this little thing he does.

We haven't abandoned Dexter's bottle yet.  He still gets one in the morning and one before bed.  With all the other change and uncertainty going on in our lives, it's hard for me to take away that one comfort he's got.  While I'm holding him at night, as he's drinking his bottle, there's this little thing he does.  I want to remember it forever.

What does that have to do with this?

Ryan got me this beautiful silver necklace for Mother's Day this year from Uncommon Goods.  Are you familiar? They have a lot of neat gift ideas, but I really love that they use a lot of recycled materials in their products. 

Mama bird sitting on her nest.

My 2 blue eggs inside.

Nest detail.

The "nest" is copper.

I wear it every day.  Back to bedtime...

Dexter drinks his bottle, holding it with one hand.  Eyes closed, his other hand searches until he finds my necklace.  He manipulates the pieces with his fingers until he gets it just the way he wants it.  When the eggs are out of the nest and out of his way, he rubs the inside of the rounded pieces, holding them between his thumb and forefinger, switching between the silver and copper pieces.  The bottle drains, his eyes get even heavier.  His hand gets heavier until it falls onto his own chest.  That's when I sit and stare at him for a bit longer before kissing his blonde head and whispering "good night, my little egg."  

This mama bird will protect her nest til the end of time.  I wish the little eggs weren't in such a hurry to hatch and fly. 

xo, 

mama bird in the midwest

strawberries and fire trucks.

June 9, 2012.

The local fire department had their annual strawberry festival Saturday.  I pretty much failed at getting any pictures of fire trucks or strawberries.  We did have some yummy food (ribeye sandwiches, sloppy joes, fresh corn on the cob, and strawberry shortcake with ice cream).

Dexter makes this face.  ALL. THE. TIME. Only sometimes, it comes with scrunched eyebrows.

The coolest thing was the rescue helicopter that Theo got to climb all over.  A few minutes later, we got to watch it take off.  I've never been in (or even that close to) a helicopter before, so Theo has one up on me. 

He just loved it.  He sat in that little seat there and said "I'm ready to go" over and over. Ha!

One blurry pic of me and my kid. Sigh.

He loved pretending to be a little fireman.

Oh look! A fire truck. :) 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. 

xo, 

~C~

Oh, here's a bonus pic, because it's just cute.  Dex on 6/7/12 playing at his friend's house.

major developments and a new normal

May 29, 2012.

That's the day the babysitter sent me the text saying that Theo told her that he had to pee in the potty.  The difference was that this time, he did it.  And afterwards he refused to put a diaper back on.  Underwears it is, young man.

Underwears it is.  We went to the store(s) so he could pick some out that night.  Apparently 2T underwear are hard to find.  He has about one accident a day.  We encourage him to wear underwear at home as much as possible.  There are constant reminders and nudges..."do you need to potty?" "do you feel like you could pee soon?" "don't forget to tell someone if you have to potty."  "remember to keep your underwears clean and dry."

Yes, he calls them his underwearS.  He's doing really well, overall.  I always said I wasn't going to rush it, wouldn't start pushing it until he was at least 2 and a 1/2.  I'm letting him lead the way.  If he doesn't want to wear underwear, I don't make him.  What's the point?  I feel like he's made a lot of progress in a little time, on his own accord in the past week and a half.  I'm so proud of my underwears-wearin' kid!  And yeah, sometimes he also refuses to wear pants.

Oh, there are rules.  No underwears to bed or in the car.  So if we have a day where we're gone a lot, there are no underwear.  He understands, he gets it.
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We've been living at Nana and Pop Pop's while continuing to look for a place of our own.  Closing on our house went smoothly and now we are just weighing the pros and cons of buying an existing home versus building a brand new one.  It's a lot to think about.  In the meantime, we're enjoying the amenities here, like Nana's big whirlpool tub!

Bubble beard! 

Pruny. 

Bathtub mohawk.

We're adjusting and trying to find a new normal.  We're hoping for a new place to call our own very soon.  

xo, 

~C~