Monday, August 13, 2012

Lessons Learned


This past weekend, I was a part-time single mom. Trust me when I tell you, it sucked! Big Poppa has to work weekends for the foreseeable future so I will be T’s sole caregiver until about 2:30 each day. “He’s just a little baby”, you say; “How much trouble can he be?”, you wonder. Honestly, he’s really not that bad- the bad part is that I. NEVER. GET. A. BREAK. Before you even think it, yes he does nap. But he will nap for 30 minutes in his crib or 2 hours in my arms. Can I be more productive if I place him in his crib? Yes. Can I watch more TV if I hold him in my arms? Obviously. Soooo arms win every time.

The thing is, I don’t even want long breaks from him. I just like having someone else in the house so I can take a break to, oh I don’t know, maybe make some food without having to dodge a screaming toddler or go to the bathroom alone without an escort who is trying to shove his hand in the toilet the entire time. Point being- this is what I had to deal with going into the weekend activities. An over stressed momma and an over worked daddy does not a good combination make! But I did learn from it so here goes-

1) Dinners out are no longer a social event.

This was actually a follow up to a lesson I had already learned, which I mistakenly thought I had conquered. I previously thought dinners out with a non-carseat bound baby were impossible, but I learned that as long as he has food to munch on, and we move quick, dinners out aren’t so bad.

I actually rather enjoy our Friday night dinners at the local Mexican eatery where they know our situation and hurry us out the door and we LOVE it! This weekend was a whole 'notha animal though- we went OUT to a SOCIAL dinner with family. You don’t want to cut those short because half the reason you are there is to socialize, but when your socializing consists of getting one or two words in while trying to keep your kid from eating crayons or screaming like the closet heathen he really is, that's no fun for anyone!

The lesson I took from this is a short, happy dinner with the fam is better than a long, slow-death kind of dinner. We will now be arriving 20 minutes late, ordering as we strap T in the high chair and maybe, just maybe, if we are feeling particularly saucy, setting up the DVD player so we might be able to get 2 sentences in with our dinner guests. Wishful thinking?

Side note- This situation does not bring out the best in me or Big Poppa. I finally blew my lid when he grabbed T to try and distract him while I stuffed a taco in my mouth and T drug (dragged?) his foot through Big Poppa's dinner. Literally took his shoe and dragged it through nachos. Of course, Big Poppa had no idea this would happen but I was like, Really? REALLY?!, so that was our night. You would be proud how I handled the ride home but that's for another time.

2) The Kid might be afraid of the dark.

Remember that post a few days back about crying it out, and how I was pretty proud of myself and my big mommy accomplishment? Silly me, thinking I had actually done something! It actually has been going good until last night when he won- plain and simple, he won.

We have had to feed him a crap ton of milk to get him to go to bed. Yes, I know that's frowned upon but that is just not something I care about. I kicked ass at breastfeeding and baby-led weaning (really T, but I take the credit because he can't talk yet) so I am allowed this indiscretion. Oh and he drinks it from a bottle- chew on that, pediatric dentist and pediatrician! Anyway, due to the large quantities of milk he is consuming before bed, his size 4 diapers just aren't holding it in. And he has been dealing with some constipation so when he woke up SCREAMING I was worried he was covered in some combination of urine or poop. And he was bouncing on his bumper pad (I don't even want to hear it) so I knew I was going to have to go in there.

Sure enough, he was soaked and I changed my first ever outfit/diaper in the dark. I placed him back in bed and left- even while he was screaming! Pat myself on the back for that one! He kept screaming in a way I have never really heard him scream. Big Poppa just couldn't handle it so he - NOT ME- went and got him, resulting in T breaking into our bed again with all smiles and giggles. And then mean ol' mom, the one he clung to as soon as he hit the bed, turned off the monitor. You woulda thought I squished his lil penis or something the way he screamed, but as soon as the monitor came back on, he was fine! He has never cried in my presence like that- duh, because I'm his person (Grey's Anatomy reference for the cool folks), so I knew something was actually wrong with him. Turns out, he might be a lil scared of the dark.

Being the great mom I am, I was going to get him some overnight diapers and a nightlight for tonight. Unfortunately, I just remembered that as I was writing this post so we are going to have to rig something up for tonight. The lesson I learned from this little episode is that our situation/relationship with T is changing every single day. He may kick ass at something for a few weeks and then revert back to his old ways. And you know what? That's ok. I did not fail if he ends up in my bed- I did fail if I didn't do everything that I am comfortable with doing to make sure we all where we need to be, and last night that just so happened to be in mommy and daddy's bed.

* Update- it's 9:56 pm, I have not had my bath yet, and I just got back from Wal-Mart after purchasing T his very first Buzz Lightyear night light. He woke up and started that screeching again so I knew I had to have something in there and as luck would have it, all of the ones we had were burned out.

I think that's all I learned this weekend- oh and Lifetime movies are more addicting than any drug out there. I might have watched 4- maybe even DVR'd one. All time low....

                 
     This is why I have to write on the phone or iPad- he gets very curious when I have the computer open!

2 comments:

  1. Found you from the Blog Hop ~ and I have an 8 month old grandson so this reminds me of him and his momma :) Sweet! I had a 5 year old crawl into bed with us a couple nights ago that can NEVER go to bed without a nightlight on, and not the little plug-one-little-bulb-into-the-outlet kind of nightlight either. Nope ~ we have to have the Pillow Pets Dream Light, the $30 kind!

    Enjoy!

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  2. Hahaha! I take full responsibility for any pickiness that T may have because I could have bought the cheap, clear ones but no- my baby needed Buzz Lightyear! Thanks for stopping by- heading over to check you out now!

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