit up early. He is climbing to the top of the playset, refusing to come down.. He has also hit one of the teachers in the face, knocking off her glasses. Today while we talked to the assistant director, he locked himself and another child in the bathroom, then threw wooden puzzle pieces at his teacher's face, making her cry. =:-o

The assistant director said that she was thinking he might be getting bored with his age class he's in because he's gifted. We had thought of the same thing. I'm going to look into what gifted programs the local school has, though I don't know that they have something for a(n almost) four year old. However, I read awhile ago that they test all incoming kindergarteners to see if they are gifted and need extra attention. Some school districts will test early if requested.

Last night, Little Bit asked if his dad would write out some words for him. Little Mike then proceeded to sound them out -- he read them, ya'll!! He read them. One of his teachers said within the last few months that he's also ready for early math concepts. If he follows in his dad's footsteps (what DH knew by the time he was in kindergarten), he will be reading on a college level and doing math on a high school level by kindergarten. I requested a few books on parenting gifted children at the library that were on a recommended reading list of the Texas Associated for Gifted Children.

May 11 -
Last week, we came up w/the plan for my husband to be there at playground time (when the majority of the problems were happening) as a visual deterrent. Yesterday when DH arrived, she had already pulled Little Bit to the front office. She said that LB had tried to run out the front door. Then, she seemed to think that was the last word and just walked off. DH waited to talk to her, saying I've seen other kids try to run towards the front door (IE, what's the big deal; you just stop them). She said, "NO, they don't" and then said that the director would be back today and she could decide what to do.

DH and I both went in to talk to the director this morning and tell our side of the story. It seemed the asst. director was holding a grudge and raising the bar unfairly to us. Also, while we could be sympathetic for his afternoon teacher bursting into tears, if having a child throw a puzzle piece at your face makes you cry, maybe you need to be in a different job.

Unfortunately, the director said that he can't move up to the four-year old class (and out of the current three-year old class with the new, young afternoon teacher) because there's no room. She said they were waiting until summer when some of the kids are out of the classroom and there would be room. The director suggested just seeing how Little Bit did on the playground today without DH there. At the end of the day, we talked to her. She said that LB again refused to come when the teacher called; he ran away However, he did not climb to the top of the playset as he has been doing. The new teacher has been freaking out about it, because it seemed like he was going to jump. Of course we don't want him to be hurt either. However, the director said that she talked to district/corporate, and they said if he did it (climbing to the top of the playset and not coming down or listening) again, that maybe he should stay home, because it's a safety issue. I was stunned that she said that, because he didn't even climb to the top of the set today; he was just doing his usual running around and not wanting to go back inside.

DH and I are both unhappy. We said what about the option we have already offered of Michael being here every day at 3:30/playground time to watch or to just take him home for the day to head off any problems. She said we could try that, but just the fact that she basically threw out the idea of kicking him out of school, he thinks she's made up her mind already.

We know that his morning three-year old teacher loves LB, and the four-year old teacher (he's been in there sometimes during the days) loves him a lot. He has some "best friends" among the kids. *sigh*

Edited to add -
We think he was climbing up the playset to freak them out and that he wouldn't jump, too. I think the young, new teacher just hasn't had enough experience yet, and the assistant director was just also too inexperienced at being the go-to person for issues. Of course corporate is going to go right to protecting themselves against a lawsuit and say it's a safety issue.

After a long talk, DH and I are going to be proactive -- we are taking Little Bit down to half days. If afternoon playtime is the issue, then he will just be there for the morning. We are also going to demand a firm date for when he could be moved to the four-year old room.

We will re-evaluate as the whole situation changes (if both I and DH get full-time work, etc). Little Bit will love being able to be home with us. In a few more weeks, the neighborhood pool will be open during the week and not just weekends.

A small update

A few memorable quotes recently from Little Bit --

While watching an episode of Dora about the seasons, Little Bit named the seasons for his dad, "Winter, Spring, Fall, and hot." (which is oh, so appropriate for Houston).

This evening when he came home after DH and I had finally cleared off both our coffee table and kitchen table of all the various magazines, piles of mail, etc, he asked, "Why is the table clean?"

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While I've been on hiatus from blogging (still no luck on the job front; I just haven't felt like blogging), Little Bit has continued to develop in leaps and bounds. He started asking us what each letter was on books and signs, as they were working on the alphabet at school. Just in the last few months, he's been asking us to show him how to write letters and wanting to practice them. For Valentine's Day, I received my first signed card from Little Bit. He signed the letters of his name all by himself (with just reminding verbally from his Dad what some of them looked like.)

