Merry Christmas!

Well, Corey will be happy to tell you that The Grinch didn't come to his house, since we don't live in Whoville, but Santa sure did! Corey got everything he asked for in his letter to Santa, which we mailed to Santa at the North Pole, c/o his Gaga. I bet there are a lot of grandparents who discover that their address is actually part of the North Pole at Christmas. Corey truly enjoyed this activity. He helped me write the letter, but his favorite part was affixing the special Christmas stamp. It's a sticker, and Corey is a bona fide sticker addict. If you can peel it and stick it, Corey is all about it. There are stickers everywhere in this house. I've had to hide the stamps, lest they show up somewhere other than an envelope. Like the butt of my pants.

Christmas morning Corey woke up full of excitement. He was amazed and delighted to see that Santa came and left presents underneath the tree for him. After pausing to check the cookies that we'd left out for Santa and announcing, "Santa left one for me!", Corey dove right in and started unwrapping presents with wild glee. I'm sure I don't have to describe what a wonder it was for us, as his parents, to see his joy. If you're a parent, then you know how it is the first time a child really "gets it" at Christmas. Mason slept for awhile, so we were able to focus on Corey for a bit.

When Mason woke up, the fun continued. We let Corey "help" Mason unwrap his gifts, too. Mason was perfectly content to enjoy his bottle and the wrapping paper. Damian and I sat back and watched while sipping some fantastic Bun Penney coffee (my favorite coffee shop) called "Rudolph's Eggnog".

After all the wrapping was finished, Corey announced, "Want to wrap MORE presents!" We tried to teach him to say, "unwrap", but failed miserably, and throughout the day he would tell anyone who would listen, "Want to wrap more presents!" Which he did, at Aunt Amanda and Uncle Shawn's house later that day. In addition to all this present "wrapping", the boys had a terrific time hanging out with family. We spent Christmas Eve together at my mom's for a wonderful dinner, and then had a fabulous Christmas dinner in Frederick. This gave the boys a chance to be with their grandparents as well as their adored cousin Sydney, who could not have been any cuter, or sweeter, in her Christmas dresses.

The boys made out like bandits. You name it, they got it. If you saw the house, you might think we'd staged a hostile toy store takeover. The boys also have enough clothes to dress them until they're 90. We are fortunate to have such wonderful, giving family and friends, but I am officially requesting maid service for my birthday present.

I am usually full of cute Corey stories (he is a riot, after all), but I now have a funny Mason story to share. We went grocery shopping with Mason, and at some point he managed to lose his shoe. I located the shoe, but didn't bother putting it back on. I figured his sock would keep his foot warm enough, and I had food to buy. Well, over the loudspeaker I suddenly heard the following announcement, "If you have a baby in your cart, and that baby is missing a sock, it's in the seafood department". I looked down, and sure enough, that monkey managed to take his sock off! The people around me were cracking up.

Now I'll close with two cute Corey quotes:

Corey unwrapped a little ornament from my Aunt Vicki. Once he removed the wrapping paper, he discovered a layer of white tissue paper. Not realizing that it was, in fact, tissue paper, and there was still a present to be had under the paper, he announced, "It's a little diaper!"

I often say to Corey, "You need to eat so that you have plenty of energy to play." He's clearly digested this information, because when I asked him, "Do you need something to eat?" after his nap, he said, "I'm OK. I have lots of energy."

Merry Christmas!

Better

Corey is feeling better. His nose is running less, and I've heard very little coughing. Also, he is his usual fun and onery self. :-) This is a huge relief. Christmas is on!

Corey has said a few funny things in the past couple of days:

1. At Aunt Amanda's house, when trying to adjust a pillow and have a juice break, "This is annoying!"

2. At Nanny & Papa's house, after observing that there is a smaller TV in the bedroom, "Supposed to be a big TV right there!"

3. In the car, at any stoplight, observing the "walk/don't walk" signs, "Little white man! Little white man!" And, also in the car, "Deer crossing sign, Mommy!"

4. When reading The Grinch, "Grinch not gonna come to Corey's house." My response, with a straight face, "The Grinch only comes to Who-ville. Where do we live?" Corey, "We don't live in Who-ville. Grinch not come to Corey's house!" Clearly.

