Bittersweet Boy Antics

So last week (the day after my post on Trio beginning his daredevil antics) he pulled his dresser down on himself. I was sitting in the living room talking to a friend. I heard a crash and run back there to see Trio pinned beneath his dresser.

Now he was fine; no bruises, no tender spots nothing like that. He was scared shitless don't get me wrong but he was fine a couple of hours later.

Me on the other hand....ha ha ha.

A friend made the comment that day after I told her he was fine that mothers are born with 100 years to their life; that way when their kids get done scaring them off of them they live normal lives. Which makes sense to me because it felt like Trio took about two or three off of mine that day.

I realize this type of stuff will happen. I mean he's gonna get hurt whether I'm hovering over him like a helicopter (which I don't want to be that kind of parent) or not. But it's still kind of scary to realize that my boy is allllll boy and he will continue to do stuff like this. Can you imagine how school is going to be like? Trying to parachute off the school playground with his jacket. Seeing how far he can shove a pencil up his nose (that is just gross but boys will be boys). It is just weird.

But on the other hand it does sort of a bittersweet taste to it because for awhile there didn't even know if he was going to make it to six months let alone 20 where he is being a daredevil like he is being right now. So while I will probably rant about it for awhile it does make me smile. My little boy; the daredevil.

Next blog will be about Halloween with pictures of my little disco dude. Oh yeah I went there; he even has an afro wig.

Trio's New Tricks

Trio's developing motor skills are starting to amaze me. Thursday of last week I had taken a shower and left him watching "Handy Manny" (or some other show that entertains him for the fifteen minutes that it takes me to take a shower). I come out and there is baby powder all over his legs and the carpet and he's grinning, holding the upside down baby powder container. I pretty much figured Albert just forgot to close it all the way and left it at that. Until a couple of days later we found the Neosporin top off the tube.

So Trio can unscrew tops off tubes. Any tube apparently if he tries hard enough because he did it to his sunscreen yesterday. Yes I owed Albert an apology because it could have well been he did close the baby powder it just was no match for the masterful Trio. Now I have to watch him around everything that has any kind of screw top so just think off all that entails including soda, lotions, etc. I didn't know that children could master that skill at this young of an age.

He is also starting to be a daredevil. He tried to jump off the couch the other day and like to give me a heart attack. We have low couches but still jumping off of something at that size would hurt a little. Luckily he only wanted to bounce on the edge of the couch which is what he has been doing a lot of lately (yay me) but I know how boys are so this is a warning to me to really start watching him because it only promises to get more daring from here on out. I've heard Albert's stories plus friends so I know how boys are.

He is also starting to sign a little more which I think is awesome. He ha already been signing "more" and "please" but now he can do "water". We're also starting on "kiss" among other things. I like it because not only does it help before he can speak but it is kind of an homage to the memory of my Granny (who would have been his Big Granny) because she knew sign language and even taught at the Texas School for the Blind and Deaf for awhile. It was one of those bittersweet moments when the family saw he could sign a little because we all knew Granny would have been proud to see that.

So far the second year in the life of Trio has been very interesting. We only have 4 months until we reach two. It makes me sad to think about it but I know that we will have even more fun next year.

*Remind me of this post when we're knee deep in the "Terrible Twos" and I want to tear my hair out*

Fun Times!!!

Yesterday we went to Austin Parks and Pizza for our cousin Cierra's birthday. If you've never been here it's actually a pretty awesome place. There are arcade games some of which are free and a pizza, salad, and pasta buffet not to mention fun stuff outside such as batting cages, putt-putt golf, and go-carts among other things. It was Trio's first time doing something like this so needless to say he was overwhelmed by the arcade games. He just kept running around looking at all the lights and listening to the noises. He even "played" a couple of games like knocking over ducks and stepping on spiders (Mama helped but only a little).

There were a couple of truly hilarious moments. I put him on the roller coaster ride you know the ones that are like virtual rides. Man the minute that puppy popped up and started shaking he turned with his arms out like "I don't think so". I tried to get him to try it again but he was not having it. At skee ball he started to climb up on the machine I guess to go up there and dump the balls in there. He had a blast just rolling the ball up and down the ramp cackling all the time. We had a little problem with him trying to take the balls from other kids but we worked through that relatively quick.

