Long overdue

I knew it had been a while, but had no idea that I actually haven't posted since July. That is just insane. And of course, I was putting it off because I both had no idea what to write about, and also felt like there was just too much to update at the same time. But here I am, thanks mostly to Soulshine who checked in and asked for an update...

It is hard to believe, but the J-dog will be 18 months in a few weeks. He is so much more a little boy than a baby these days. He actually started daycare at the beginning of the school year, and seems to be doing really well there, though he has been through two different colds in the past three weeks. Today was the first day in a long time that I think he actually felt ok, and we had a lovely Indian summer day together. He is really into vehicles: all trucks, buses, firetrucks, garbage trucks, street sweepers, cement trucks, and most of all, diggers. Fortunately we have a wealth of all these things to choose from in our neighborhood on any given day. And I guess there is nothing unusual about this in an 18 month old boy, but I think it is pretty cute. And he can identify many different types of trucks in his truck books, pointing to the car carrier, or cement truck, etc when I ask him to show them to me.

Although he obviously has a very large receptive vocabulary (did I just make that term up?), he does not have too many actual words that he uses. He says mama, dada, meow-meow, up, door, and more. That's pretty much it for now. I'm expecting that he is just going to break out in full sentences someday soon. Some behavioral things that are annoying me are his new habits of pushing kids at the playground, and slapping me in the face. He does not respond very well to "No", and I am really trying to work on my serious, mean face to make him stop. I really loved "The Happi.est Bab.y on the Bloc.k" when he was tiny, but I recently bought the follow-up "Happi.est Toddl.er" and found it to be pretty silly. I have taken some of the advice, but really don't see the reason for,necessity of, speaking to him in "toddl.erese" when I'm trying to get him to speak in the first place. I guess that's the linguist in me - I only want to model correct language for him. So, I'm looking for some good suggestions for disciplining and preventing temper tantrums without treating him like a mini-Tarzan.

In terms of daycare, he was originally going the two days a week that I teach, but we added a third day when I am not at work so I can do prep work and house work at home. It has been the first time that I have had a whole day to myself to do things for myself, and though I was feeling guilty about it at first, it has been great. And totally worth the money. So, what else do I need to catch you all up on? I am back at work obviously, as the new semester started over a month ago. I do enjoy my teaching, but wish that I didn't have such a long commute. Coming home at the end of a very long day is grueling, especially when I know that I will only have about 20 minutes with the J-dog before he has to go to bed. And if I have a meeting after classes are over, then I don't get to see him at all. J picks up all the slack on my work days, both dropping the J-dog off and picking him up, as well as feeding him breakfast, getting him ready and out the door, and feeding him dinner too. So while I don't get much time with him on those two days, I am home with him on two other week days when I have him all to myself. I do consider myself lucky.

I have some other blog posts in my mind that I have been wanting to write for a while now, about how I am feeling about being a mother and a survivor of IF. I will try to get to those soon, before I am stuck having to write another long update. In the meantime, Soulshine asked for a picture, so here are a couple, riding his squirrel scooter with his new shoes on, playing with Daddy's shoes and snuggling a very tolerant kitty: