lap dog

The fact that probably 1 out of every 3 pics I post is taken sitting on that couch tells you we have a small house. The pillows are always in complete disarray as well. Here you can see Pau and Banjo, BFFs. Paudie has gotten quite physical with Banjo lately - maybe it's an alpha dog or dominance thing. You can see Banjer is really okay with the whole situation.

Paudie is at home sick today. A stealthy ear infection. This marks #5 in his almost-two years here on earth. The first 4 have been painfully clear to us as he had a very high fever and total lethargy. This one just sort of appeared I guess - no fever, just a weepy eye and a night-time cough. He got an ear infection last summer as well. Go figure. So the boys are having a day together, watching the 1990's Disneyland Sing a Long DVD my sister got Pau for his first birthday. Funny how something can sit in your house idle for so long then bam, it's a must have/must watch type of thing. It just cracks me up that this 20-year old DVD is his latest fave. And man, the songs really stick in your head. To try to get him to finish dinner the other night John and I burst into "I'm walking right down the middle of Main St USA..." I'd say I'm a total loser but that can't be - I'm seeing Depeche Mode tomorrow night! 20 years of waiting! White stretch limo and all! How is that for losah?

Last weekend we took Paudie up to a friend's boat club to go for a swim in the baby pool. OMG. The boy was ecstatic. As the clock ticked towards 3:00 (and no nap) I knew we had to go - and I knew it was going to be a scene. And it was. I feel like I spent the last 15 minutes of his swim dreading our exit - I can't wait until the boy can be somewhat reasoned with - but for now everything is a bribe which I swore we would never do. So when he was hysterical I recalled having a small bag of BBQ chips - that made him quiet down. When he cries about leaving the playground, I tell him about ice cream at home. I hope I am not making him into someone who has eating issues later in life. Another mom might feel bad about this type of behavior but truly, I'm okay with it. I like Paudie to be happy. So I do what it take to make him happy.

PB&J

No, not the storied sandwich, the clever acronym that my pal Krista came up with for my family. To the left you see the P and the B. John tried many times to get that shot. The first few times he tried Banjo was the same size as Paudie. My how he has grown in the two months since he has come and... enriched our lives.

Big boy bed is a bust. Pau is back to sleeping with us, which I must confess I sort of like, well apart from the wiggling and occasional kicks to the head. It's nice to spend more time with him even if we are all basically unconscious. But I know we could be looking at a long term bad habit if we don't nip it soon. Sigh.

Had a wonderful weekend at the Cape for a friend's 40th birthday. She knows how to celebrate a milestone: cape house on the beach with great food, booze, and hot summer weather. Pau was in his glory! He got to go swimming, play in the sand, collect rocks, stay up late, sleep in, eat donuts/cake/chips, use an outdoor shower, fly a kite, play with older boys... need I say more? He was wrecked by the time we left Sunday night. He slept the whole way home Sun evening - and then was ready to go for a few more hours when we got home. It is just so amazing to see him so happy. It's as if the only thing that makes me truly happy these days is seeing him happy. Amazing how parenthood does that to you.

Had a friend dogsit the beast for the weekend - Banjo had his own playdates and fun. I volunteered to take him to obedience class last night. Bad idea after a weekend largely on his own. He was a terror. I was mortified. Pooping on the floor, biting other dogs, jumping, chewing... very disobedient typs of things. Luckily his pal at class Comet isn't far behind him... it's good that there is another C student for him to underachieve with because he could never compete with the likes of Buddy (know-it-all) or Leo (smallest dog ever).

Today is pajama day at day care. Man that is sweet. I wish we had pajama day at work but then again, there would probably be a lot of bad looks here. But I sure was jealous that all he had to do this AM was suck down some milk and get a diaper change and he was good to go.

I'm Not.

So along with all the fun, interesting and polite things Paudie is saying these days - most of which are a complete surprise such as him doing sign language for more cookies and shaking invisible maracas during the Hokey Pokey - he is also adding some negative statements to his repertoire. Last night he busted out with I'm Not. As in, "I'm not going to sleep." We have been fighting with sleep for over two weeks now. It started the night I had a babysitter lined up so we could catch a movie. We needed to leave for the movie at 7:45 - babysitter came at 7:30 - we had Pau in crib for 7. We did not see a movie that night. It's like he has superhuman energy. I blame the weather. He has no outlet to burn off.

In addition to his refusal to go to sleep is his manic climbing in and out of the crib. He climbs out just to climb back in. So he is bunking with us again - this is soooo summer 2008. I think we are off to Ikea for big boy bed. Will it solve the sleep issue, no. But at least it will be someplace to call his own much closer to the ground.

My sister and her family were here two weeks ago. Paudie had a blast with his cousins - though they are teenage girls, he seems to have quite a good time with them - they give him lots of great attention and teach him how to do things like sommersaults and pretend he's a lion tamer fighting back a lion with his fabric chair. We then headed to stay with my parents for the 4th. More late nights and.... a 104 degree fever. For those of you paying attention, the last time that happened was in April when we were... visiting my parents! One minute the boy is fine, the next he is wrecked and listless. I HATE listless. Cian was listless. Listless scares the stuffing out of me. So he had the fever on the 4th, a little better on the 5th, and pretty much back to normal on the 6th for our drive back.

I have a lot of great photos I really need to upload. Whatever happened to a wireless memory card that could automatically shoot photos over to a PC?

In other news... hmmm.... well Paudie continues to be mad about Banjo who continues to work our every last nerve with his puppy/inbred stupidness. But they have a great time together so Banjo is serving his purpose of making our son happy. Paudie continues to be obsessed with bugs. He was so delighted to see two slugs on our grill. Why they took up residence on our grill is beyond me. But he was intrigued - afterwards I realized he thought they were snakes. His appetite has been really poor (poorer than usual that is) following his virus. But the boy can be bought with a hoodsie cup pretty easily. I am hoping for the sun this weekend to run him ragged. Ma needs sleep!