I can't believe that in just a few months I'll have a four year old. How did that happen?! He's still struggling with dealing with frustrations when he tries to do something, and it doesn't work or when we tell him no. Such big emotions in such a small body. For a long time, we've been trying to get him to stop throwing things on the floor when he gets angry. Just recently, he started throwing himself on the floor instead! Small victories, I guess.

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.

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

Sleep, perchance to dream

We have had some success on the sleeping/bed front -- within the last week, Little Bit has slept a few times all by himself in his own bed in his own room. The rest of the time he still slept in his bed, but, he has toddled into our room about 3 am and said sleepily to me, "Will you come sleep in my bed?" I stumbled down the hallway with him, settled him down, and slept next to him the rest of the night. It's a step in the right direction.

Getting him to bed has been getting harder and harder. He keeps trying things to stall. He wants one more story (on tv or a book). He wants some juice. He's hungry. Sometimes we can get him into his bed without too many tears. But once he dissolved into hysterics. He was so tired, so upset and crying hoarsely. Finally, I just picked him up in my arms and held him in a cradle hold close to my chest. I rocked him and made soothing sounds. Soon, he calmed, and I was able to lie down next to him.

He's been stuttering off and on again. The daycare teacher said it's very common for his age and that their thoughts are going much faster than their words/vocabulary can go. We just let him take his time when he's telling us something and not draw attention to it. It's hard not to feel a little concerned, though, wondering if it's the start of a problem.

We went to a 4th of July celebration at the park and got to spend time with DH's family. Little Bit and his cousin Bethany had a most excellent time dancing to the music of his Uncle. While we were there, I got to hold the little 3-month old baby girl of a friend of our niece. Oh, dear...those sweet little chubby legs, those cute, tiny toes, that little ruffly outfit...She was just so small. It made me remember when Little Bit was just born and how wonderful it was to hold him over my heart, with his little legs folded under him like a frog, small and compact. I had a dream within a few days of that where DH and I were discussing Do we really want a second child? How are we going to afford two in daycare? Do we really want to do this? Gulp.

However, even with those baby-induced ovary twinges (hey, quiet down there! Haven't you already been giving me enough trouble?!), I know that we're "one and done". While it would be awesome for Little Bit to have a little sister or brother to play with, having a sibling doesn't always mean you'll be close. My brother and I are worlds apart and have never been close. We're just too different in personality and have different interests.

There are also practical reasons to be "one and done" -- since DH is 15 years older than I am, he'll be nearing retirement when Little Bit is in high school. We'd like to be able to retire sometime, you know, before we die, and enjoy time together, and also still provide some college money for Little Bit.

I also selfishly enjoy being able to hand-off between me and DH, knowing DH is not outnumbered, so I can go for some 'retail therapy' or take a nap or read a book.

Short takes

We were discussing dinner. I asked Little Bit, "Are you going to eat a lot?"

He said, "No...a little a lot."

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DH and I were dropping Little Bit off at the drop-in daycare near our house this past Saturday. (Yay -- date time for mom and dad!) This place has a huge indoor play set that looks like a tree, with slides, climbing boards, tunnels, and bridges. Little Bit grew very excited when we said that he was going to that daycare for the afternoon. The daycare rules say children have to be over 3 years old to climb on the tree play set. Sometimes in the past, they have let Little Bit climb on it because even though he wasn't three yet, he was tall enough for a three year old. However, he remembered clearly his disappointment the last time when a daycare worker said he couldn't climb it because he wasn't old enough. He wanted to be sure that they knew he had a birthday, and that he is three now.

As we checked in at the daycare desk, Little Bit proclaimed to the woman there, "I older. I feel old."

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Little Bit has taken to declaring all the things he will be able to do when he is older. These things are quite varied. According to him, when he is bigger he will get to watch cartoon after cartoon on the tv. He'll be tall enough to touch the ceiling while standing on the top step of his bunk bed. This morning he commented on my dress (a dress he has oooh'ed over before and said was pretty). He said, "I be bigger, and I can wear that [points to my dress] and that [points to my cardigan] and that [points to my necklace]!"

