threenager woes

BOOBS UPDATE: I went yesterday for my follow up, they did more scans (no ultrasound), and had a doctor take a look. They think it’s fine and want me to come in again in 6 months to take another look. I guess they are getting a baseline? Not all that reassuring, but I guess if they were worried, they’d be looking further now, right?

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Since we are in the midst of having a raging threenager, I thought I’d do a post about the MM. You may recall in previous posts that I’ve referred to him as a unicorn baby, a good sleeper, a mellow guy. And he always was…until 3.5. For the past few months, this guy has been terrorizing kids at school, hitting us, saying mean things, and just living balls out 3.

He’s been sent to the director’s office at his preschool many times, once twice in one day (DW had to go in and talk to him and director). He hits, kicks, pushes, and “sits on” other kids at school. He seemed to have it in for one particular little girl for a while, much to our horror. DW hears from his teacher almost daily about his bad behavior. We talk to him about it, work with him on being a good friend, being empathetic, acceptable ways to express anger/frustration. Still, on he goes and seems quite gleeful about it:

Me: What will you say to A tomorrow? [Kid he hurt on previous day, after we discuss apologizing, etc.]
The MM: Nofing – I will hit and kick and sit on A! [Laughs.]

He has some good days, but more bad than good. He is super clingy to Mama (me) lately and showers me with affection in the evenings. I know that some kids at 3 are biters, hitters, etc. so we’re trying to keep it in perspective and continue to discuss and model positive behaviors. Still, it’s shitty to think your kid is the classroom bully.

We have enrolled him in a new preschool for next year. It’s an all outdoor one like our beloved CA co-op and Monkey has gone to summer camp there the last couple of years and LOVED it. We’re hopeful that a new setting and more outdoor activity will help. He has told us he doesn’t like school, so maybe this will be better? Or maybe he’ll turn 4 and start growing out of this?

It didn’t help to see this article linking Mira.lax to aggressive behavior. The MM had some constipation trouble right before this behavior started and was on a low-dose of Mira.lax for a couple of months. We took him off of it when we saw the article just in case – no difference in behavior. We’re also going to discuss going to 3 days per week at his current school (he goes 5 days currently) with the director for the rest of the school year.

ION, he is also still not potty trained. He’ll be four April 29. He absolutely gets it, understands, could totally do it but – WILL NOT. Sigh.

This parenting thing? No joke, y’all. No joke. Tell me encouraging stories? Please?

mean boys

I started this post yesterday, but had to update that just this morning my baby Marshmallow started crawling! OMG, what happened to my newborn????

Now for my not so nice post. My sweet not-quite-four-year-old Monkey has been getting his feelings hurt at school by a boy (I’ll call him A) who has been his BFF for the last year. We have not been fans of this friendship as both boys are way too rough with each other. They alternate between hugs and smiles and kicks and slaps. It’s been a trying year for all involved, but Monkey just thinks the sun rises and sets on A. He talks about him all the time, wants to bring him things, etc. Just loves this kid.

A couple of weeks ago, A’s mother approached DW and mentioned that A has been telling her that two other boys (L and R) don’t want to play with Monkey. Pissed us both off and we were like, well what do you expect us to do with this information (except be pissed off). A’s mom is from another country and English is her second language, so it’s hard to figure out where she’s going with stuff sometimes. Then DW and I went out of town for 2 nights on business and Grandma stayed with Monkey. She dropped him off at school and then texted DW that she asked Monkey on the way to school, “What are you going to do at school today? Play with A?” My boy said, “No, A won’t play with me. R and L won’t play with me. I’ll just be a helping hand.” When they arrived at school, Grandma witnessed A pulling L and R away from Monkey and telling them not to play with him. Monkey got teary and the teacher stepped in and got him involved in something else. My poor baby – and we weren’t home to smother him in hugs 😦

Monkey talked about it and cried a few times afterwards. A and the others were also name-calling, mostly about Monkey being a “baby.” Monkey is most definitely a “young 3,” so there’s some truth there which makes it even meaner, if you ask me.