He also liked a racing Nick 'toons game. I let him steer and just put the gas on and he kept laughing because all he was doing was crashing into a wall backwards and forwards. He loved it!! All I could do was smile at him while he is crashing poor Ipkiss from "Ahh!! Real Monsters" into a wall.

We did have a couple of almost meltdowns and accidents. He almost got his hand hurt putting it on another interactive skateboard game. He wanted to climb the rock wall and wanted to get on the drop ride (you know one of those rides that picks you up and drops you). And then we finally had to have a wrassle because I was like "Mommy's tired of walking around let's go sit". He was sad and pouty until he got a cupcake and then everything was fine again of course.

Watching him yesterday made me realize something. In my last blog I bemoaned that the whole baby phase was almost over especially with him having eczema and having to change everything in his life. But I realized that now we're at the age where we can play together in venues like this; parks are going to start being more fun so if/when we get our car up and running I can take him to places. There is a Halloween festival later on that I am really excited to take him to. I missed our Mommy club outing to the Elgin for a Pumpkin Festival but maybe that is also something I can do with just him and me one day. We will have more interactive play now.

So while I still miss the smell of baby I am very happy that we're at this new part in our life. I am very excited to see how it works.

Obviously however I need to start being more energetic because we're going to be moving a lot in the future.

Baby Smell

As you know by now we discovered that Trio has eczema and as such had to change everything like bath soap and laundry detergent. So far the medicine seems to be working, as well as the laundry and bath soap.

But I miss the smell. You know the smell that Purex has (I never used Dreft tooooo expensive) or Johnson's bath. There is just something about those smells that just comfort me. I love the smell of a clean Trio with Johnson's bath. Now we use Dove which gets him clean but doesn't have that certain smell that Johnson's has that just lets you know "Awww....my baby is clean". Same thing with clean clothes. Since we use Free All there is no dyes, no scents, NOTHING. You just know that it is clean because it's been through the washing cycle.

I realize it's kinda stupid and that this is better for him in the long run but I still miss the smells. I mean this is just another step he is taking towards starting to be a little person and not a baby anymore and like I've said before with the idea of a second baby still up in the air. It just hit me this last weekend when I finished a load of his clothes with the new detergent and went to smell it only to realize...no smell. No scent no visible aroma of cleanliness. Same thing with bath time. I see the soap on him but since I can't even use the lotion I was using I don't smell the smell I normally do when he is clean.

It's a milestone and I knew it would happen eventually. Just thought I had a little more time before we lost our baby smell.

Crappy mornings, eczema, and flu shots (oh my!)

So apparently Trio has eczema. Finally we went to the doctor today (I pretty much flat out told Albert we were after seeing his stomach yesterday; it looks like he got attacked by a pack of angry alley cats) and that's it. So our course of action is to change his bath stuff to Dove or Ivory, change his laundry detergent to the Dye-Free All, and to get either Cetaphil or Eucerin cream mixed with hydocordizone and put it all over his body and Neosporin on the red spots. A good course of action I think it's just weird because out of everything I thought I would have to deal with when I knew I was pregnant eczema was like waaaaayyyy at the bottom of the list (but then again so was the possibility of open heart surgery). I admit part of it was because I figured hey he's black and Mexican and I don't think that's a common problem with those races.

Obviously I was wrong. But c'est la vie it's not too bad compared to what he's been through so I'm alright with it. He also got a flu vaccine today and is currently knocked out on my dad's couch; I didn't know flu vaccines made you sleepy but I'm gonna let him sleep it off because then he'll feel better when he wakes up and I'll be happier dealing with a happy baby.

