the winter of our discontent

January sure has been eye-opening for us as parents of a toddler. The notion of cabin fever has reached a whole new level. Clearly the weekends stuck inside of our 1920's colonial are making Paudie insane. And us as his parents. He has so much energy and there is really no place to go. When it is Monday morning and we take him to daycare he's all, so long morons.

Making matters worse is the fact that master Paudie has been sick and/or teething for about a week now. The night time screeching is almost more than I can handle. I sit there as it's 2:45, 3:30, 4:15 listening to him basically drag his nails down a vocal chalkboard and think, this could be worse. You are not in a tiny hospital room dealing with a living nightmare. That is my benchmark for a lot of things in life. But it's hard. When he is happy, he is sooo happy. When he is unhappy, there is no consoling him. He has been like that most of his life but the delta between his highs and lows right now is quite remarkable to me. It's like he has a split personality. I figure, or perhaps hope, that once he can speak things will get easier - yes, there will be tantrums but I truly look forward to the day he can tell me if it's his teeth that hurt or an empty tummy that is causing his dismay.

Of course in the midst of our angst we have booked tickets to Florida as well as Ireland. During his manic episodes this week I can't help but let my mind wander to the behavior on an airplane. I know, it will probably be fine and I am just an ameteur but come on, can you blame me? Um, remember last year's medical emergency on Flight 132 to Shannon Ireland that cause Paudie's now seemingly benign Goosebay breakdown?

I need to post some photos. I know. We have made some recent home IT infrastructure improvements that should facilitate posting.

Oh, something else I should mention is that Paudie has added 'Go Diego Go' to his expanding vocabulary. Not sure where it came from as to the best of my knowledge, he does not really watch the show. He's more of a Curious George fan. But if the TV is on and Dora appears, all you hear is 'gogeigodo.' He also has become quite skilled in identifying dogs. Cartoon, real, drawn... he's all about them. I think one is in our future, perhaps this spring. Let's face it, the boy needs a playmate.

one year of blah-ging

Yes, I did start this blog a year ago with the intention that I would document every iota of young Padraig's life. Paudie drooled today! Paudie got his fifth tooth today!! mmmm not so much. What is wrong with me? Why can't I be better at this? Ugh. I guess I should be happy I have the entries I do as this is basically his baby book. Yarp, didn't do one of those either. I can't figure out why the death of Cian didn't inspire me to be more on top of things with Paudie. It's like it has had the opposite effect which I didn't really expect. But in my heart I know the truth. It's an ugly truth. But as the overused and overexposed expresstion goes... it is what it is.

And that is: that I just love Padraig more. Isn't that horrible? I liken it to a person who has a near death experience. They come out on the other side appreciating their life that much more. So in the case of Cian, I of course loved him - truly, madly and deeply. But that wasn't enough I guess. In the case of Paudie, I don't obsess over the small things. I just focus on loving him more than I ever thought possible. In some ways it would be easier to focus on a baby book.

So there you have it, the secret agony of a bereaved mom. Happy New Year!

Okay I'll move on to the mundane now and stop with the drama. We had a good Christmas. Celebrated with my family in NY. Paudie got some gifts he really loved - mini animal crackers were a hit, as were the plastic velcro-y veggies, a soft lounge chair like they have in daycare and a cart of toy cleaning items (okay so it's a pretend janitor cart that they boy is crazy about). Kota the dinosaur? Well that is going to take some time.

Then we had my best friend's wedding in Rhode Island on New Year's Eve. My niece came with us and stayed in the hotel with Paudie - I was nervous he would have issues. But it alll went off without a hitch. So we had a great night out (and hangovers for two days) and Paudie got to bond with his very responsible cous for a few days.

Daycare is going really well at the moment. Napping appears to no longer be an issue. And the bottle situation? Done and done. No more bottles. That was a resolution we had for 2009 and by day 2, conquered. Paudie is tops.

Tooth 6 is finally appearing - and possible 7 and 8. So nights have been rough. He is finally saying 'mama' with some consistency (and semi-accuracy). Other words are appearing as well - doggy, no, and 'get down' of course. That continues to be repeated a lot, particularly since climbing on top of the diner booth in our kitchen is his new obsession. He was also clearing a shelf of frames on a regular basis so John finally broke down and moved them to above our window molding. He was using his drill to secure them when low and behold, Master Paudie appeard with his toy drill to help out. I love those moments, the ones where it's like, he gets it! He knows what his drill is! Then he was walking around trying to hang greeting cards on the wall. Too cute.

So there you have it. 2009 is happening and it isn't so bad.

lord of the dance