Attempt #2

Okay so I tried typing a post earlier and my fabu mac froze up and of course I hadn’t saved anything yet so POOF! Gone.

And it’s not like I’ve posted recently, either. For that, I apologize to my… what? 5 readers? So sorry! But seriously, I have been SO BUSY lately it’s not even funny. It’s program time at work and trust me, that takes a lot of work, and then of course I don’t want to get online when I get home so no posty from me!

Anyway, the kids are doing really well. Kyan is doing GREAT at his new babysitter. I swear the woman is amazing! He eats, he naps, he plays! And he’s been talking more and more every day! Her little boy, I think, is kind of advanced (potty trained at 21 mos and he talks like you would not believe!) so Kyan is picking up a lot of great things from him. Of course this also means I have to be * very very * careful about what I say! I’ve been made very aware of which swears are most commonly said in my household and I need to make a very concentrated effort * not * to say them! But otherwise it’s a good thing… he really is blossoming right now being with them. I’m so glad and so lucky we found them!! This really is working out to be a beautiful situation for Kyan. And I’ve got to say, I really just like L. She’s so very very nice (especially to me, flake that I am) and her oldest son plays on Jaben’s football team, which is way cool.

Oooh! I just heard from Jaben! Well okay, I called him. I wanted to know how his first day of 5th grade went. See, where we live schools are set up a bit differently from what I imagine most other places are. We have elementary (K-4), intermediate (5-6), middle (7-8), and then high school (9-12), and this year of course he started (TODAY!) at the intermediate school. They’ve got lockers and different periods for classes – so they switch some. He said most of his classes are held in his homeroom, but they do switch for a few – and he thought that was confusing! LOL… he’ll get used to it. When I was in school, we started middle school in 6th grade and switched for every class. It’s weird at first, but he’ll like it. It’s more freedom… and more responsibility.

His first football game was on Sunday too! And they WON!! I KNOW! I couldn’t believe it either, but it was a blowout!! 25-0! I’ll be the first to admit I know jack about football so I spent most of the game watching Jaben on the sidelines (he played 5-10 mins total) wishing for him to get on the field. And then when he was on the field I kept praying for him not to get smeared. Hehehe…. He was fine tho. His next game is an away game, so we’re going to have to find directions to the school it’s being held at and hope we don’t get lost. That’s one thing about a travel team at this age….. I’m very directionally challenged so it’s going to be an adventure for us! We’ll get to see * all kinds * of new places – and not necessarily on purpose! Wheeeeee!!!!

So that’s my update for now. Not overly exciting, not terribly amusing. Maybe next time I’ll get into Kyan’s new Spongebob fixation and my psycho next door neighbors. Yeah, that one is * definitely * a post for another day!

*sigh* Word verification enabled

Well, thanx to the spam-bots, I have now turned on word verification for comments. I didn't want to do that, but I really don't like the spam, so there ya go.

Beyond that, Kyan is doing AMAZING at the new babysitters! He's napping early in the afternoon so he's not wanting to nap (most days) at 4:30 pm so he's going to bed at around 8:30pm!! YAY!!! He's a MUCH happier baby. He's still crying when I leave in the morning, but according to L, he stops as soon as I leave, so it's not too bad. He's had a pretty good week so far - hopefully today will go well too. She's amazing tho, and he's really pretty happy there and that makes ME very happy!

In other news, Jaben is kickin' ass and takin' names in football! He's losing some weight and getting in shape and he's really starting to enjoy it! I think he likes seeing and feeling his body respond favorably to that type of exercise and that's wonderful!!! It's really so very good for him. His first game is on Sunday so we'll see then how it goes.

Long wait for a short entry, I know. But I've been SO busy lately it's unreal!! I'm trying to get caught up on things, but it's not easy right now. I'll write a longer entry hopefully in the next day or two... in case anyone is interested. ;-)

Spam-bots -- BEGONE!!

So

We survived the first week at the new babysitter.

Monday went well. Tuesday went well. Wednesday? Not so much.

First he screamed when I left. Do you know how hard it is to leave a baby who is holding his arms out to you and screaming "Mommy!! Mommy!!" It's awful. He was a total cling-on for L all day long but did, eventually, take a nap. That's a biggie for Ky... he's not much of a napper. So yay for L!

Thursday he screamed when I left but apparently just long enough for me to get out the door. Then he stopped and had a wonderful day, complete with another nap! He eats for her, he naps for her - he's doing great! So yay for Ky!

Today I took the boys to the fair. It was hot - no, strike that - it was hellishly hot. But we still had fun. Jaben rode a few rides, we looked at all the displays, strolled thru the animal barns and told Ky what all the animals were. I tried to take Kyan on the pony ride, but while he thought the horses were really cool from the safety of his stroller, actually sitting on top of one was just not acceptable and he let the entire world know it. Loudly.

Um, yeah, I got my money back.

Kyan fell asleep in his stroller and I bought him a hat the says, "I'm in charge" and it looks SO cute on him! I have to get a picture! The guy at the arcade games followed me around and talked to me the entire time I was in there. Creepy much? We ended up bringing home 4 helium balloons (BOON!!) for Kyan and I've so far had to untangle them about 8,000 times and replace the strings once due to an unworkable knot. So... I'm broke (nothing unusual there) but the boys had a blast and so did I. I'm calling that as worth it. Totally.

