the little deviant

Sunday we took Paudie apple picking with his cousins. I had to laugh at this picture because he looks like such a loner! So aloof! We've always joked that he has a fierce independent streak, likes to do things his way. As I looked closer at this pic, what really caught me was the satanic look on his face. Okay so maybe that is a bit strong, but he does kinda look like he could be in a movie about an orphan that wishes harm upon his parents.

The real excitement this week was getting a note home that there was a biting incident at daycare. Our boy = the biter. He had been biting us playfully at home earlier in the week - I thought it was just his teething as the missing teeth in front are still MIA but appear to be coming down. Apparently he was driving a car that one of the girls was holding onto and this made our boy none too happy. He had some good initial strategies with her - told her 'no' repeatedly, then tried to pry her fingers off of the car. We had to talk to Wendy about the incident the following day and she didn't seem too worried - thought it was better that he bit out of anger than just randomly, and besides, wasn't his first instinct to try and deal. John thinks he is just imitating Banjo as we have also noticed increased licking this week - my arm, the door - chewing on the baseboard, and attempting to drink out of his water dish. And eat his food. I just hope he isn't a biter. As a child my neighbor was a biter - that's just a bad scene.

We also had our two-year well visit last week. Paudie was almost hyperventilating in the car was we were parking - have never seen him act that way. He was a mess inside the office. He got two shots and a finger prick - calmed down somewhat after that, till the doc came in. Then the roaring started again. Even through the tears he was open to giving the doc 5 - so polite. Every time we are at the doctor and he acts that way I think, this boy could never deal with having cancer. Maybe Cian would have eventually acted that way, but man, Paudie HATES doctors.

As for vitals, he is 36.5 inches tall and 28 lbs - 97% and 50%. The pants situation is getting hard - needs 2-3T length and 12-19 month waist. So he either wears floods or droopy drawers. The poor thing. so much easier to just put shorts on him!

two.

So the boy is two. My cupcakes were largely successful - this pic was taken at daycare, Pau and the girls. I am so glad they are wearing the old-school hats. I was a little overzealous for his first birthday and bought some and if I recall, he merely chewed off the tips of them. I meant to bring the leftover hats to daycare but forgot because my brain is rather sieve-like these days. So I was thrilled to see Wendy was well-prepared. The other kids sang and Paudie was delighted. By the time his party #2 rolled around with some friends, the singing gave him a jolt and some anxiety, but he recovered. By #3 with my family, he was a crying mess. Ditto on #4 with John's family. But in both cases, he collected himself pronto as the song concluded and masterfully blew out his candle. I was taken aback by how good he was actually - I expected much more spit.

So the 5-day extended bday weekend was good. I loved watching him open gifts - which he has also become quite good at - and he seemed to enjoy each of them. Not to mention each tiny shred of wrapping paper as it came off.

Yesterday when the boys picked me at the T, Pau was being quite whiney because he wanted to go on the choo choo. I told him we would go again soon, and I swear he replied 'okay.' Prior to that he replied 'cool' to something I said. Last night he was saying "I watch tv." The TV thing is getting a little bad. He loves Diego. God knows why, but he does. He has gotten used to me turning it off a few minutes into it, or turning the channel. So last night he runs in the room when he hears Click singing and takes the remote away from me and places it on a table that would require me getting out of my seated position to retrieve. Smart kid.

Oh - and get this. On Saturday he was doing his usual 'want to potty' routine which really means want to get naked. So I put the potty topper on the toilet and placed him on it - and he peed! Just a little amount, but I don't know who was more shocked. I called John over - and then he peed again. I thought - hmmmm, are we onto something? But no. It was just a fluke. I think we have a minimum of 6 more months of diapers ahead of us.

It's very cool out today - summer is clearly over. We are looking at a very quiet weekend which is great - need to decompress after 8 weekends of buzy-ness. This week John finally finished fencing the backyard in - Banjo had run away twice last week. Once he made it over to the T stop which isn't exactly too close to our house. I really have to give props to John for chasing his ass down because I really thought he was gone, and really didn't feel all that bad about it. The next day he only made it across the street when he got blocked in to a fenced-in yard. Man you should have seen me dragging his bum home. I was livid. Then on Weds night he escaped out the frontdoor - but a big dog scared him straight home. Why oh why is he hellbent on running away from us? Doesn't he have a good home? It's so frustrating. The speed is unreal. It's quite a feeling to just watch your dog - the one you just spent $250 on at the vet and then whatever the fence cost - run away from you at lightning speed, through yards and bushes. You just stand there helpless. Jerk.

What you talking about willis?

Summer is over. Wah. Though I must say, for the most part we jam packed a lot of fun into the last 8 weeks (no, June doesn't count). This past weekend we did the Day out with Thomas at Edaville. Not that Paudie is a huge Thomas fan, but with lots of hand me down toys and books from his cousins, and an overall love of choo-choos, we figured it would be a good bday event. This pic was taken as we were waiting for Thomas to pull away from the station, 9:30 AM. The deer in headlights look sort of stayed with the boy all morning long. Not sure if he was half asleep, not feeling well, or just overwhelmed by all the kids his size and age, not to mention small rides and other toddler fare. But man, when it was time to leave, he really lost his shiz. He was on an airplane ride that he looked rather whatev about but as soon as John tried to get him off - dramaz.

So I can't believe he is going to be two in just a matter of days. Sometimes it seems like he is still a baby, other times it is like he is ten. I will say he is showing an intense interest in bday gifts - opening them and oooohing and aaaahing over small details. Very cute stuff. We only got him two small gifts this year, and no party. We did the bash last year and I felt exhausted afterwards. One felt like such a huge milestone for us - I guess it was - but 2 feels more, I don't know, not as remarkable? But just because we are not having a party does not mean there isn't cake and lots of it in his future! I am baking (or perhaps John is, not sure yet) cupcakes for daycare on Friday. My sister has convinced me to try baking them in ice cream cones. I hope the outcome is not disasterous. It seems easy enough and it might be fun to minorly overachieve on the mommy front for once since I usually can slack a little bit that way.

The boy is gonna be two and he is embracing his two-ness. The words are really coming out now - being strung together. He continues to fake potty and be obsessed with our dog's food and water needs. He recently added wanting to do the dishes to his list of annoying demands and can also now reach our refrigerator's water dispenser. So things are wet a lot of the time between these three things.

I know my last post was a bummer. But it's all real. And tempered by posts like today where I am more settled and happy with the world. It's really hard to continue to have the memories, good and bad, of Cian slip away - but that is countered by the fact that we are creating very fond memories with his younger bro.