toddler battles

Don't let this face fool you...

We are having a stand off right now over ONE bite of soup. I am going to just scream into my pillow I am so frustrated. Boy thinks he rules this house and can do/say/act however he wants. He gets disciplined but wont sit in time out, wont follow reward charts, won't do what he is told ever. He says no on everything, just to say no. I cant ask him to do something he wants to do- but if I ask him to listen all bets are off. 

He refuses to eat anything I make for dinner. He gets his own meal every night and I am so sick of it. I am raising him to be spoiled and selfish. He knows he can just scream and fight and eventually get his way. 

The problem is he has stamina. He will fight for HOURS on something. I have never "won" a battle with him because we fight for so long and then life happens and its time to leave the house, I have a meeting, somewhere to be, something to do, or its 2 hours past bedtime. I have never been able to just stick it out- therefore he knows if he fights long enough and screams loud enough he will get his way. 

I feel so trapped by parenting this toddler man child. Our neighbors just listen to the tantrums and screaming timeouts locked in the garage (I don't have anywhere else to put him and I would have to psychically hold him in a timeout chair or spot so hard he would have bruises) 

He is starting to manipulate us. I have to gain control. I have tried everything under the sun- rewards, praise, charts, games, timeouts, taking things away, grounding, flick on the cheek (when he screams NO at me) I have even done a bit of love and logic that everyone swears by. He literally doesn't care.

But get this- he is PERFECT for everyone but his parents. No one has issues, he listens, he helps. He isnt a BAD kid, he is actually pretty darn great. He just knows he has our number and uses it against us. 

I am just SO frustrated tonight, needed to vent. I am in for a long one, I am sure he won't sleep much due to being hungry. He has to take the dreaded bite of soup in the morning before he can have breakfast. If he doesn't eat breakfast he can't go to school.... you see the cycle here.... and I have a pretty big day planned for work already. 

But I have to stick to my guns, I have to be the head of this house, not my three year old.

Ryan, I promise this is for your own good. I love you and you will understand eventually and probably thank me for not letting you grow up to be spoiled rotten. 

xoxo,

Mom

the eldest

30 degrees and outside, sounds fun right? Needless to say we are more than ready for spring and warmer weather to head our way. Yes I know its only January, but we are sun worshipers in this house. 

Its sad that the baby is sleeping the most out of everyone in this house. Last night it took Ryan over 2 hours to settle down and then he was awake every 2 hours the entire night and tried to be up for the day at 6. Mama needs her beauty rest! We have tried it all so now we are doing the unthinkable....

No more naps.

Someone hug me its going to be a long week.

29 months a big boy

Ryan just passed the 29 month mark. I dont really refer to his age in months any more. He is 2 and a half now but for blog purposes here it is. 29 months my sweet boy!

A few days before we left for Hawaii, Ryan decided that he wanted to sleep in our guest room/spare room/future big boy room and we let him. The transfer went off without a hitch he LOVED his full size bed with extra pillows and blankets. Of course there was plenty of room for all his stuffed animals too so that was a plus. He slept in the bottom bunk at his grandparents house for a week, also without problems, but has had a hard time since he came back home.

He has been up multiple times every night, getting up each time to come into our bed and ask for all sorts of things. Food, milk, sesame street, to sleep with us.. There are times I am grateful that his bed is big enough for two because I have slept in there with him a few times to get him to stay put.

Okay back to my original point. He is growing up and growing up fast, again. He refuses most things considered for babies anymore. No high chair, no beeb (bib), no rocking chair, no crib. I wish that no diapers was thrown in there but not yet. He wants to pick out his own clothes and put on his own shoes. He doesnt want his sandwich cut up anymore he wants it "big boy style." I have to admit I jumped on the big boy band wagon with haste. I love seeing him in a new light and a new element. He seemed to be thriving with this new outlook on life.

So tonight caught me off guard. He didnt want to stay in his bed (no surprise there we have been fighting it for a week) and so the deal is, if you wont stay in your bed you have to go in the crib. Tonight he actually didnt mind it and asked me to sit in the rocking chair and watch him for a while like we used to. After a few minutes he told me he was ready to go back in his big boy room but wanted the rocking chair to come with us.

I sat there, almost 8 months pregnant and rocked my 2.5yr old son. Sure it was awfully uncomfortable but it was a little reminder that he may think he is all grown up but there is a part of my boy that will always be my baby and he wants it that way. So do I.

I look forward to rocking him again tomorrow.

how you know your kid isnt little anymore

He graduated from the cute beginning walker shoe table to the big, running, kicking, climbing, BIG boy shoe table at Nordstrom.

We went to see daddy at work and decided to head upstairs to the little kids shoes to get a balloon and get Ryans feet measured. I try to do it every 4 months or so because it seems he grows out of his shoes that fast. Sure enough a size 7 to almost an 8.5!

I rushed over to the usual table of cute little toddler boy shoes and said I want to try these ones. The cool hip sales guy said "umm he is over HERE now" The options werent as cute but he told me to trust him.

I knew I would either love these or hate them. After a few minutes of walking around we were both in love and went home with them and 2 balloons :) 

One more reason my baby is a BIG KID! 

helping hands

The most used phrase at this house right now is "mama, help?" he has to help with everything from doing his hair to making his own scrambled eggs (video coming of that soon) I hear "mama help" non stop all day. At the market he wanted to help me push the stroller.

Go baby go.

Being resourceful.

This kid cracks me up I cant believe I grew him from scratch.

cranky toddler day

When your cranky toddler screams like hes being tortured in his bed for an hour instead of napping what do you do?

We do puzzles and eat cookies fresh out of the oven :)

 "ryan, show me your happy face"

It turned both our days right around.

he took off his diaper in his crib

Just need to vent a bit if you dont want to read about it just skip on pass :)

Yesterday rocked. Yesterday my son exhibited some self control and independence. That is a rare bird my friends. Today he is back to being on his royally worst behavior ever. Sadly this is more typical than the great days.

Daddy has a Xoom tablet. Daddy taught Ryan how to search for youtube videos, play games, browse through pictures, and video call our friends. Great for the short moments here and there when its appropriate. It CAN be a great babysitter for a minute when you need one. However Ryan is really obsessive over everything techy. Ryan had a 2 hour tantrum after daddy left for work because he couldnt play the game I wouldnt let him touch any of my computers or phone. 2 hours people. Non stop whining, kicking, screaming, CLIMBING ON me. Nothing distracted him nothing worked at all.

Finally it was nap time. Ryan played and cried off and on in his bed for an hour til he somehow pulled the toy story tent up from behind his crib (yeah I have no idea how that happened) and opened it up inside his bed. Then he pooped. Then I changed him and put him back to bed sans tent. He screamed for an hour.

Got him up and he decided he didnt want clothes on. We had a power struggle for 20 min to get a diaper on. He wanted to watch a movie I wouldnt put on on til he had at least something on. So I sat there reminding him of the deal while he freaked out for a while. Once the diaper was on I had to keep one hand him at all times to keep clothes on him. If I answered the phone, got up to go to the bathroom, switched over the laundry BAM he was nude.

Nap round 2. Epic fail. I put him in his bed out of sheer exhaustion and for his safety (he was mad cause I wouldnt let him play in an open second story window) and called a girl friend to vent/bawl for a while. After another hour of screaming I went in and the thing that scared me THE MOST happened.

Poop. Everywhere. 

No I didnt take any pictures so sorry. He had stripped nude at some point during the in bed freak out, taken off his diaper which he pooped in and threw the poop on the floor. Only after he rubbed it in his hands for a while and then licked his hands and rubbed his eyes repeatedly. I called the girl friend back screaming in pain/fear/agony when she started laughing I had to laugh a little too. Cleaned him up in the tub changed the sheets put him back to bed. He was not getting out of this nap.

