It's been a while since my last post but there hasn't been any good stories to tell necessarily. We have been trucking along doing our lessons each weekday morning, continuing to observed No TV Tuesdays (which are our best days). Socks are not the terror they once were, toys are getting picked up and James' curiosity has yet to hit it's peak.
I did find myself needing a serious break from my routine and my adorable yet talkative son over the weekend. I was getting over a cold, needing to rest desperately and just wanting to "check out" for a day or two. It's hard to do when it's me and James at home and no outside distractions like playmates to call him outside. But I do feel better and I finished an entire book over the weekend. The Help by Kathryn Stockett was most excellent.
One interesting note of late has been James' curiosity in knowing about The Devil. I don't know where it came from exactly. He has played with his cousin a couple of times lately and then has come home telling me that the devil lives in the sky. I let him talk and then tell him that God and Jesus live in Heaven which is in the sky and the devil lives underground. Today, we even included it in our lessons. Hey, he asked. It's kind of confusing to talk about though. Lucifer, the devil, Satan. Some sources say they are different entities; not necessarily the same person. So, I stick to the basics: The devil is bad. He can disguise himself and come to Earth. But he cannot beat those who believe in God and Jesus. James says he believes in God and Jesus. I found some pictures of Lucifer on Wikipedia and found some beautiful illustrations from "Paradise Lost" by Gustave Dore. It shows Angels with spears as if they are warriors and I can't help but remember what little Colton Burpo said he saw. The Angels had bow and arrows and fought Satan when he came close. The men in Heaven had to help. He saw his Daddy fight. He only told the story to his Dad once and never spoke of it again. Never.
So, as with every morning, James wakes me up and starts telling me stories. It's sweet the way he catches me up on the things I miss when I am at my night job. Apparently last night he talked to Chris about the devil and asked questions; wanting to know how bad the devil was. James said that Chris said a prayer in front of him and it went like this, "Dear God, please keep away the devil". That hit "10" on the scale of adorable. We haven't been back to church after that one time. I think about every Sunday but I am torn with going or staying home. It's the ONE day out of the week that the three of us are together and no one has to work. It's hard to tear myself away. I figure that I can include religion in our lessons and go from there. Hopefully one day, I won't have to work at night and we will see each other more and Sundays won't be so sacred a family day; that leaving for a hour or two to go to church won't feel so bad.
I know it's No TV Tuesday. I'm on the computer and it's a "scream" (i.e. screen). James played ALL DAY yesterday and didn't have any scream time. So we had a TV Moratorium Monday????? ;) Plus, this morning he asked for hot chocolate and then for me to read his Adventures of Transformers book to him....all of it. It has 6 small books in one big hardback book. I love that. So, now we may watch Transformers. He wants to see the Demolisher again.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
The happy ending to a most trying week
If I had sat down to write this blog earlier in the week, it would have been an incomplete story. It all started on Sunday a week ago. We were having a family day and we were out and about. James pooped in his underwear. On Sunday, I didn't think anything of it. We had been away from home most of the day and he is not one to poop anywhere but home. But then on Monday he did it again. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. It happened more than once on Wednesday and I got tired of cleaning dirty underwear, So, I made him choose to wear a Pull-up or go commando. He choose commando. Weird. On Thursday, same thing. More than once. Friday too. Even with the babysitter. I thought for sure he wouldn't do it with her. He did. And then he proceeded to actully POOP 3 more times on Friday. What the world? I tried asking him if he was worried about something. No. Did his tummy hurt? No. Well, and before I get to the end of the poop part of the story, let me show you something else.
This happened on Wednesday. I had recently learned that James could put his shoes on all by himself from my brother-in-law but he was holding out at home letting me and Chris think he couldn't do it. Then we asked him to start putting on his own socks too. Well, you see how that went on Wednesday. This is a clip of the last 5 minutes or so...of the 20 minutes of screaming and whining. You would have thought I had pinched him and made him bleed. I did no such thing. I asked him and then expected him to put on his own socks and shoes. Also, in this video you can see his bald spot prominently displayed. I cut his hair on Tuesday. It was "No TV Tuesday" and I got bored and James needed a haircut. It was traumatic to say the least and I will no longer be in charge of haircuts. It will now be a Father/Son outing. Soooooo, fast forward to Friday. We've had pooping in the underwear everyday, the awful haircut on Tuesday, meltdown over socks on Wednesday and so I thought we needed to get out and go to the park on Friday afternoon. We had a GREAT time...until it was time to leave. I swear there were several kids at the park having meltdowns at the same time. It was freaky friday at the park. We had to quickly stop at the grocery store on the way home and my patience was hanging on by a thread. And then James snapped that thread. He stopped walking with me in the parking lot and took a defiant pose, folded his arms across his chest and gave me his mean face and said, "You are a mean mommy and I don't want to go anywhere wif you. I don't want to go to the grocery store and I don't want to go home wif you.". This is what popped in to my head,
"Ok. That's fine James. When we get into the grocery store I want you to look around for a nice couple you might like to go home with. I will give them your booster seat from my car and you can go home with them." He thought I was joking so I actively started helping him "look" for someone else to go home with. There was a nice lady in the produce section. And the man with the little boy in the racecar cart. James could have a little brother! And then, I stopped a couple. And winked at them. Here is what I said, "James thinks I am a mean mommy and he doesn't want to go home with me. Do you need a little boy?" They played along! The man said, "Well, I have some work that needs to be done around the house and I could use some help with my dogs". James was holding on to my sleeve with all his might and I said to him, "James! They have dogs! You love dogs!". He says, "MMMMMMMM! No Mommy!" I looked back at the couple and shrugged my shoulders, "I'm sorry. I guess he has changed his mind". The man looked down at James and said, "I think you have a very nice mommy". We drove in silence all the way home and when I pulled into the garage, I looked back at James and told him, "I love you always. No matter what". I think he may have needed to hear that. I know that sometimes kids need to know that even when they mess up or act up that their parents will always love them. I will.
