1715 Birthdays & My Big Boys

Saucy Scale: 10

Welcome to 38, there "That Girl"!  France throws me a big party every year, but I usually just skip it.  Seems kinda lavish, but I’m just a simple girl with simple taste.  However, if you’d like to send me a gift, I can think of a few good ideas.

This morning the boys & I went to one of our regular summer Play Dates.  It’s with the other kids from Gusser’s Nursery School.  This week we invited the moms/kids that will be joining our class for the first time.  It was a nice was to get to know the new kids on an informal basis.  (Isn’t that a nice idea?  See, that’s the kind of thing that I love about his Nursery School.  It’s all very sweet & thoughtful like that.)   Instead of meeting at a neighborhood park, we met in the playground/wooded lot at the school.  We brought snacks to share & played for a few hours.  We even sang one of the "regular" songs that the class sings together at the end of class every week.

"Will wore a blue shirt, a blue shirt, a blue shirt!  Will wore a blue shirt to school today!"

After Play Group, Uncle Boogie took the boys and me to lunch to celebrate my birthday.  Yum Yum!

Gusser needed a new pair of sneakers quite badly (or so the popped blisters on his heel seemed to indicate), so a trip to a local mall was in order.  One of the things that is common for kids with a single clubfoot is having one foot smaller than the other.  So, it’s tough buying shoes.  We have to purchase the size of the bigger foot and hope it isn’t super huge on his smaller foot.  Also, because we’ve gone thru so much to correct his foot, I do not buy him cheaply made shoes.  I think it is really important to protect those expensive little feet of his.

I’m partial to velcro closures and dark colored sneakers (no white!) for him.  I let him choose a shoe to try on (not knowing if they even had that pair in his size – 9.5 wide).  He tried it on & fell in love with the ugliest navy/red/silver Stride Rite sneakers I’ve ever laid eyes on!  He wouldn’t even try on another pair for me.  He wore the ugly shoes out of the store – complete with the BLACK(!) sample try-on socks (ICK!).  He literally danced his way thru the mall checking out his feet everytime he passed a mirror!  It was great!  Time consuming, but really fun to watch! 

Speaking of my darling eldest child…

Gusser is having a bit of a hard time right now.

TBU and I have always been careful to quickly correct Gus & his behavior whenever an issue arises.  He’s always been a very well-behaved & generally polite child.  We’ve decided that we needed to "tweak" our child-rearing a bit.  He’s getting older and can grasp some finer "Manner Issues" as well as the need to address some new behavior issues that have been developing.

He has decided that it is ok to be disobedient –

he doesn’t need to go potty when it is time

he doesn’t need to come to the table at mealtime OR need to eat what is served 

he doesn’t need to go upstairs & get ready for bed when told

he doesn’t need to leave the park or Play Group when directed 

etc.

So, we’ve been clamping down a bit more these days.  Letting him get away with this junk now is just asking for trouble!  There are too many bratty kids out there keeping us motivated to keeping him "on the right track!"  We are being careful to approach his discipline as a "united front".

While we see him improving at times, (like using "May I be excused?" before hopping down from his chair at the table) there are other moments that are much less pleasant to deal with.  He’s really "pushing back" at us…drawing a line in the sand to see how far he can push us & if we’ll cave to the will of a 3 year old.  So, my darling son has been much less darling to be around lately.

There’s something else, too.  Gus has suddenly become quite fearful that I am going to leave him.  In order to get us out the door on time in the morning, I’ve been in the habit of loading the boys in their carseats first & then I would go back into the house to grab sippy cups, diaper bag, etc.  Since adding Mattson to the mix over a year ago, this has always been our regular routine, so it is nothing new to Gus.  However, for the past week or two…he’s been really unhappy about it.  As soon as mommy steps out of his line of sight – even for just a few seconds – he will scream and cry!  The last time I put gas in the car, I had to keep tapping on his window so that he knew I was there, even if he couldn’t see me!  It’s crazy! 

I’ve changed my car-packing routine as a result.  I load the bags & gear first and then I load the boys.  That helps him to a degree, but it doesn’t alleviate all his fears.  Like today, when we were leaving the mall, I put Gus in the car first (since Mattson was safely strapped into the stroller).  Then I told him I was gonna go around to the other side to load Matty-Mat.  Ok, so far so good.  But when I went to the back of the minivan to put away the stroller, Gus couldn’t see me & wasn’t very pleased about it.  It’s getting very old.

I can’t even pinpoint when or why this became an issue.

Several months ago (back in the Spring when we were still taking our naps in the van on a regular basis), I pulled the van into the garage…and I ran into the house to go potty (or something).  I wasn’t gone very long, but it was long enough for the overhead garage door light to turn off.  He woke up in the pitch black garage…and he was REALLY freaked out.  But like I said, that was MONTHS ago & it hasn’t happened again.

I know that right around the time when this became a regular problem…they were in their carseats & I was in the kitchen (just inside the door) grabbing our stuff as usual.  He went crazy trying to get out of his carseat/seatbelt.  He didn’t get all the way free & one arm was trapping him & he was effectively hanging by that one arm.  The more he struggled, the more freaked out he got, obviously. 

Maybe that’s when things started to escalate regarding fear of being abandoned by me?  That’s also when we started increasing our discipline though, too.  So, it’s hard to say.

I do know that he’s got this crazy amazing memory.  He remembers that time he woke up alone in the dark garage.  He remembers EVERYTHING.  It’s the actual timeframe that gets confused…sometimes he says that happened to him yesterday…which isn’t the case.  But obviously, it left quite a big impression on him.

Alrighty, well…it’s time to get back to my birthday already in progress.  Catch you spring chickens on the flipside.

5 Things That Make Me Happy:

1. Gusser loves loves loves his "Big Shoes"
2. Mattson is getting to be such a little boy!  I watched him run full-steam up and down a hill today.  His little legs having a hard time keeping up with the momentum of his body already in motion….what a riot!
3. Birthday French Silk pie!
4. Birthday sex…gimme gimme gimme!
5. PRESENTS!  Where are my presents?