Be careful what you wish for.../kid update

So far this "Suck-vember" has been flying by...I'm so busy I feel like I don't know what's what. It's a good thing though, as Martha would say.

The Seth-meister is pulling up on everything now...he is just SUPER proud of himself, it's so cute. James and I always say that Seth "really thinks he's somethin' somethin'". Which he *is*, of course, but it's always better to keep that ego at a reasonable level.

Emmett is really getting better at telling us what he wants, and he's not afraid to try and "trick" you to get it. For example:

Emmett: Yogurt?
Me: No, you've had enough yogurt today...how about an apple?
Emmett: (Thoughtfully) Apple....aaaaaaaaaaand yogurt!

Because hey, maybe mom won't remember she said no to yogurt five seconds ago. It could happen!

We've also started having him do some chores around the house...we get him to help pick up his toys, and he's sort of getting the hang of setting the table (which consists of everything just sort of getting plopped on one spot because he's still too short to really see over the table, but he gets an A+ for effort!). He even put his own laundry away yesterday (after much tears and complaint, according to James!).

He's also started talking about his feelings, which is SO huge for him...the other day he came up to me and said "Mommy, I SO HAPPY!" Talk about a heart melter! He is talking a lot about Christmas as well...he's loving all the Christmas decorations in stores. DO NOT bring up Santa though...Santa is a creepy, evil old man and not all the presents in the world could persuade Emmett otherwise. We went to the holiday light up downtown, and even though we were approximately 300 feet away from Santa that was NOT far enough. It's kind of weird, but at least it gives me a great opportunity to focus on teaching him the real meaning of Christmas instead. I'm going to try and find an unbreakable nativity set that we can play with together...I think he's old enough this year to grasp the basics of the story.

This just in...

Parenting little kids is hard. They don't sleep when you want them to (and they're too little to be left to their own devices when awake so YOU can finally get some sleep), they make messes faster than you can clean them up, and going anywhere with them involves so much packing and planning you sometimes wonder if you're actually going on a week long trip rather than just running a couple of errands.

Case in point: my oldest is a FANTASTIC shopper. You could run errands all day with him and he'd be happy as a clam. My 9 month old, however, can't stand more than about 20 minutes in a shopping cart. Going to more than one store at a time is absolutely out of the question. The longest I'm ever out with him is for the weekly grocery shopping trip. I'm always very prepared...I always go right after nap, feed him first, bring toys and have a detailed list organized by section of the store. Still, by the time I hit produce a certain someone is throwing himself back in the cart in true "drama llama" fashion and sobbing like his whole world is ending. Usually while I'm bagging up the groceries Emmett finally gets sick of his brother's shenanigans and starts punching him in the face. Oh yeah, I'm sure Superstore just loooooooooves it when we show up.

Yesterday I had to do a HUGE shop (I'm putting on my big lunch this Saturday and had to buy all that stuff as well as our groceries), so I brought James with me and put Sethers in the sling my sis in law gave me (thanks Brit!)...this solved the cart conundrum (all he really wants is to be held while we shop, but good luck doing that while pushing a full cart with a 33 lb preschooler in it), but I was so weighed down by the chubster I could barely pick things off the shelf. And today my shoulders are killing me...I can't win! I guess I'm going to have to add grocery shopping to the list of stuff that has to wait until James gets home to help me. Seth, you are about to be banned from Superstore.

Sorry this is so long and ranty, I'm running on way too little sleep and just having one of those "baby for sale" mornings. I really do love my kidlets (and tell them so everyday), I just need a hot bath and a 3 hour nap. Neither of those things appear to be forthcoming, so a ranty blog entry will have to do. ;)

Suck-vember

Well, it's that time of year again...the pumpkins are slowly rotting on their doorsteps, my jeans are tight following a major Halloween week (yes, I said week) candy binge, and Christmas is still like 7 weeks away. November just sort of sucks any way you look at it...I mean, there's Rememberance Day, but that's not really in the category of Fun Festivities, now is it? I'm sure all of the stores are in full on Christmas mode, but I know if it I start getting into the holiday spirit now I'll be fully burnt out a full week before Christmas actually arrives. I always feel like I'm just trying to get through November so the good stuff can start.

I'm changing my strategy this year...I'm going to cram November so full of stuff I won't even notice it flying by (I hope). Looking at the calendar, my strategy looks promising. This week we've got to deal with the flu shot fiasco (whenever they decide to open up the clinics again), then next week I'm putting on lunch for 50 at a church thing (if you're going to quarterly enrichment...hope you like chili! ;)). After that I'm planning a hawaiian luau themed preschool activity, and somewhere in all of that will be Christmas on the Square - fireworks and the big Turning on of Downtown Christmas Lights. Doing this in November totally goes against my policy of no Christmas until December 1, but Mayor Mandel isn't taking my calls. So, I'll have to once again make an exception.

Also on the docket this month...finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I'm right in the thick of it right now...sorry Langstons, I broke down and borrowed a copy from the library!), do some knitting, finish my Christmas shopping (oh yeah, that's right, I said FINISH) and hopefully sneak a date night in with James, too. Anyone feel like babysitting? ;)