Coincidentally, our school is having a bit of trouble (long story), so for a while we will be having 2 sessions rather than 1. We decided to move to the session that A (and L and R) are not in. It has been going well – no problems. Teacher says both A and S are doing well apart. Yesterday Monkey was invited to attend both sessions due to an absence (4 hour school day – woot!), as was A. When we arrived at the end of the day,  A and Monkey were all over each other (in a good way), smiling, hugging – Monkey just looked SO happy. His teacher said there was some trouble (and tears) in the early session (when L and R are there), but they had a ball during the afternoon session. So I guess that group together is an issue. I think it’s the A/R combo as L was in soccer with Monkey over the summer and we’ve had play dates with him. He’s a sweet, quiet kid and I can’t imagine him doing this.

Anyway, my heart is a little broken over this. We talk about it with Monkey but I’m not sure if there’s more we should do with him to help. Have any of you encountered this stuff yet? If so, what did you do?

30w3d

I had my last high-risk OB visit last Thursday (at 29 weeks, 5 days). Our last good look at the newbie until he is born. Kind of wild! We thought the last pics we got looked a lot like Monkey but this time, not so much. He looks like his own little (adorable) person. See?

We learned that he is a BIG boy (I knew it!) as all of his measurements were in the 95th percentile and higher. I just knew it! I feel so much bigger at this point than I did with my previous pregnancy, and I’m hitting all those icky, unpleasant third trimester symptoms now instead of at the 38+ week mark like last time. Man, I’m so NOT feeling good these days. On the plus side, everything looked great and I learned that I passed my 1 hour glucose test, so the important stuff is all checking out well.

My next OB visit is March 5, and she told me at my last appointment that we wouldn’t be doing bi-weekly exams after that (!!!). I think I’m going to ask if we can as I’m really concerned about making it to my due date. Call it mother’s intuition, but I just don’t know if I’m really going to get to 39 weeks. I hope I do as it would be nice to be home all summer so that DW isn’t alone with 2 kids all day every day. The current plan is for me to be out through Aug 19 – Monkey starts school around Aug 15. I just don’t know, friends.

Monkey has been killing me lately with his cute talking. Here are a few of his funnies:

• We ask him to make a choice (“Orange or banana? Which one?”) and he includes the “or” in his answer (“Or orange!”).
• He says “bewwy buttom” for bellybutton <3. This morning, DW was trying to get him to say it by pointing to his bellybutton and saying, “What’s that?” His response? “That’s baby F!” Hahahahahahaha!
• He’s big into talking about feelings lately and expressing his. “No! I don’t wike (like) that!”
• He’s super crazy sweet and affectionate. He must kiss all boo-boos, ask “Are you okay?” if you hurt yourself, and gives lots of spontaneous big hugs and kisses.
• He is very popular at school. The girls love to baby him. One of them calls him her “little peanut.” Ha!

Three is a challenge for sure, but it’s also so much fun watching him turn into his own little person.

On that note, Mama is tired and is going to rest her aching body. 9 more weeks! Seriously????

24w4d: updates

I realized I haven’t done a proper post with words and stuff since my post on depression many moons ago. So here we go!

Depression

I’m actually feeling much better lately. I’m thinking that being sick (twice, for over a month!) really affected my emotional state. The colds are gone and I’ve also added a bit of coffee back into my morning routine and both are helping me immensely. I went off the coffee when we were TTC and stayed off until my second trimester. Having a cup (or two) in the morning helps me have a more productive start to my day and not feel like a total sloth. My OB is fine with it and I really limit my caffeine intake throughout the rest of the day, so it’s good. I still have the number of someone should I find myself  in need, but for now I’m doing well and am going to try to make it through to the birth before restarting my ADs. Thanks to all of you who chimed in with your stories and support. Such a great community!

Pregnancy

I’m more than halfway through and am feeling really HUGE! I feel the baby move a lot, which is very different from my last pregnancy. My placenta was in front of the baby last time, so I didn’t feel movement for a long time and when I finally did, I didn’t feel much of it. This time? I started really feeling him at about 22 weeks and it just gets stronger and stronger. I’m able to see my belly move and DW has felt him kick as well. Fun!

