Facebook Archive - March 2014

March 4 - Four year olds have two volumes: HEY GUESS WHAT!? and unconscious March 4 - Sharing a restaurant booth with a four year old is like trying to keep Scarecrow upright as you ease on down the yellow brick road. How many times can he just spontaneously fall under the table?

March 5 - I am not a parent with a lot of rules, but we have had to enact a "no hugging or snuggling at dinner" policy in the Stryker household. It's that or I need to put on a rain coat before we sit down. Eating seems to fill our son with LOOOOOOVE for his mama and he can only express that by hanging on me with ketchup covered fingers.

March 5 -Ian reprimands me every time I try to lick my thumb and wipe something off of his face: "Mommy! Don't put your mouth germs on me!" So just remember it's Ash Wednesday. Don't put your mouth germs on strangers to try to clean their foreheads.

March 6 - Ian is wide awake at 11pm thanks to an unplanned evening nap. But we have discovered Winnie the Pooh narrated by Stephen Fry and so I'm fine with lying in the dark with him. "You never can tell with bees."

March 8 - My son was awake from 8am to almost 11pm with no nap, a trip to the children's museum and dinner with his grandparents. More importantly, he did not melt down at any point today. I am impressed at his endurance.

March 9 - The one thing I wish I could un-teach my child from his time in day care and preschool is the "cheese" smile for a camera. Thankfully, making fart noises snaps him out of it so I can get a genuine laugh.

March 12 - an (in our dark bedroom at 10:24pm) "Oooh, I'm sooo tired! I'm tired from this very big day!" Me: "Why don't you try closing your eyes and resting? So you can be ready for tomorrow's big day." Ian: "I'm trying but my eyes don't want to close yet!" Daylight Savings Time week with a night owl.

March 13 - My son finally fell asleep at 1am. He was lovely the entire time and we talked about death, Thomas trains, what babies eat, if ducks can dance, and a detailed breakdown of everything we both did that day. (Cheerios and raisins for snack and kite building projects for him. Development planning meeting and Mexican food lunch with Bossman for me.) It's now "time to wake up" and I am loathe to disturb him. I love my night owl kid. I just wish mornings came later.

March 13 - Song lyrics: "I hear it calling outside my window. I feel it in my soul." Ian: "What's a soul?" Me: "It's like your feelings." Ian: "oh." (Continues singing.) Whew

March 13 - "Let it go, let it go, and I'll rise like the break of dawn. Let it go, let it go. That perfect girl is gone." Ian: "Is she a bad girl now?" Me: "No, she's a good girl." Ian: "Then why did she say the perfect girl is gone?" Me: "Well, I think she's saying she isn't always going to be what other people want her to be." Ian: "So she's not going to listen anymore? Does that make her bad?" GAH! Is everyone else's kid just blindly singing along to the catchy tune and not having some sort of identity crisis? Parenthood: #notforwusses

March 20 - Radio: "Let it go! Let it go. You'll never see me cry!" Ian: "Actually, she cried when her sister got froze. What are fractals? Are they like snow? Why does the cold not bother her? Why doesn't she want it to be spring? Did you know today is the first day of spring?"

March 23 - I leveled up in deboning a rotisserie chicken in the car because Ian kept asking for more.

March 26 - My son is almost four and a half and the sound of a baby crying in hunger at the airport is still physically painful for me. I'm not sure who is happier to see his mommy rushing back to him.

March 27 - Ian spent our Pennsic planning meeting with the cute red head showing her his train magazine. Next he'll be inviting her to come see his etchings.