I'm not sure what's going on for the rest of the weekend, but I'm thinking it's not much. Gotta get Kyan's crib taken down (I SO need to post a picture of him sleeping in his big boy bed!)(Okay so he hasn't made an entire night yet, but baby steps, right?) and more work done in my room, Jaben's room needs done BADLY, and I really should work on the front and back hallways. Heh... so much for not much.

School starts soon and then things will really go crazy!

And did I mention... I get to be in A Christmas Carol with Jaben?!? I'm so excited!!!

Yes, I'm still blogging...

Not that I got any emails or anything asking me that. I just got busy.

Jaben has football every minute it seems like from now until the end of Oct. Add school and play practice (which I get to be in, yay!) and he's way busy. And I haven't even figured out yet how we're going to manage Cub Scouts. Think maybe he does too much???

Ky started at the new babysitter this week. Up until today he's been great. However (better than a but right?) this morning he cried and screamed and reached for me when I went to leave. That sucked so bad I can't even say. I have never had to leave a baby screaming for me like that before -- that is so rough. I hate it and I hope he gets used to it REALLY soon and gets over that because I have no options. He's got to be in daycare, he's got to learn to be with other people, he's got to learn to deal and that's all there is to it. And I don't think there's a whole lot I can do to help him with that. I just don't want to leave him screaming and crying every morning. And when I called (of course I called!) she said he's been a cling-on all day, which doesn't help matters.

So maybe next time around I'll write an amusing, fun post. For now, stressed out, worried about both kids (one having a rough transition, the other far too busy) and we haven't even bought school clothes for Jaben yet! Thank God we got the supplies already - and OMG were THOSE expensive!!

The last day…

Today is officially Kyan’s last day at the only babysitter he’s ever been to.

He’s been staying with my cousin since he was 4 weeks old. Yes, 4 weeks – it was all the time I could take off work. Over there, he’s got his slightly older second cousin to play with and he’s been pretty much as happy as Kyan ever gets.

Ooh, that sounds bad. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid to bits, but ohmylord he is not the happiest baby in the world. There are more difficult kids than Ky, for sure, but there are a lot more ‘easy’ kids. Just trust me on this one.

But, starting Monday, he goes to a new babysitter. She’s a nice lady, very-very friendly, obviously a good mom and seems to like Kyan quite a bit. He actually seemed to like her too… the last time he was there he gave her a kiss before we left and that’s pretty unusual for him. So I think it’ll be fine. I just don’t know it’ll be fine. And not because of L, the sitter, but because of Kyan. She’s got a boy who’s 2 mos older than he is for him to play with, so that will help a lot. But he doesn’t nap. Or eat. And he um…. screams. A lot, sometimes. Especially now that he’s trying to get his incisors to break thru. The kid hates teething, but I can’t say that I blame him.

He is going to spend 2 hrs there tomorrow (I have the day off) and again 2 hrs on Saturday. Then come Monday, it’s full-time all the way, baby!

Please-God-let-him-do-well-and-not-be-too-difficult.

Kyan is the reason they will tell you not to expect your second child to be like your first.

Not that Jaben was always easy, but he slept. He ate. He screamed, sure, but not incessantly.

Like last night. When I pulled in the driveway from work I knew something was wrong. I could hear him hitch-crying in the drive. When I got into the house he was sitting in his booster at the table, dinner untouched, weeping like the world had moved on and left him behind all alone. But there sat my mom, poor, exasperated grandma, with no idea why beautiful-yet-difficult baby was crying. Again.

And no, my arrival didn’t help matters any.

He just started screaming and crying uncontrollably again. There wasn’t anything wrong, he just wasn’t happy with life, for whatever reason, and was not going to be comforted no matter what. So after assessing the situation and talking to him for a few minutes, I unhooked him from the booster, carried him into my room (where he sleeps too) and plopped him on the bed with the instruction that he could come out when he calmed down. Yes he’s only 18 mos old, but what choice did I have?

A couple of minutes later I heard him come sniffling into the living room, and then closer, into the kitchen where I was sitting trying to eat my dinner. Once he got there, the sniffling turned back into the full-blown screaming cry, so once again I carried him into my room and plopped him on the bed with the instruction that he could come out when he calmed down.

But this time, it worked. Yeah I know, I was shocked too!

When he came out, he was still hitching but no longer crying. He was relatively calm. So, I picked him up and put him on my lap. He even ate the piece of meat I offered him off my plate. After that, he was content to sit on my lap and eat the asparagus he refused just 10 minutes ago off his own plate.

Yes, he was still on my lap, but progress is progress. And hey – he ate.

This, and other similar stories are why I worry about Kyan at a new babysitter.

Strong but dumb

My son, my amazing sweet wonderful rotten son, is now a football player. He's going to be a lineman, who the coach said need to be strong but dumb...... I'm pretty sure Jaben got the joke.

I think.

I'm excited for him because I think it'll be good for him and I hope he enjoys it. Conditioning isn't so great, but he'll survive. I just think playing will be a good thing for him, he'll get in better shape, make friends and learn something.

I'm not going to think about him getting hurt.

I'm just not.

If he can play soccer for years without getting hurt, he can play football - they wear more pads!

I'm not even going to think about the mom who told me her son knocked another kid OUT his first game and put him in the hospital.

Nope, not gonna think about it.

Right outta my head.

Yep.

*ahem*

Actually, the boys have all been very tough, showing up for conditioning and working their little hineys off during the over-100-degree-heat-index days. I think, even tho the coaches will be working them harder now that it's cooler, it'll be easier all around because of the lower temperatures.

But, um... I said that last night and Jabe looked at me like I grew another head.

So maybe not.

He sure does look cute tho…