Corey is sick

And Corey's mommy is trying not to flip out. Yesterday he had a runny nose, but other than that, he was his usual playful self. In fact, I didn't even notice that his nose was running until we got to his Aunt Amanda's house for our play date with his cousin Sydney. Corey played all day and generally appeared to be alright, if not as peppy as usual.

Until he went to bed. And then he started with this strange, sad, crying cough that I've never heard from him before. It terrified me. I sped in to his room to check on him, and he was whiny and unhappy. I spent a few minutes with him, getting him settled and trying to give him a drink. He refused the drink, and after a few minutes he said, "Mommy leave."

While this may sound insulting, it is actually a good sign. If he wants me out of there, then that means he's ready to sleep. He always says, "Mommy leave" when he's all done chatting with me or all done being tucked in and comforted.

I left. And then I tossed and turned in my bed. All I could think about was the idea that we might end up taking him to the hospital for the first Christmas when he actually seems to be excited about/understanding Santa.

Mason chose this night to sleep all night. Of course. But at least I didn't have to take care of Mason while I was busy worrying myself sick over Corey.

I expected to take him to the pediatrician this morning, but he woke up talking 90 miles per hour, and he ate a huge amount of food this morning. He was also very interested in his usual morning games. Certainly good signs. The criteria given to me by the pediatrician for bringing him in are as follows:

1) he starts wheezing/the cold is settling in his lungs
2) he refuses to eat or drink
3) he acts extremely lethargic/not like himself/doesn't want to play at all
4) the cold lasts for > 8 days

I plan to watch for these items and hope for the best. I'm having a difficult time figuring out where he picked it up from, or at what point I failed to wash his hands/hit him with the hand sanitizer that is strapped to my gunbelt at all times. Above all, I am trying really hard not to think about Sam.

Updates will come later....

New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions, then and now.....

Before I had kids, I had a New Year's Resolution list that usually went something like this:

1) Exercise more/eat less/lose 5 pounds.
2) Quite biting my fingernails.
3) Find a new hobby/some other means of personal growth.
4) Read less fiction and more intellectual books.
5) Spend time at makeup counter getting new tips on the hot looks for the season and update my look.
6) Take a cooking class.
7) Do more yoga/find my zen.
8) Choose more dignified words rather than swear words.
9) Spend time improving diplomatic skills.
10) Greet husband with a warm smile and a kiss.

Etc., etc., etc......

Now my list, while parallel to my previous lists, looks more like this:

1) Buy new comfortable pants with enough room for post-baby butt.
2) Keep baby poop out from under fingernails. (Obviously biting is no longer an issue.)
3) Find 10 seconds every day to yell "SCREW PERSONAL GROWTH!"
4) Find 5-10 minutes to read Cosmo or the tabloids each day.
5) Resolve to wash face EVERY morning. Maybe even put on a little Chapstick if feeling frisky.
6) Figure out ways to get husband to buy dinner/find new innovative ways to use Corn Flakes in meals.
7) Figure out how to tune out the words "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYY!"
8) Attempt to say "Nuts!" or "Golly!" or "Gee!" instead of using words that are WAY more appropriate to the situation.
9) Try not to lose all my friends.
10) Try not to yell, "STOP HUGGING ME AND TAKE THESE CHILDREN!" for at least 5 minutes after husband gets home from work.

But it's not New Year's Eve yet! It's not even Christmas yet! So clearly I can just pull a Scarlett O'Hara and think about this tomorrow.....

The joy of two little boys at nap time...

Nap time around here is never a picnic - getting both boys ready to go down is never easy. But yesterday was exceptionally bad. Here's how it went. I made everybody's "shakes" (my protein shake, Corey's chocolate milk, and Mason's bottle), and then I put them both on the couch for storytime. When I went to change their diapers, I discovered that they'd both pooped.

Fabulous. But no big deal. Only, since I wasn't reading, and changing a poop takes longer than a pee diaper, each boy started getting restless. I changed Corey, and while this was going on, Mason toddled over to the laptop (which I'd stupidly left open), and somehow managed to disconnect our wireless connection and remove several keys. Nice. I removed Mason from the keyboard, changed his poopy diaper, and retrieved Corey (who was putting on his mittens and trying to pull up the blinds with his mittened hands).