I must admit, doctor's visit notwithstanding we had a literally shitty morning. He crapped all over his crib and I mean all over. None of it got in his diaper; it looks like he took it off and aimed towards his wall that's how bad it was a little bit even got in his drawer under his crib where we keep his blankets. And of course it was caked on his legs. His dad got him so I could prepare breakfast (Albert went in late to work) but then I heard the chaos and had to take over. Albert dropped him in the tub and then just hung in the background looking helpless so I sent him on his way since he seemed so uncomfortable with the situation. Was I annoyed? A little but I'll get over it I always do. I just hate mornings like this where I hit the floor running and I'm running around like a headless chicken for the first hour and a half because those are the mornings that everything seems to pile up. I haven't been home again yet (had to borrow Dad's car but that's a story for my blog) but when I left it still smelled like baby pooh. Just frustrating a little and not even that I'm mad at Trio b/c he can't help it yet this could mean he's almost ready for potty training b/c he could have taken the diaper off b/c it was wet and then had his poop-a-palooza. Who knows?

So in short Trio has had a very trying day today. But luckily found out his cough is pretty much allergies. He may have eczema but he doesn't have anything else (knock on wood).

Trio and the Tantrum....

Where do children pick up tantrums from? Is this just a normal part of childhood and children as large? Trio points back at someone when he is being scolded and I know he gets that from me pretty soon he'll be snapping and pointing like I do. I know where he gets his habit from "burping" after his Daddy (it's actually very cute Albert will burp and then Trio will fake burp and then laugh). I know there are a couple of bad habits and good ones he'll pick up from his dad and me.

But for the life of me where the hell did he pick up his throwing tantrums? It's not like Albert and I throw ourselves on the floor when things don't go our way or anything like that. But he has started doing it recently and I'm like "What the pooh dude? Where did you pick this up?" It's very annoying and as the last blog said a nice little preview of how he twos will be if these last few months have been any indication. I am already dreading that and then the threes which I hear tell are even worse than the twos.

Not that life has been all sadness in the land of Trio as of late. We figured out what his Halloween costume can be (hopefully it will fit) and we've decided on Star Wars this year as the Nieto clans theme and he will be R2D2 if we can find one that fits him since it only goes up to 12 months. I mean I'm sure we get make it or even alter it if that were the case but we seem pretty solid on this idea and as such I will probably be Leia who knows what Albert will be as long as it's not Luke (that's just gross). He's starting to talk a little more and try to get his point across (sometimes in a nice way even) and I love watching him every day. It also sounds like his congestion is finally going away he has been dripping snot all day (gross I know but there really is no other way to describe it). He also is starting to call and look for me more often and is smart about getting where he wants to go even if it is not somewhere he should necessarily be (like drawers or in the water cooler, or taking stuff off the fridge) but I have to admire his persistence and intelligence in getting what he wants. I mean I say "No" a lot more now but still he knows what he wants and he'll do his most to get it and you have to admire that type of perseverance.

So hopefully I am able to get through this tantrum phase with a little bit of my sanity left by the time he turns...when do tantrums stop again? Dammit!

Dear Possibly Only Child

It has been a trial this last few weeks with you. On top of the fact you have a cough that will just not go away no matter what we do you are giving us a nice little preview of what your twos will be like. And it does not look pretty or sound like much fun for me.

You're stubborn which you get honest from both your father and me. You don't cling when you're being carried around you just hang and you're no longer the little baby you once were now you're a heavy toddler and sometimes it hurts to carry you around. You get into everything and anything (but to be fair you do clean up after yourself fairly well given your age). But you also are developing this habit of hitting when you don't get what you want or you don't want to do something or you feel someone is not paying adequate enough attention to you. And that crap needs to stop because I don't put up with that. You can throw a fit all you want don't hit me because I can promise you once you get older and you try that I'm gonna make you hate me.

I realize this is all part and parcel of growing up. I realize this is just a phase and will not last forever. But topped on you being a little sick, me being sick, the weather being the lousy clusterf*ck it's been if anyone were to ask me today if I wanted more kids my answer would be "Hell no".

Hopefully it will pass. Hopefully next week will be better and your allergy cough or whatever it is will finally break up and pass and you'll get out of this growth spurt or whatever you're in and be my happy little boy again. I am looking forward to that day but for now yes if asked I would probably make you an only child.