"I Think We Have a Theme, June"

Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with B and that stands for Baby.

Spring Has Arrived

This is an early post for tomorrow. Tomorrow I will add a new picture of Luke, but I think it's important to post this today. Such exciting news!

Today in the fashion of nearly ALL our recent history, it is gloomy and raining, but I saw my first signs of Spring in our very own yard! Here are my tulips, lilies, buds on my hydrangea, and a little four-leafed weed in Sookie's paw print! I can hardly wait to get some dirt under my fingernails, plant a lawn! When I saw the tiny pink tulip leaves my stomach flip-flopped and I raced inside for the camera with the wild thought, "I have to photograph this before it's gone!"

Winter was so incredibly long this year. I have been going stir-crazy and having mood swings. Even though the snow melted a few weeks ago, it has been grey and the plants are all brown and everything and everyone is tired and dreary.

I can imagine what the end of Winter must have felt like for people surviving on their stored vegetables when Manitoba was first settled. Everyone has lost some weight from depression and malnutrition, the days are getting longer but we don't necessarily have more get-up-and-go, and the land is in the limbo of not being covered in snow and frost, but we are still not able to get out and plant. Everything is gaunt, drab, bleak and tired-looking.

And then with a sigh of relief, and an anti-climatic drizzle, Spring proves (against all odds) that She was not a figment of our imagination and-at long-last-arrives.

Don't Drive Tired

This little guy is an amazing race car driver. The other day he actually pushed his race car over to the knife drawer, and climbed up on it to look inside! That's the amazing balance and skill he has with this car. Yet, accidents can happen to anyone. This little fender-bender is an example of what can happen when you drive tired. Just stay off the road when you're sleepy people. Nothing good can come of it.

First Cheerios

This little boy opened the knife drawer yesterday, then pushed his racecar over, climbed on top of it, and reached in. Thankfully I was there to witness this mischievousness and it didn't go further than that!

Yesterday Luke also had his first cheerios. Up until now I've been worried that they might be too hard and he wouldn't be able to chew them. But he got through them just fine!

Luke has discovered the magnets on the fridge. I have a few really big, really strong magnets that he can't pull off very easily and he just slides them around the bottom half of the fridge. This morning after breakfast I put him on the floor and the first thing he did was go for the magnets.

Derek reminded me last night that parenting really is a high calling. I just wonder who I'll be calling next...911?

On A Roll

Dare-devil!

Raise the roof.

Luke is walking behind his race car lots now. He can pull himself up on it and push it all around the house, which is quite a feat since this thing has wheels and can slip out from under him. Sometimes he gets stuck in a corner, or under the kitchen chairs, but we leave him there and eventually he maneuvers his way out again. At first I thought he wasn't bending his knees when he walked, and he looked so funny because of his stiff gait! Then I realized he was bending his knees - his legs are just incredibly short.

Yesterday Luke figured out how to open the kitchen cupboards. Today my task is to get my hands on some child-proofing equipment. Otherwise my life is going to be very scary, very soon. And can anybody tell me why at ten months my son woke up six times in the night, and was up at 6am!? He was such a good sleeper until three days ago!

Throw Him in the Clank

Our kid behind bars, watching the other children have fun in the sunshine. He thinks to himself, "I am a withering leaf, craving sunlight, and laughter! Why must I be so far removed from my peers?"

After two days of pulling my hair out, we have decided to throw Luke in jail. We set up the play pen and he is becoming a frequent visitor there so that Mommy can get some things done. Also to keep me sane, we are having conversations with Luke about what is and what is not safe for him to play with instead of just saying no and redirecting his attention.

I had a talk with my Mom yesterday morning, and a talk with Kathy in the evening both of which really enforced my feelings that Luke can understand and should be talked to as if he understands. So we are moving on from having a baby, who doesn't understand what we're saying and has no ability to assert his freewill, to having a child, who understands No and can decide to go ahead and do it anyway. I think fear is the appropriate response from the Mother.

Luke's newest screech, which I was trying to catch on the video above, captured a little more accurately, and annoyingly, here.

Here Comes Trouble

This morning the woman at the coffee shop was laughing and playing with Luke and she said, "What a happy baby! Is he always like this?" I wished I could say yes.

Yesterday, for the first time, there was some question as to whether or not we would keep Luke. He was such a pain in the rear that I actually looked for his original receipt to see if we could do an exchange. Where'd my happy, polite baby go? Suddenly I have this crazy thrashing deranged monkey instead of Luke!

Derek came home last night and lay down on the floor, exhausted after going to the gym. "I am tired too", I said in an understanding way. "Why are you tired?" he asked.

This was my entire day: Luke cried and smashed his face into the floor if I took something away from him that he shouldn't have. He went back over and over again to things that I told him not to play with. He stood at the kitchen counter and screamed when I put the TV remote up on the counter out of his reach. He stood at the corner of his crib and shouted for forty-five minutes at nap-time. He swatted a cup of water out of my hand onto Grandma's floor, and later he swatted the sweet potato out of my hand and across the room. He whined and complained and got into the dog's water bowl, and soaked his pants. He tried to grab the oven door when I put the casserole in for dinner, and when I put him in the living room and ran back to the kitchen to finish dinner he shouted and followed right on my heels and again tried to grab the hot oven door! When I tried to soothe him after his crying he arched his back and smashed his head into my sternum. When I tried to change his diaper he cried and arched his back and rolled over on the change table in his own poop. The only thing that seemed to help was when I walked outside into the brisk breeze. He quieted right down and looked around, peaceful for the first time all day. That was until I turned around to go back into the house. Then all hell broke loose...again.