We also have a birthdate: the newbie will make his appearance on Monday, April 29th! I’ll find out the exact time at my next OB appointment, but we went ahead and selected a date at my last one. It’s so funny that when I think of this new guy, I just see Monkey as an infant. I also think about how we’ll have the Christmas tree and decor up – until I remember that this guy will be born in April, not in December. My brain just refuses to switch to this new timeframe. New baby = Christmas, colder weather, turkey dinner. Only not so much this time around 🙂 Funny, huh?

We have also gone through all of our baby stuff and realized that while we are pretty set on a lot of baby clothes, we will need to buy some new things as the seasons will be different for this guy. For example, all of our newborn stuff is for wintertime. Some of it will be fine (onesies, footed sleepers, etc.), but we will need some warm weather things as well. I’ve already done two big Gym.bor.ee purchases since they are having such HUGE sales right now. My local store had a ton of summer stuff for infants (I assume from last year) for $3.50-$4.00 a pop, so I got some super adorable things for dirt cheap.

Friends of ours have a baby boy who just turned a year old and they have generously offered us many of their baby items, which is awesome as we had to get rid of large items from Monkey because 1.) we had no room for them and 2.) most of what we had last time was 2nd/3rd hand and was really done after Monkey. So we’ll be getting a swing, bouncy seat, infant car seat, and other necessities from them. SO glad! I hate to buy new stuff that you’ll only use for a few months and then dump, so this is really great.

One big item we will need is a glider/rocker. I had one from a co-worker last time and we donated it when we were done as we didn’t really like the looks of it. Now, though, I kind of wish we’d held onto it as I don’t want to spend the money on it. I’m not a fan of the glider (just think they’re kind of ugly), so it’s not something I want in my house once we’re past the need for it. Maybe we can find a nice upholstered rocker that will fit with our furniture and we can hold onto for a while. I don’t know. Did anyone get something they loved for not too much money?

Monkey

This guy is getting to be such a big boy! He has really been talking much more and we feel like we don’t really need to have him evaluated anymore. His preschool teacher has also been telling us how quickly his speech has amped up in the last month or two. It’s kind of wild!

He had his 3 year checkup in early Jan, where he weighed 34 lbs (we think he lost a little weight due to his cold) and he measured 38 1/4″ tall. Everything checked out perfectly, but his doctor did lecture us a bit about potty training. Sigh. We are still trying on that front. He is so stubborn!

We are still co-sleeping, but it is getting harder as my belly gets bigger. We will be purchasing a king-sized bed in the next few weeks, so we’re hopeful that will help. We’re also considering setting up his crib as a toddler bed and seeing if we can’t coax him into sleeping there (still in our room). We’ll see… He is still an early riser (typically up around 5:30), but for the last few days he’s been sleeping until 6-6:30. We are SO hopeful this will become the new trend. Anything after 6 is totally acceptable.

Monkey doesn’t seem to really have much of a clue that a new baby is on the way. We talk to him about it and show him my belly. He will tell you baby brother’s name and hug and kiss my belly, but I don’t get the sense that he understands there’s a little person in there who will be coming out here and turning his little world upside down. I guess none of us every truly get that concept until it’s our reality 🙂

happy birthday, monkey!

Today my baby boy is 3 years old. I say it every year, but it’s hard to believe that tiny little guy we brought home from the hospital is now this big, talking, running, stubborn, cuddly big boy. Unfortunately, he is sick on his b-day this year. He’s been sick for a little over a week but last night he seemed to get much worse so he’s heading in to see the doctor at 4:30. Poor thing. We are still going to have his Grandma over to open gifts, order pizza (Monkey’s fave!), and eat cake and ice cream. We were going to hold off until he’s feeling better, but he’s had such a miserable week I thought it might cheer him up to get some new stuff to play with and of course eat cake!

Happy happy birthday, my sweet baby S! I love you more than words can say ❤