Hear ye

Coen, for the first time in his young life, fell asleep in his infant seat in the car while driving home this evening. He is still in his seat, not screaming, but sleeping. Let me say that again: sleeping.

Holy canoli.

Natural mommy?

I admit it. Being the mommy of an infant does not come naturally to me. I try hard. I do. But I only have two real weapons in my arsenal (see, does that turn of phrase sound like it came from a natural nurturer to you?) the boob and the clean diaper. If those don't work then I'm out. I bounce, I sway, I sing, but Coen feels my head spinning loose from my neck and it just doesn't work. Pat can manage to soothe him with bouncing, but even for him it's difficult. I've heard him chanting "you are killing daddy's back, you are killing daddy's back... but do I go and relieve him? No because the boob and diaper didn't work and like I said, I'm out of ideas.

Today I took the boys to Fintan's storytime. Coen was already tired when we got there, but he wouldn't sleep on me. I tried bouncing, swaying, the boob, nothing was working. I was managing to keep it down to mild fussing, but couldn't get to silence and came nowhere near contentment. After storytime Fintan went to play with the toys as usual and after a few minutes of bouncing with my head spinning loose I told Fintan we had five more minutes, the countdown went fairly quickly and when I got to one more minute I asked a friend of mine if she could hold Coen for a minute so I could get Fintan's jacket on him. I apologized for the fact that he was fussing and she totally brushed it off. Now this particular friend has been trying for baby number two for some time now and has been having fertility treatments. I know she wants a baby more than anything and her eyes lit up when she took him from me. It was so sweet. And almost with the same breath Coen stopped fussing. He breathed in her mommyness and was peaceful.

Was I jealous? Maybe a tiny bit. But more than anything I was just in awe of it. Sure she's soft and warm and smells good (as his own mommy often doesn't), but more than anything I really believe that some people are just naturals with babies. and babies sense it. I wish I could bottle some of what she has and take it home with me.

Now I'm not saying I'm not cut out to be a mom completely. Raising a toddler comes much more naturally to me than tending to a baby does. But I think my ideal mommy range is going to fall between the ages of 6-12. And I think the teen years will come easier for me than the first year does. Teen angst is a fairly sharp memory for me. Just like my friend calming Coen at the library by her presence I've always seemed to have a strange cosmic affinity for kids between about six and 10. I can't even tell you how many times I've been taken by the hand soon after meeting a child and invited into a clubhouse that I'm way too big for but crammed myself into anyway. Or led into a darkened bathroom to play lite brite, etc. I've actually always found it a bit unnerving even as it's fun because I don't know exactly what I did right and I'm afraid to mess it up! But there really is something there. So I look forward to those years even as I enjoy these more challenging ones.

Do you have an age range that you think will be your natural one as a mommy? Does it all come naturally to you? Don't be afraid to share. Even if its all easy for you. I won't throw stones at you...pebbles maybe, but no stones.

Tintan like fish

This morning we went to an indoor playground near our house. Fintan made a new friend. As usual he wasn't interested in making friends with other toddlers, he usually likes to choose a big guy or barring that an older woman to befriend, and then he likes to show off for them.

Today it was a grandmother who had brought her two grandkids to play. Fintan was showing off like mad for her, not allowing her to pay attention to anyone but him. He ran across the room and came back with a ball and said "here's a purple ball" then he ran and picked up another one. "Here's a blue ball" he said. Then he pulled a piece of his playfood out of his pocket. "Here's a yellow french fry".

Then when she started oohing and ahhing over his abilities (she said her three year old grandson didn't know all of that) he started getting really into it. He ran to the light that cast a glow on the carpet and pointed to the shape it made and said "this is a diamond". Then he ran to the other one and said "this is a diamond, too!" Then he started doing crazy tricks and counting and singing songs and just laughing his head off. It was adorable.

When she asked him what his name was he said "Tintan Patrick". She called him Vincent the rest of the time but he didn't mind at all.

When we were driving home afterwards I asked "What is your name, sweetie?" Of course, he didn't answer me because he's suspicious of direct questions, even from mommy, and only likes to talk on his own terms, no coercion allowed. But I continued, "Can you say Fintan like "fish", sweetie? With an "f" sound?

And for once Fintan decided to humor me. "Tintan like fish", he said.

Pics from the weekend

We had a busy weekend. Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch:


Where Fintan milked a cow:


And rode a pony:


And drove the cool cars with Zayden:


Sunday we had fun at the park:


And bought a very used truck to replace the Land Rover we sold last week:


This is what it says on the side:



Pat says we should remove the "an" to better illustrate the quality of our work. Wanna hire us?

A two way tie

Well, the finger crossing worked! Thanks all. Coen is now officially the sleep champion of the world in the 3 month old division. Hooray! The night before last he had two good stretches of about 5 and 4 hours and then last night he slept, amazingly, from 6:30 pm until 4:45 am. Then he was up until about 5:45 when he fell back asleep until 8:40. I KNOW! I didn't believe babies existed that could do this and I would never believe in a million years that I was a person who could produce one. Especially given Fintan's track record.

But, here's the deal, for once in their young lives, rather than conspiring against me, my boys conspired for me and BOTH took it into their heads to sleep well. Fintan slept from 8pm, until 8 am last night! This is the kid who has rarely gotten more than 10 hours of sleep in a whole day in his entire life. So even with losing a few points for going without a nap today, Fintan is officially the 2 year old sleep champion of the world. He deserves it.

Yay for my boys!

Ode to an ice cube tray

There is not a single item in my kitchen that comes in more handy, when it comes to feeding my toddler, than an ice cube tray. Really. These are the trays that I have. They're sturdy and the lid fits very securely. I originally bought them to freeze pureed fruits and veggies for Fintan when he first began eating solid foods, but as he grew I just kept finding more and more uses for them.

One thing I use them for is to freeze leftovers like casseroles and soups, so that rather than having a big solid chunk of something that you'd have to defrost all together to serve it, you can just pull a few cubes out of a freezer bag for a toddler meal and maybe even a few more cubes for your own lunch.

In addition to leftovers, I also use ice cube trays to freeze things like homemade cheese sauce and spaghetti sauce for fast and easy pasta lunches (cheese sauce also makes a good dip for whole grain crackers and breads, too). And I don't just use them for homemade sauces. They're also great for freezing toddler-sized portions of our favorite store-bought sauces. Pasta sauce is a good bet for most toddlers--I often melt two cubes for Fintan to dip his ravioli in. But I'll also freeze more unusual ones like Tikka Masala sauce for example. Then, since I have a handy stock of little toddler-sized portions of frozen chicken strips (as I described my previous food post) I can just pop a packet in the microwave for 30 seconds, poach the chicken in a bit of water in a frying pan for a few minutes over medium heat, remove any leftover water when fully-cooked, and add a defrosted cube of Tikka Masala sauce to the pan. Yum.

I've definitely found it easier to broaden my little one's food horizons on a regular basis having these trays handy. The possibilities really are endless with a good ice cube tray!

I'd love to hear your toddler-feeding tips if you have any. Or ideas of other things to freeze in ice cube trays. I still have lots of freezer bags to fill...

A night of sleep

Well, I have to commemorate a certain event. Coen did a big thing last night. He slept for almost 10 hours straight. He has come nowhere near that amount before. He doesn't often get that much sleep in one day. I am almost certain we will not have a repeat performance any time soon, so I want this date to go down in history.

If you're the finger-crossing type, please cross a few for us.