tears tears and more tears

That about sums up the past week or so of Paudie's life. Lots of crying. Crying at bed time, crying in the middle of the night. Crying during dinner prep. Crying at the photographer's. There is also a lot of hand chewing going on so I don't know if it is teeth pain behind all the emotion, his runny nose/head cold, his age or what but it's been brutal. And to make matters worse... he won't let me console him. Only John can do that. Sometimes if I even touch him to say, take his shirt off or change his diaper, that initiates the crying. The whole thing has me somewhat frustrated - I don't know what is wrong and I apparently am not equipped to make it all better. He seems to be doing well at daycare, which I guess is a good thing. But it's like lately, from the minute he gets home until he falls asleep, there is as much sadness as happiness from Paudie. While this doesn't wound me deeply, it just makes me wonder what is going on for him.

As mentioned above, we tried to do the Portrait Simple bunny photo session yesterday. He was a mess - Paudie, not the bunny. Lots of snot everywhere. Clung to John. After 20 minutes the very patient photographer finally was able to get some snaps in - though his hair, which is in need of a trim, was a holy show by the end of the tantrum. Once the bunny came out, Paudie lit up. Kissing the bunny, holding the bunny - an ear-to-ear smile. So I can't say the whole experience was completely worth the $80.00, but at least he got a few minutes of bliss which of course made our day.

Once we got home, Paudie helped John assemble a new cabinet from Ikea. Okay so helped is a strong word. At one point John said Paudie was like an assistant and I said, yeah a really bad and stupid assistant and he (John) seemed really offended by that. For the record, I was not referring to my child as those things - come on, the child is freaking golden. But really, if you had an assistant that tried to stand on a pane of glass as he was helping to make a cabinet, or one that was intermittently folding your laundry/throwing it in the trash bin, you would fire that assistant or at the least tell your friends that said assistant was bad and stupid.

As Paudie matures, I see a lot of parallels between he and Curious George. Yesterday he emptied our cupboard with all of the mixing bowls and baking pans - he put the largest one back in first in such a way that the door wouldn't close. He just kept slamming it over and over, taking the occasional pause to throw another bowl into the mix, then back to the slamming. As if sheer brute force would yield the desired effect. Has George written all over it.

Hoping for some decent weather next weekend so we can have some outdoor time - makes such a difference. I never paid much attention to the 4 playgrounds that surround our neighborhood but man, what a gift they are. I am so pumped for summer - even the fact that the boy won't have to wear a coat, which is one less battle to deal with, has me infinitely excited.

So that's the latest. Paudie is emotional. Is an interesting contrast to his ma who still marvels at the degree of numbness still cascading over her.