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Now that the days are longer it has become more difficult to convince Little Bit that his bedtime is approaching. Some of the neighborhood kids were playing in the turn-around at the end of our street after dinner last week. Little Bit insisted on going to see them. DH took him. Little Bit had the best time playing with the "big kids" and the "big girls". They were throwing and kicking a ball and drawing on the street with chalk. The olders kids were great with Little Bit, including him in the fun. Little Bit wanted to keep playing and playing. DH finally had to physically carry Little Bit home as it was getting dark (and way past his bedtime).

The next morning, the very first thing Little Bit said as he got out of bed was, "The big kids getting up? We go play the big kids?"

Apparently, another thing he thinks he'll be able to do when he's older is play for as long as he wants. "I get bigger and play the big kids!"

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It's always fun to have your words thrown back at you, isn't it?

Me: (calling Little Bit to come here, please)
Little Bit: Just a minute!

DH: (joking around with Little Bit, but Little Bit is in one of his 'No!' moods)
LB: That's enough!

Happy Birthday, Little Bit!

Who knew three years ago such a small being could hold my heart so tightly? Your birth wasn't the way I "planned" it, but that was just the first parenthood lesson in being flexible. When your father placed you on my chest, wailing and red-faced, I said in wonder, "Hi, there, little one..." You stopped crying and just looked at me. You looked into my heart with those big blue eyes. You knew my voice; you knew me.

Now I look at your long legs, and they are already longer than your whole body was when you were born. I look at your hands which still seem small, but you are learning to build things and draw things and throw things (you've got a rocket arm). You keep us on our toes. You surprise us with your sly humor and your thoughtful sharing. We weather the storms of toddler hood together. Through it all, I'm so glad to be your mother.

Welcome home

I was away last week on travel for work. The morning I left I had to get up at "oh,god"-thirty in the morning to catch my flight. Later, when Little Bit woke, DH said he started playing with his toys. Then, Little Bit picked up his toy phone.

"I calling Mommy...Hello, Mommy!...I love you. Bye-Bye."

He said hello to me on the real phone later that day and told me he loved me, but the rest of my trip he refused to talk to me on the phone. I shouldn't take it too personally though. He does the same thing to his grandparents when he's watching cartoons.

I missed DH and Little Bit a lot. Little Bit asked about me everyday. Sometimes DH had to carry him around the house in the middle of the night to show him that Mommy wasn't hiding somewhere. Once he knew for sure I wasn't there, he let his dad settle him back to sleep.

Little Bit has the habit of repeating the last word or few words of most anything you tell him. He's repeating the words with a question in his voice. Maybe he picked it up from me. I repeat his words in a questioning voice when I'm making sure I understood (translated) his toddler-ese correctly. The repeating can be cute or annoying depending on how many nerves are left (i.e. "You're getting on my last nerve."). He also prefaces many of his statements with, "Hey, Mommy?" or "Hey, Daddy?" to make sure we are listening to what he's going to say.

DH relayed a variation of this occuring every day I was gone:

Where Mommy?
She went on the airplane, to see the rocket. She'll be back in threeeee days. (Hold up 3 fingers.)
Airplane?
Uh huh.
Rocket?
Yes. Remember, we watched it yesterday. It went "whoosh!" up into the sky!
Where rocket?
It's flying up in outer space. The mommies and daddies on it are working on a satellite. They'll be done soon, and will come back down and go home to their houses.
Flying?
Yep.
Home?
That's right.

When I got home from my business trip Friday afternoon, I found a sick little boy. DH had been watching over him all day. He had a virus and hadn't been able to keep anything down. He lay on the couch watching cartoons. I sat next to him where he could put his feet on me, and I could reach over to pat him comfortingly. I was telling DH about my trip, when Little Bit piped up.

"Hey, Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Stop talking." (Said in the sweetest little boy voice you can imagine)

DH and I fell over laughing. Little Bit was trying to watch his cartoons, and I was talking! Never mind that I'd just returned from being gone all week. I was interrupting his cartoons.

Little Bit had a few crackers and some water before bedtime and was able to keep them down. He woke later in the middle of the night asking for milk. I (silly mommy) gave it to him. He promptly gave it back all over our bed where he was sleeping between DH and I. Welcome home and happy birthday to me. (Yep, it was my birthday this last Saturday. Little Bit's is next week.) Thankfully, Little Bit woke up Saturday morning his usual bright eyed self.