Back to the poop portion of this week-long saga. At 7:30 pm on Friday night, James sat at the top of the stairs- 5 feet from the bathroom- and pooped in his underwear again. This time I made him help me clean his underwear. He did not like getting poop on his hands and he cried and cried. I had to put him in the bathtub to get his completely clean. And then I did this. I grabbed the phone from my room came out into the hall way in front of his bathroom so he could see me and this is what he heard me say:
Hi Dr. Nechyba. This is Connie Lewis. I am very concerned about James. He has pooped in his underwear everyday this week. He normally is very good at putting all his poop in the potty. What should I do? *silence for a few seconds* What? Really? There's a no-poop-in-your-underwear shot? *silence except for James gasping and looking horrified* So if James can go a whole day without pooping in his underwear then he doesn't need the shot? Ok, well I will give you a call back tomorrow night and let you know if I need to bring him in or not. (this was a completely FAKE call. I never dialed a number)
It was a gamble. But it worked! James pooped THREE times before lunchtime on Saturday morning. He'd been holding it in for some reason. We called Daddy and Nana & Pop-Pop and Mawmaw to tell them the good news: James would not need the shot! We are now 2 1/2 days of clean underwear and all poop in the potty. Needless to say, we had 2 days of lessons on Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week was spent dealing with poop and socks and attitude.
Ok, it's a new day. And a new beginning. Wish me luck!
This happened on Wednesday. I had recently learned that James could put his shoes on all by himself from my brother-in-law but he was holding out at home letting me and Chris think he couldn't do it. Then we asked him to start putting on his own socks too. Well, you see how that went on Wednesday. This is a clip of the last 5 minutes or so...of the 20 minutes of screaming and whining. You would have thought I had pinched him and made him bleed. I did no such thing. I asked him and then expected him to put on his own socks and shoes. Also, in this video you can see his bald spot prominently displayed. I cut his hair on Tuesday. It was "No TV Tuesday" and I got bored and James needed a haircut. It was traumatic to say the least and I will no longer be in charge of haircuts. It will now be a Father/Son outing. Soooooo, fast forward to Friday. We've had pooping in the underwear everyday, the awful haircut on Tuesday, meltdown over socks on Wednesday and so I thought we needed to get out and go to the park on Friday afternoon. We had a GREAT time...until it was time to leave. I swear there were several kids at the park having meltdowns at the same time. It was freaky friday at the park. We had to quickly stop at the grocery store on the way home and my patience was hanging on by a thread. And then James snapped that thread. He stopped walking with me in the parking lot and took a defiant pose, folded his arms across his chest and gave me his mean face and said, "You are a mean mommy and I don't want to go anywhere wif you. I don't want to go to the grocery store and I don't want to go home wif you.". This is what popped in to my head,
"Ok. That's fine James. When we get into the grocery store I want you to look around for a nice couple you might like to go home with. I will give them your booster seat from my car and you can go home with them." He thought I was joking so I actively started helping him "look" for someone else to go home with. There was a nice lady in the produce section. And the man with the little boy in the racecar cart. James could have a little brother! And then, I stopped a couple. And winked at them. Here is what I said, "James thinks I am a mean mommy and he doesn't want to go home with me. Do you need a little boy?" They played along! The man said, "Well, I have some work that needs to be done around the house and I could use some help with my dogs". James was holding on to my sleeve with all his might and I said to him, "James! They have dogs! You love dogs!". He says, "MMMMMMMM! No Mommy!" I looked back at the couple and shrugged my shoulders, "I'm sorry. I guess he has changed his mind". The man looked down at James and said, "I think you have a very nice mommy". We drove in silence all the way home and when I pulled into the garage, I looked back at James and told him, "I love you always. No matter what". I think he may have needed to hear that. I know that sometimes kids need to know that even when they mess up or act up that their parents will always love them. I will.
Back to the poop portion of this week-long saga. At 7:30 pm on Friday night, James sat at the top of the stairs- 5 feet from the bathroom- and pooped in his underwear again. This time I made him help me clean his underwear. He did not like getting poop on his hands and he cried and cried. I had to put him in the bathtub to get his completely clean. And then I did this. I grabbed the phone from my room came out into the hall way in front of his bathroom so he could see me and this is what he heard me say:
Hi Dr. Nechyba. This is Connie Lewis. I am very concerned about James. He has pooped in his underwear everyday this week. He normally is very good at putting all his poop in the potty. What should I do? *silence for a few seconds* What? Really? There's a no-poop-in-your-underwear shot? *silence except for James gasping and looking horrified* So if James can go a whole day without pooping in his underwear then he doesn't need the shot? Ok, well I will give you a call back tomorrow night and let you know if I need to bring him in or not. (this was a completely FAKE call. I never dialed a number)
It was a gamble. But it worked! James pooped THREE times before lunchtime on Saturday morning. He'd been holding it in for some reason. We called Daddy and Nana & Pop-Pop and Mawmaw to tell them the good news: James would not need the shot! We are now 2 1/2 days of clean underwear and all poop in the potty. Needless to say, we had 2 days of lessons on Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week was spent dealing with poop and socks and attitude.
Ok, it's a new day. And a new beginning. Wish me luck!
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