Good times in the garden

We finally had a nice weekend (weather wise) here in the 'Burgh. As soon as Lucas and I got home on Friday we were outside. I put his water shoes on, a swim diaper, filled up his pool and let the good times roll. He loved it-he was splashing, transferring his pool water to other buckets. No harm there right?

Sunday we had planned to plant my garden-FINALLY! I headed out before the boys. The goal was to try and keep Lucas occupied enough so that I could plant the veggies and Marc could plan the flowers. Ha! How soon I forget that Lucas is a very active 20 month old. I just had Marc put his swim shoes on again but we left his PJs on-he was just going to get dirty anyway, why change his clothes three times? Lucas was very interested in the trowels-he is in a shovel stage right now so why not? He was pretty good for the most part-was very interested in the dirt. Once I got the tarps down, I didn't care if he walked on them. He even helped me plan some squash. And then the fun began. I was watering the garden after I was done planting-Lucas decided to venture into the tarp area again. I thought he was just going to walk on them and turn around. Oh no, that wouldn't be as fun. He decided to have a seat-in a puddle. I have to admit it was pretty cute! He didn't seem bothered at all by the wet bottom he had. He just looked around like, what next Mom? We finally got him out of the area only to have him move to the next section and do it again.

Lucas loves to be outside and Marc and I come at it from different view points. I say that he needs to be outside. There is nothing wrong with it-it is good for him! So he doesn't stay put in one place? How many 20 month olds do? So we follow him around or do our best to make the area safe. Big Deal. Marc hates chasing him, doesn't like that he likes to push the limits a bit (like trying to go up his slide instead of down or wanting to stand on the top of his sandbox). That is what kids do, what healthy, growing kids do. We grew up outside. We hated to be inside. Even today, when we are at my parents, we are always outside-on the deck, in the backyard. It is normal and fun. We are able to keep an eye on the kids and dogs.

Marc gets frustrated because Lucas always wants to go outside. He doesn't agree with me that by letting Lucas go out, he will get used to limits. That maybe we need to let him run around for more than 15 minutes to get his fix.

Working mom in unbalanced mood

I have been struggling lately with a work like balance. When your husband has his own business, it is not always 9-5 and each day is different. Some days he is home by 5:30pm, some days later-last night it was closer to 7pm. Normally we can handle this at home. But right now my job isn't fitting too well into our established life pattern. We are undergoing some pretty assinine changes. They seem to think that having people work online from home in the evenings and on weekends will make the job more flexible and appealing. Really? Not so much for me-when I am home, I am trying to keep Lucas from charging out the door, trying to cook dinner, trying to keep up on laundry and following my husband around picking up after him. How will I be able to accomplish sitting at a computer waiting for students to IM me? And weekends are out because I am home alone with Lucas EVERY SATURDAY and Sundays Marc sometimes does house calls. And Marc does work on the computer as well. When he has a deadline to get ads done or answering his own customer's emails, I know he needs to be the priority. Do I really want to pay a babysitter to watch Lucas while I make myself more available to students? Not really.

My appraisal is coming up and I am not looking forward to having this discussion with my boss. She will try to paint it in a positive way and make it seem like a great change. Maybe she has said it enough to herself that she actually believes it when in reality, it is the most backwards thing this office has done in a long time.

I have always managed to balance things but I believe that these changes will finally nudge me into finding a new job-I need to respect Marc's work and my time with Lucas.

Over sensitive?

Growing up I was an overly sensitive child. I tittered on emotional meltdowns whenever something went wrong; I only wanted there to be peace and would get hysterical whenever our family had a disagreement. And I never wanted to disappointment my mother-her approval was EVERYTHING to me. It is amazing that I didn't get an ulcer. Thank God I grew out of it and matured fairly normally in my emotional development.

Now I am worried about Lucas-he cries whenever we say no to him. He responds to the extreme when there is a loud noise. I watch him and think that is what I must have been like as a toddler. I don't want him to be so emotionally warped like I was. It was a horrible way to grow up and the stress it caused me and especially my mother was over the top.

I am hoping that I can give him the reassurance that things will be OK and be able to help him get control of his emotions, something that was lacking in my case.

But at least he eats well right?

Happy 20 month birthday

When did you get so big?! I can't believe you are 4 months away from turning 2-what happened?

We spent some time on Sunday in the car coming home from Buffalo but you played with Daddy so I could take a nap-what a better way to celebrate?

Here is new with you:
1. You have graduated to the big boys' scale at the doctors-the last time we were there, you got to stand on the scale-no more fighting to lay you down. And you weighed in at 26 #s! No wonder my rib has popped back out.
2. Everything comes in pairs now-Mommy and Daddy; Nana and Bapa; Grandma and Poppa.
3. You love to play in water.
4. You like to pick up Jeff's toys and throw them at him-we aren't too sure Jeff likes this though.
5. You love to be chased-we don't find it as funny especially when we need to get you ready to go out or to change your diaper.
6. You are a little imitator now-last night you tried to cross your legs like me.
7. You are a social butterfly-you say hi to everyone and every thing, including trucks and buses.
8. You are learning the names of all the monsters on Sesame Street and now know the order in which they appear in the intro.
9. You can reach things on the table.
10. You love to play with wooden spoons and pots and pans.
11. You think your sand box is Elmo because it is red and has big eyes-it is really a crab.
12. You love to play with your older cousins and they like to play with you. We have had some good times the past few weekends.
13. I think you are going to be a bit of a dare devil.
14. You aren't afraid to get a little dirty.

Everyone is amazed at how big you have become! We can't wait to explore more things with you.