I'm a worker!

I find it hard to sit still for any period longer than a few minutes. In my way of thinking, there is always something that needs to be done. And in reality, there is! Washing clothes or dishes, tidying something up, house work, constant supervision of my little man of course, a friend to text, call or email, a husband to help with assignments, work, church and the list goes on and on. But I don't seem to be able to leave things un-done. I NEED to do them. It makes me feel good. Eeek! Am I a bit strange? I really do need to learn to relax.

The family we live with has a little girl who is 3 and a half and one day when as usual I was doing something (cleaning the car in this case) she observed what I was doing, in that cute way that only kids do, said "Penny's a worker!" Too true, well said. That's me!

As hard as it to believe...

Well Benjamin's day time naps have me completely confused and for the very first time in his whole little life...wait for it...he has NO ROUTINE! I've been Mrs Routine from day one. I like knowing where things are at and having structure in my life. That's just me. I like things to run like a well-oiled machine. So it's quite stange that day to day I have no idea when his naps are. 12pm yesterday and today 9.30am...it all depends on how the night went and how he's feeling. I thought he would go into meltdown but actually he's doing just fine. Some days he's up for 6 hours before bedtime and sometimes only 4. I think I'm the one who find it harder!! But as much as I am pro-routine, not having one actually gives me more flexibility in my day.

And by the way, my weekend away was wonderful! It was like being single again. All I had to think about was ME! What do I feel like? What do I want to do? There wasn't that much spare time in between the sessions and speakers (who were amazing!!) but it was enough to appreciate the sense of...dare I say it...freedom. I did miss them both a little...but not too much : )

Bruises and batterings

Not a day goes by that Benjamin does not fall over or hurt himself in some way. He never looks where he's going and just walks expecting the way to be cleared before him! Last week he tripped over my leg (I had the guilts) and banged his head into the corner of the coffee table. Later he added another bruise to the other side of his head when he leaned over too far and hit the table again. And then it looks as if he (or something) scratched his nose. Hmmm his handsome face is not looking so pretty. Take a look...





At least he's still smiling.

Cheers to changes and going away

Benjamin's in that annoying transition stage where he's decided to drop a nap. For the past two mornings he has refused to go to sleep at his normal sleep time of 9am. So in my state of panic this morning, caused by me running late because Benjamin slept in (gasp!), I told the day care lady that I have no idea when he sleeps now (reassuring for them) and to try to put him to sleep around 11am...."because who knows?!" said I. Poor lady. Long and short of it is that he only one nap today. Sniff sniff.

Usually when I get home from work, I put him straight to bed and then have a rest. Today, he was there. The whole time. No more rests!! Sigh. Cheers to new sleep patterns.

I'm going away on a woman's retreat for two whole nights this weekend! Two nights of freedom, relaxation, fun. Two nights away from my darling little boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have mixed emotions. Yes I really do need some time out. And yes, I will miss him terribly and think about him most of the time. Am I neurotic? Or just a first-time mum who doesn't realise that her child be absolutely fine and probably not miss me much at all : )

Ta-da (Teddy)

Introducing Benjamin's Teddy....a constant source of comfort and companionship. It even makes him laugh for no reason at all! Ah we all love Teddy. Especially when it helps him to get to sleep.

Treasures

I hope all you moms got a little bit spoiled today. Even if, like me, your little one is a little too little to knows what's going on, I hope you felt special. Because you are.

Due to being on a (very) tight budget, my poor husband didn't have much to work with so I got eggs on toast for breakfast....o and a massage is still to come. So I wasn't feeling too spoilt. Until I got to church. My church has a wonderful way of honouring people and making them feel that they are significant and loved. They arranged for a mobile espresso coffee service to be outside before the service (woohoo!!), at no charge to us, we got a free family photo to pick up after the service and the kids workers even arranged for Benjamin to do a hand print card for me with a photo stuck on. Treasures! Here they are:

Persistence doesn't always pay off

Well, my boy is very persistent. He doesn't easily take no for an answer and recently, has started throwing little tantrums where he stamps his feet, flops onto his bottom and protests in a really loud voice. And then he'll go back to trying to do what he wanted to do .

He also persists when he's trying to do something and is not quite getting it right. He tries again and again and again. There is this park down the road from our house and each time we go there, he heads straight for this huge, red slide. He then climbs onto the bottom of it on his tummy, staggers to his feet (which are now on a slope) and tries to walk UP it. When that doesn't succeed he tries to get up the slide on his hands and knees. And then loses his footing and slides back down on his tummy to the ground. Then he starts again.

The first time we went there, he must have tried to get up this slide about 20 times. I'm not joking. He tried and tried and tried. But sometimes, persistence is NOT all it takes. Sorry Benjamin, my love. It's a good trait to have though. I'm not going to have any trouble motivating him to do things he wants to do and to keep trying when he doesn't get it right. Hmmm that sounds very familiar and close to home.

I didn't manage to get a picture of him on the huge, red slide but at a different park today he tried to do exactly the same thing on an almost-as-big, yellow slide. He really is the best.

Moments of wonderfulness

Side note for fellow word-lovers and grammar and spelling freaks:
I know that ‘wonderfulness’ is NOT a word. It does explain things pretty well, though, so I’m using it anyway. Please excuse me.

Life is filled with moments of wonderfulness. My last blog entry, for example, is positively glowing. Funny how quickly you can begin to feel that things are not going so well anymore. And funny how we base those feelings on one small incident that in the bigger scale of things, is not very important at all! It happens for me in my marriage, in friendships, at church and at home. All of a sudden I feel dissatisfied, disappointed, down and lots more D words that I can’t think of right now.

Let me give a little example: I was loving the way Benjamin was eating the dinners I was cooking for my husband and I and how I didn’t have to make anything separate for him. He was being ‘such a good boy’. He was happily eating the dinners I put before him and seeming to love it. Then a week or so later, he started to turn his nose up and refuse to eat them. I began to get frustrated with him and annoyed at his fussiness. And this frustration overflowed into my days. I found myself getting easily annoyed at him for little things and saying things like “Can’t you just give me break sometimes?” in a loud, angry voice. Poor little boy didn’t have a clue why!

But really, most children don’t like what’s put before them every single night. And isn’t he allowed to have favourites and things he prefers eating over other things? I must remember I’m dealing with a spirited baby as well who has strong preferences and may like one thing one day and another the next (he does this to me often with food!). Benjamin’s also started waking around 5am again. Arggh. But once again I must put things in perspective and appreciate the moments of wonderfulness when they are there. Because there are many of them, everyday, if we’re looking. Cuddles, smiles, bopping to music...and long naps. Ahhhh.