Medical bills could give me night terrors

Little Bit woke screaming last night. We rushed into the room to find him sitting upright in the middle of the bed. He wasn't fully awake and continued to scream, cry, or say, "No!" every now and then. I got him to lie down, snuggled up to him, and tried to comfort him. About 15-20 minutes later, he was finally breathing deeper and obviously in a deeper sleep. My first thought was night terrors. Screaming, sweating, thrashing around, impossible to wake up - yep. Supposedly night terrors aren't remembered the next day. He was his usual bright and happy self this morning.

Medical bills and statements from my insurance for the two ER visits this year have been trickling in. Now we're really seeing the disadvantage of working for a small company versus a big company. My insurance coverage is nowhere as good as it was at my previous job. Based on what my current insurance paid and the bills from the doctors, hospital, technicians, etc, we owe $2000+ for two ER visits! Compare this to the coverage at my previous job: Little Bit spent two and a half weeks in the NICU. We paid $0, even though the total bill for all the NICU costs (room, nurses, doctors, labs, xrays, specialists, etc) and my labor/delivery was about a quarter of a million dollars. Again, we paid zero dollars. My insurance at the time, with the large company I worked for, covered it all.

Daycare has a program that will pay up to $5000 towards the medical bills not covered by personal insurance when a child is hurt in their care. So at least we won't have to try to squeeze $2000+ out of thin air.

The whole "in-network" "out-of-network" thing is a crock, too. The first hospital ER we went to was "out-of-network", so not very much insurance coverage. OK. Lesson learned. We went to a different hospital ER for the second incident. My insurance statements say that the hospital was "in-network", so the only thing to worry about was my deductible. However, the doctor who treated Little Bit's arm at the in-network hospital ER is considered "out-of-network". WTF!? That means we owe the ER doc close to $800. That's bulls---!!!

He's just a little feller

Scene: Dropping Little Bit off at daycare

DH says, "Son, you need to leave your toys in the car. (points to front door of daycare) Miss Donna* put up a sign that says everyone has to leave their toys at home."

Little Bit considers this.
"Let's pretend it says 'yes'!"

DH quickly says, "OK. Then we'll pretend we took the toys inside."

Little Bit considers this...hrmmmm...then, he leaves his toys in the car.

*We live in the South, ya'll. All the daycare teachers are addressed as Miss Donna, Miss Kate, etc. Little Bit is also taught to say "Yes, ma'am" or "Yes, sir" as appropriate.

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I'm way behind on reading/commenting on the usual blogs I read, and of course I haven't posted much lately. There's only so much "free" time in the day; lately I've been reading personal finance blogs and getting lots of good ideas about being frugal and tricks to keep on budget, and so on. Either that or trying to catch up on the DVR'ed shows recorded while we watch the evening cartoons with Little Bit.

Little Bit is staying up later than he probably should. We let him watch his favorite cartoons on Noggin, which end at 8pm. By the time we get him to sleep, it can be past 8:30pm. That doesn't leave much evening. Last night we actually got him into bed and asleep by 7:30pm. He had quite a day though. He woke up feeling out of sorts, wanting to gather all his toys and things around himself on the couch. He really didn't want to go to daycare; he seemed like he might have a bit of a bug. So, he got to stay home with DH for some extra attention. When he felt better in the afternoon, they played outside for awhile. Unfortunately, Little Bit got really overheated very quickly. He has my fair skin, but he also has a high normal body temperature, and his face broke out in a heat rash.

This morning, Little Bit broke my heart protesting getting dressed to go to daycare. He kept crying for me to come hold him, while DH tried to put on a fresh pull-up.

Little Bit yelled, "No pull-up! I baby!"

:-( It broke my heart. He's been feeling insecure I think. I would imagine it's rough trying to dance along that line between wanting to get out and explore and wanting to be held close and safe by mom and dad. In another 10 years or so, we'll get to go through his puberty. Wheeeeee.

DH and I are thinking about taking Little Bit out of daycare part-time. That way he can get more one-on-one attention from his dad. Socialization is good, but he's only almost three. He's just a little feller.

Purple -- One day all babies will be born healthy

My heart and eyes are full of tears for this family. Their sweet, beautiful, little 17 month old girl passed away a few days ago. She was born 11 weeks premature in November of 2007. Her parents are requesting donations be made to the March of Dimes in memory of Madeline Alice Spohr in lieu of flowers. They had been planning to march in the upcoming March of Dimes walk with Maddie. The outpouring of love from the blog world is wonderful to see -- the donations for their March of Dimes walk team has gone from less than a few thousand to $21,000+ in the last few days.

