You Can't Resist the Cheese!

"Ride car" sniffle, sniffle.
"Einsteins, ride car" sob, sob.
(yes, I am a terrible mother, I let him watch Little Einsteins in the car on the DVD player)
"Mommy, ride car" snort, snort.
"Door" whimper, whimper.
"Big boy bed" cries, cries.
Repeat, repeat, repeat for 50 minutes.

These are the words/sobs I hear through the locked classroom door at T-Man's "school". (They lock the door to keep the escape artists in -- T-Man would be one of those escaping.) Yesterday was his second day of pre-preschool. It only meets one day a week for an hour and 15 minutes - but those were the longest 75 minutes of both of our lives.

The beautiful scenario of dropping off my child at the classroom door, blowing kisses to each other across the room and saying goodbye only to come back and have him run to my arms and tell me all about the events of those 75 minutes never happened. He was fine before we got there, fine when we went in and put his name tag on, fine when he found a "schoo-bus" to play with, but melted down when 5 of the other kids came in kicking and screaming, sobbing, crying, etc. He thought he should then be a part of it all, he just forgot to stop!

The other mommies all left, even with their kids crying. I felt the peer pressure, so I left, too. I went to McDonald's for "medicinal" Diet Coke and then went back to the school to sit in the chairs in front of the classroom door and read my book. Thankfully I had the Diet Coke. The other 5 kids stopped their tears, but I could hear T-Man rattling the door and sobbing words of comfort; Einsteins, ride car, mommy, big boy bed, etc. I had even included his pacifier in his snack bag with a note attached saying to use only in case of emergency. This was an emergency - they tried the pacifier and even it didn't work. He cried from 9:05 until 9:55 with brief periods of rest. At 9:55 I heard one of the teachers invite T-Man to join them at the snack table. The cheese stick I packed for his snack did the trick!! He couldn't resist the cheese! The crying stopped, he ate the cheese, listened to the story, and probably just watched the other kids do "Ring Around the Rosie", but there were no more tears.

I couldn't wait to go in there to comfort him, hug him and let him watch every episode of Little Einsteins his little heart desired in the car. Talk about a heartache! Needless to say, I didn't read any of my book. Listening to his whimpers, cries and sobs was just too much! I think next week during his class I will plan on the "medicinal" Diet Coke run and maybe a trip to Dominick's for more cheese.

False Hope?

I had such high hopes that putting away the crib and setting up a "big boy room" was going to be a cinch. Not so.... I thought this transition to a "big boy bed" was going so well! But alas, I have been proven wrong. It took 25 times of putting T-Man back into his bed before he actually fell asleep the other night. On the 25th time, me being worn out, tired, and ready to just crawl into his bed myself, T-Man managed to soften the mood and make me laugh until I cried.

As I entered his room, T-Man had found his baseball cap and had put it on his head, backwards. Somehow he was able to locate one of his bedtime books called, The Completed Story of Hickory Dickory Dock and had climbed into his blue papasan chair to read it. As I entered, he had apparently been out of bed for some time since he was on the third to the last page of a twenty page book. Upon entering, I noticed he was leaning toward the light of his "fish tank" nightlight and hurriedly finished the last three pages before he knew the inevitable would happen; he would be returned back to his bed. As the words rolled off his tongue, "Hi Mommy", I laughed so hard, I had to turn around and leave the room. I had tried so hard all night to be strong, tough, stalwart, and unwavering to show him he needed to stay in bed like a big boy, but when I witnessed this, I fear all my hard work may have been for naught; I couldn't help but laugh at the boy.

Once my composure was regained, I reentered the room, returned him to bed, and basked in the sound of the light snoring of a tired two year old a mere ten minutes later.

Henri J. M. Nouwen: All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all lived with a promise in their hearts that guided them toward the future without the need to know exactly what it would look like. Let's live with hope.

Allan K. Chalmers: The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Christopher Reeve: Once you choose hope, anything's possible.

Erik H. Erikson: Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.

Molly Ivins: I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.

A Second Year of "Firsts"

T-Man celebrated his 2nd birthday over a week ago - the big 2! This week has been a week of firsts:

1 -- We purchased T-Man his first "big boy bed" with cowboy sheets that match his room.

2 -- Friday he spent his first night in it alone and did great! He has slept in it for 4 nights (and daytime naps) without any problems -- we are sooo blessed!

3 -- He almost made it through the night without his paci (pacifier). Our little boy is not so little anymore!

4 -- Tomorrow he starts his first official "class" at the park district. It's only an hour and 15 minutes, but parents are not included! I hope mommy can survive his first day.

5 -- We took T-Man out to Walker Brothers for pancakes to celebrate being such a big boy and sleeping in his bed. We decided to try out a booster seat instead of a high chair and again -- he did well. He kept leaning over to Eric and giving him a hug and then a kiss which he then follows up with an "awwwww".

I don't know why the Lord chose us for adoption, but I am so glad he did!

Everything to Me - Thanks T-Man's Birth Mom!

Here Fishy, Fishy

You can lead a horse to water, but good luck trying to get him out of it!

Tree House Park

From Home of Hope ~ Eric and Christy

We spent the evening at the "Tree House Park" with my friends and their children in honor of T-Man's birthday tomorrow. He was soooo cute opening his gifts -- he gets it this year! His face lit up when he saw the Little Einsteins tub toys and the talking "garbage can truck" as he says.

Everyone brought their own dinner and we supplied the birthday sweets -- for dessert we served angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. T-Man loved the cake -- surprise, surprise! On the playground, he loved the slides tonight. They don't have swings there (his first choice) so I guess slides rank second!

Pirates Cove

We celebrated T-Man's 2nd birthday with Eric's brother and his family at a small amusement park for kids ages 2-9. T-Man was able to ride the train, ride the hand-propelled train, and play in the playground area (behind us in the photo). His favorite part was the cake and ice "ceam" we had at Grandma's afterwards.

We spoke to T-Man's birth mother today and made arrangements to get together to celebrate his birthday with her.

Parent Profile Link

Our Parent Profile is complete and posted. Take a peek....

Eric and Christy's Profile

Hopefully "Waiting"

The toddler has finally closed his eyes and given in to sleep.
The adoption paperwork is complete for LDS Family Services and we are approved to be "parents".
We hopefully "wait", yet actively tell all we know, we want to start the emotional process of trying to adopt a second child.
May our wait not be three years again.