We started reading the Sneetches. But Mason decided he wasn't interested. He was more interested in climbing around behind me and biting my shoulders and pulling my hair. Great! I managed to pull him off of me, but then he toddled back over to the ottoman and managed to split his upper lip open on the ottoman. I find this particularly impressive, since the ottoman is some kind of soft rubber/leather thing, and not a glass coffee table or some other such dangerous piece of furniture. Of course he then burst into tears, his face turned red as a Christmas-card envelope, and he was essentially totally crazy.

And then he pooped again. Of course. When in doubt, get mad and poop.

I put him down to comfort him and change his diaper, but Corey at this point was really annoyed that I wasn't even half-way through the Sneetches, so he started kicking me. I gave him a warning, "Kick me one more time, and you're going in a time out!" He kicked me again. I left Mason naked on the floor and put Corey in a time out.

I then grabbed Mason again (who at this point was toddling around the room, complete with naked tushy hanging out, a toy in one hand, and his bottle in the other) and finished getting him into a clean diaper. I let Corey out of the "time out", laid him back on the couch, and finished the Sneetches while holding Mason (who was squirming and complaining) firmly on my lap and reading in a voice that I would not describe as an "inside voice".

I quit after the Sneetches, and we went up to brush teeth. Only Corey refused to walk up himself, yelling, "Mommy give me ride!", so I had to take Mason up first, give him a toothbrush (which could have been anybody's - I was just grabbing for anything at that point), and went downstairs to collect Corey. But we forgot Linus (Corey's blankie). So I trucked back downstairs to get Linus, while Corey yelled that I forgot to give him his toothbrush. Thanks for the newsflash, Corey!

I finally tucked Corey in and took Mason into the nursery. I put Mason in his crib, and he immediately popped up and started wailing. Great. Then I turn around and Corey is standing at his gate saying, "Want to sleep in Gaga's bed!" He has taken to sleeping in the bed in his room that my mom uses, instead of his own. So I go in, tuck him into Gaga's bed, and go back in to Mason's room. Where he is still wailing.

Arrgh!

I finally did get them both down for naps, thank God! But the rest of the afternoon was not much better. Mason spent time eating pieces of our foam balls, which meant I got to spend time picking pieces of foam balls out of his mouth. And crayons. He likes to eat those too. Nothing like pulling giant chunks of orange crayon out of your baby's teeth.

Hopefully today will be better.....

"R-E-Y spells Corey!"

Damian and I were having a chat at dinner, with Corey present of course, and I wanted to say something that Corey wouldn't get. So, like many parents, I spelled his name. But the second I did, he piped right up with "R-E-Y spells Corey!" Right. I guess we'll have to give him a nickname when we're talking about him in his presence. Like Bob. Care to offer up any ideas?

Yes, life with Corey is definitely not boring. Sunday morning we went to the bagel shop and then on to Giant, as we usually do. At Giant, we went through the self check-out, which has a giant shut-down button, right at kid level. What idiot came up with that idea? So my son, of course, found the button and, just as I was nearly done scanning everything, WHOMP! He pushed it and shut the whole system down. Fantastic. Everything had to be re-scanned. And, of course, at this point Corey was all done with being there, so he started wailing "I want to go home NOW! Just go home RIGHT NOW!" The entire time we were re-scanning everything. "NOW! RIGHT NOW!!!" He was so loud I think they could hear him in the parking lot.

Corey also demonstrated his impressive volume on Saturday. We took a little family trip to Historic Ellicott City, as the train museum currently has a special holiday display. Corey had a fantastic time. He was amazed by the trains. For us, seeing the wonder on his little face made it so nice. Until we got to the Thomas the Trains section. In this area, there were two trains - Thomas and Percy - hooked up to buttons for the kids to push and power them. They even had step stools in place so the little ones could reach the buttons. When Corey realized he could stand on a step stool (something he loves) and push a button (something he also loves), and that these actions would result in a train moving around a track - look out! He was on the move, running from step stool to step stool, pushing button after button to get those trains moving moving moving!

So what's the problem, you ask? Well, the problem was that we hadn't rented out the entire museum for our own private use, and thus other children wanted to push those buttons too. Oh boy. Sharing is something we clearly need to work on. Corey was having none of it. Even though there were two step stools and two buttons, Corey didn't want anyone else to play with the trains. He had a meltdown on par with Chernobyl, complete with huge tears and ear-splitting screams. However, when I scooped him up and took him downstairs for a little chat, if nothing else he understood that he needed to share in order to play, so we went back for a second try. And we had another meltdown. We'll keep working on it.