March 28 - On our evening commute, Ian and I have discussed needs versus wants, trains with double tenders, and the definition of bulky. #notforwusses

Facebook Archive - February 2014

Feb 1, 2014 - 4am "I'm hungry" leads to 4:15 hotdog which leads to 4:30 coughing fit which leads to 4:45 vomited hot dog which leads to 5am movie in the chair with Daddy while I strip the bed and fold up the bathroom rug. Parenthood is not for wusses. Feb 3, 2014 - Peeling my kid off of me this morning as he desperately says, "Don't leave me, Mommy!" is just what I didn't need after five days trapped at home in the snow. And it's gross outside so they won't go on the playground. I went to work and hugged my sunlight UV lamp and counted the days until spring.

Feb 4, 2014 - Ian wouldn't wave to me at the window this morning at drop off. He just stood there staring at me like he was going to the gallows. We talk about the scars of a birth that doesn't go as planned but there are lots of other little wounds throughout their lives. My oldest brother is 54 and my mother still gets misty-eyed talking about how he cried every day at drop off for two years. Not for wusses.

Feb 4, 2014 - I made a wrong turn and told Ian I was on auto pilot. As I tried to explain the phrase, he started sobbing, "BUT IF A ROBOT'S DRIVING THE CAR I WON'T GET TO SEE YOU!" #notforwusses

Feb 7, 2014 - We overslept but Ian didn't flip out. He told me when his feelings were getting hurt and he felt rushed. We sorted it out without a single tear. The car ride involved Ian marveling at the cotton ball clouds and one that looked like a sea monster. He asked for one more hug and said he would miss me but didn't cling to my leg. And he waved at the window! You're welcome, future Ian spouse.

Feb 12, 2014 - Ian: "We talk about Jesus and God but I keep looking for them and can't see them." Me: "Well, they're not really people or things you see." Ian: "Because they have magic?" Me: "Kinda ... Dude, it's complicated." Ian: "Did you know Jesus and God are in your heart? Maybe that's why I can't see them." Not for wusses.

Feb 14, 2014 - We went up the mountain and Ian says his voice sounds funny now. I told him it's because his ears are stopped up. "But I can't feel any boogers in my ears."

Feb 17, 2014 - Ian: "Does Travis have a kid?" Us: "No." Ian: "And he *still* has to go to work?!"

Feb 22, 2014 - As we left the funeral service this afternoon Ian yelled across the parking lot, "Can we *please* go to Target now?" I turned to Rich's dad and said, "the world moves on, Granddad." We've promised him a trip in the morning, as a family.

Feb 27, 2014 - Leaving Toys-R-Us after a pre-arranged 15 minute time limit of "just looking" but not getting any toys went about as well as you'd expect, but I had to give him a chance. We're now sitting in the grocery store parking lot waiting for him to stop sobbing because I "hurt his feelings" by "fussing" at him, which basically involved me calmly carrying him to the car and telling him we were going home. I will not yell. I will not lose my cool. I will crawl in the backseat and snuggle him. But I'm not apologizing to him for kindly telling him he's wrong just because that upsets him and he wants to blame me. So we just wait. #notforwusses

Facebook Archive - January 2014

Jan 11, 2014 - We're trying to convince Ian that the CD eject button is there to launch sassy children out of the minivan through the roof. "And we didn't get the model with a sun roof so you'd better cover your head." Jan 15 , 2014 - [in the car listening to music] Ian: "Daddy, are there any good doctors?" [many back and forth questions] Rich: "Oh! No, I think all the doctors on my phone for music are evil or horrible."

Jan 16, 2014 - I'm heading out to the pharmacy at 4am for more children's Advil and a feverish Ian calls out to me, "Bye, Mommy. I love you! Have a good time!" They're so sweet when they're sick.

Jan 18, 2014 - Ian at 7am: "Mommy, what are chemicals?" This should be a brain teaser book of word play. Yesterday he asked what motivation is.

Jan 22, 2014 - We just bought a "fart blaster" gun at Target. Ian then held the trigger down the entire time from the toy aisle, through groceries and check out, in the parking lot until we got to the van. I also wet my pants from laughing so hard but it's like that "ever gonna see a rainbow, stand a little rain" analogy.