While my little guy wasn't premature, he spent 2 weeks in the NICU for respiratory failure when he was only 2.5 weeks old. The March of Dimes cause is close to my heart as well.

Hug your little ones a little tighter tonight.

He's such a sweetheart

Little Bit wanted to wear his sling for a few days, even though his arm was better. That was fine. It reminded them at daycare to be extra careful. DH talked with the daycare director and the teacher responsible. The teacher was just crying and so sorry it had happened. She said that she had taken hold of his hand since he had been hitting other kids. He threw himself down on the ground because he didn't want his hand held. She held on instead of letting go, and that's when his arm got pulled. She didn't realize it had happened. I know it was an accident, but I'm still mad it happened. However, Little Bit isn't holding a grudge. DH told me that as they were leaving daycare on Friday that Little Bit told that teacher, "Bye! I love you!"

I feel so bad that his self-esteem took such a beating last week though. The whole thing about being consolidated in with the "babies" after getting his arm hurt really kicked his feet out from under him. He said several times over the weekend, "I baby. I no big kid," even though he'd been so proud to be in the big kid class last Monday. He really needed extra TLC from us over the weekend.

Updated: Monday, Monday

Starting a few weeks ago, in the middle of the evening, for no reason that we could discern, Little Bit started stuttering his words. He gets moved around a lot during the day at daycare between different rooms. He's bored with the Twos, but not fully potty trained so he could be with the Threes all day. When the Twos teacher is late getting to work, he ends up in a third classroom. (Yes, DH is going to talk to the center director about all the switching classrooms during a day.) DH and I wonder that he's feeling stressed and unsure. I hope that other kids don't point out the stuttering. We don't. We just patiently wait for him to say his thought. Sometimes he stutters more than other times, and not every sentence is stuttered.

The pediatrician said that his child did the same thing at Little Bit's age and to just not make a big deal out of it, that he would grow out of the shyness that is probably behind it. He sounds so shy when he stutters out his sentences and questions. It breaks my heart; it's so sweet sounding.

My little boy is going to be three years old in just over two months. I can't believe it. Where did my little baby go?!

Updated: Yesterday, they officially moved Little Bit up to the Three's room. Little Bit was so happy. He told us very proudly, "I with the big kids now!" How cute - the three-year olds are the "big kids".

"I not in baby's room."

He didn't stutter last night, and he seemed more happy in general. We'll continue working on the potty training.

Short takes

His told his first 'Knock, Knock' joke last week --

Little Bit: Knock, knock!
DH and me: Who's there?
Little Bit: Me!! *laugh*

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On the car ride home from dinner, after a discussion between DH and I of the fact that there weren't any napkins in his car to wipe the chocolate off Little Bit's fingers...

Little Bit: I need go store!
Me: What do you need at the store?
Little Bit: Na'kins!

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Little Bit had a throw-down tantrum after we got home because he didn't get to close the door all by himself. (Ah, the fun of living with a toddler.) He was mad at his Daddy for not letting him. Little Bit insisted that I take his shoes off, not Daddy. He insisted that I turn on the tv for him, not Daddy.

He snuggled up to me and said, "Mommy my friend. You no my friend, Daddy."

Later, I gave Little Bit some "stars"/cereal puffs. He ate them all while I was in the other room.

"More stars, Daddy."

"Well, if I'm not your friend, I don't know if I should give you more stars..."

Little Bit said, "I wuv my friends. You my friend, Daddy."

DH gave him more stars. As Little Bit ate, DH said, "I love you, son. You're my friend."

Little Bit said, "You no my friend. I wuv Mommy!"

What a clever little stinker!