Cried for another 30 min. With all of this crying I am surprised no one has banged down my door or called the cops we live in an apartment complex and you can most certainly hear him outside even if our windows are closed.

We had more fights over food, movie choices, the fact that its cold and we cant go swimming, or that grandparents arent available to play today. He has been using me like a jungle gym every second he hasnt spent crying in his room. But if I take my hand off of him for one second he is into something naughty.

There is no rest for the weary. Neither of us have slept today so why am I ready to hit the floor dead and he cant stop fidgeting for 3 seconds. (which is why cuddling and watching a movie together is impossible, he physically cant sit still, always has to be wiggling his legs or something)

Sometimes I wonder why the Lord and I have such different ideas on what I can handle. I cant handle this at all.

How do I get a clingy, fidgety kid to stop climbing all over me and kneeing or elbowing me in the baby bump or really sore boobs. I have bruises everywhere from him being all over me constantly.

I just want to scream really loud. Oh wait, I already did into a pillow before I starting typing this.

well hello there

Well hello there little blog of mine. I went off to this amazing conference and met all these great ladies. Then I came back and abandoned it all. So sorry about that. 

Pretty much everything in our house is on toddler time. We go from this-

 To this in a matter of .5 seconds.

Its over everything- eating, sleeping, shoes, teeth brushing, books, which toys we play with or movies we watch, whether we are going to see daddy at work or go to Yia Yia's house. Its insane. I drove home from my parents this weekend and he yelled and cried the WHOLE 4 hours in the car. By the time I got home I just wanted to bang my head against the wall.

I want to love the toddler stage. I want to enjoy his growing independence and personality. I want to wake up each morning excited to spend the day with my awesome little man child. But honestly I am not. We but butt heads constantly, it is one giant temper tantrum from sun up to sun down 6.5 days out of the week. I have tried everything. Reasoning- hahahahahaha. Okay it works like 5% of the time. Distractions- he gets SO mad when he thinks his feelings and thoughts are being pushed aside, he will not be deterred. Playing outside? That works when I have enough energy to chase him around a park and when its sunny- combination of those happen about 2% of the time.

He is just awesome but SO incredibly difficult at the same time. Dear old grown up Ryan- when you read this you must come give me a big hug and apologize for making me wrinkle and grey at an early age because of you.

In pregnancy related news I am 12 weeks finally! I feel like we were cruising along so fast and then now we slowed down. I think I am just crazy because part of me wants it to speed up again but the other part is no where near ready for two children. I am only up 8 lbs now from my starting weight. I lost a bunch being so nausea's all the time then I slowly started gaining it back with Jelly Bean getting bigger. According to my belly button this baby is done cooking, its already poking out I cant imagine what 28 more weeks will look like.

We have another OB appointment this week, cant wait to see them wiggling around in there, we should find out the gender in a few weeks too, I can hardly wait I am so anxious. I have had so many people assume and say to me well you probably want a girl this time. Actually NO. I have NO preference whats so ever! I am not the mom that waits to have one of each so I can be done :) I am going to be so insanely happy with whomever the Lord sends.

The gestational diabetes its getting under control I have to retrain myself and they way I eat but it is so torturous for a pregnant gal to not be able to fill up on carbs! Its hard to feel satisfied after a meal I am always left hungry and needing more food but I have had my "allotment" for the time. Oh why do my children like to plague me from the beginning with heartache and suffering?

But its all worth it I cant wait to hold another little one in my arms.. and breastfeeding! woop woop so excited for that one I miss it SO SO much. Yes I know that is super weird, just roll with it.

Do you have any questions for us? Hubs and Ryan are open to answering some as well, we would love to put together a Q&A post/section of this blog so email away OR ask on fb or twitter. All my contact info can be found above in the tabs