A Morning in the Life

Every night before bed I think, "Tomorrow I will get up early. It'll be great! I won't have to rush to get ready, and I'll get to work early." The reality is that I'm just not a morning person. I love my sleep. Alarm clocks are not my friend. So, I wake up late, realizing that I forgot to turn on the evil alarm clock. I set Little Bit up in front of tv watching his favorite cartoons. I hurry through a shower, then find some khakis and one of my go-to tops to throw on. On the days when DH can take Little Bit to daycare, I don't end up quite so late to work, but I'm still late. The flextime excuse can only take you so far. When I have drop off Little Bit, there's an extra 30-45 minutes tacked onto my morning routine. First, I have to bargain with Little Bit to change his diaper. "If you want to keep watching cartoons, then we need to change your diaper." Next, I suggest a shirt for the day. If he insists on wearing his pajama shirt to daycare, oh, well. He's only two and a half. Try to find some clean pants for him. Are they in the dryer? Darn, forgot to run that load last night. OK, yesterday's jeans aren't too bad. Dust them off and wrestle them onto the boy. If Little Bit protests turning off the tv in order to leave, I offer him a job to do. He's still in that 'wants to help' stage, so I milk it for all it's worth encourage him. Would you like to feed the kitty cats? Or, would you like to carry my coffee cup? (Don't worry...it's empty. I tank up with coffee at the bagel shop on my way to work.) I drop Little Bit off at daycare. All the little girls (and the few boys) in his class crowd around him when we come into the room. He's already very popular (lord, help me when he's a teenager). They want to see what he's brought with him (sometimes he insists on bringing a stuffed animal). The classroom teacher asks if he's had any breakfast yet. The answer is usually no. I can feel the stink-eye she is giving me, while she's thinking, "You're bringing that boy in here this late and he *still* hasn't had breakfast?" Mommy FAIL. They now know to either save back a breakfast for him or plan to get him some cereal when he arrives. Oh, yeah, sometimes his hair doesn't even get combed before he gets dropped off. He *hates* to have his hair combed; it's not always a battle I want to fight. So, the cowlick sticking up in the back just adds to the overall pajama top, slightly dirty jeans look. He's going for a grunge vibe. Yeah, that's it. After a stop for bagel and coffee to go, I slink into work, hoping that it hasn't been noticed that I'm late. It is noticed on the mornings I slink into our weekly staff meeting after it's started. The topic -- how it's now expected for us to be in at 8am. No more lenient flextime. Awesome.

On being tired, happy diapers, and no pants

Sorry I haven't been posting much the last few weeks, ya'll. I've just been alternatively feeling depressed, hormonal, bitchy, tired, sick, sleepy, grumpy and doc. (Don't tell DH about me feeling Sleepy, Grumpy, and Doc; he doesn't know.) There have been many cute things Little Bit has said or done that I think, I should put that on the blog, but then I just don't get around to it. I'm still trying to shake off the effects of the latest Virus de Daycare.

Sometimes, Little Bit does not want us to change his dirty diaper. He'll retreat to the other side of the coffee table, playing keep away, and say, "No! This one [meaning the diaper] happy!"

They are still trying to get Little Bit to use the potty at school. He's gone in it less than a handful of times. Yet the other day when they ran out of pull-ups for him, they actually put him in just underwear and pants. So, of course he ended up peeing on himself. He came home wearing a shirt, a diaper, no pants, and shoes and socks wet with pee. Nice. Great job putting a kid who's nowhere near potty-trained in underwear.

Though I will say that the teachers and the daycare director do care about Little Bit and the other kids a lot. On Tuesday, his first day back after his trip to the ER for his cut forehead, the teachers were very concerned and said they'd give him lots of attention and love. The center director saw me as I was leaving. After we chatted about what the ER doc had said, she said, "Let me go see my baby", meaning Little Bit, and hurried off to see him. That was sweet.

We went to the ER today; how was your Monday?

I had dropped Little Bit off at daycare this morning, then came home to crawl back into bed. DH and I have the flu/bug that Little Bit had last week, and we feel awful. Not even half an hour had passed when daycare called. Little Bit had had an accident. He was running across the room and fell into the edge of a low bookcase cabinet. The daycare director said she thought he might need stitches. Eeeep!

Our brave little guy was subdued when we got there to pick him up. He had only cried briefly when the center director called me (probably because he knew she was talking to me). The gash on his forehead was quite deep.

We drove him to the ER. I sat in the backseat next to him for comfort. On the way there, he threw up all over himself. Note to self - next time bring both a clean shirt and clean pants in case of emergency.

No stitches this time. The doc cleaned the gash (traumatic for both Little Bit and me because he cried during it), then used dermabond to seal the edges. They did a CAT scan to double check there wasn't anything else to be concerned about.

Little Bit and I had a nap together this afternoon. He's now running up and down the hallway, giving me gray hairs as I worry about him falling and opening up the wound again. How do you get an active toddler to stop running without duct taping him to a chair?