The ups and downs of parenting

Now anyone with kids, has ever thought about having them...or even spent anytime around them knows you will have good days and bad days. More accurately (especially when they are very little) you will have horrible moments and truly amazing moments. I realized a few moments over the last few days demonstrated that perfectly.

The night before last was one of those bad times, which wasn't even directly Than's fault. I had asked Ryan to empty the diaper genie in Than's room as it was getting a bit fragrent and he was taking out the trash. A few moments later I heard Ryan yelling at me to open the door to the garage "NOW". He then streaks past me carrying a very smelly diaper genie. Apparently it was so smelly because it was leaking. So I watched my somewhat OCD husband deal with the unbeliavably stinky various bodily fluids leaking over him and the floors he had just cleaned for the second time that day. Needless to say this was not a happy moment for Ryan. Though I have to admit that he handled it better than I would have expected. After a shower, more mopping and my taking the carpet cleaner to Than's room and the hallway he had managed to regain his calm. I think he gets major points for not turning into a twitching shaking swearing mess in the corner somewhere. (Yes he is going to give me crap about this part of the post and calling him OCD, but seriously have you met him?)

Anyway a clear contrast to the pain and disgust of that night was the joy of last night. Now Than's language development especially over the last few weeks is pretty remarkable. He talks pretty much non stop around people once he gets comfortable and is picking up several new words and phrases a day. Partly it is because he is so big on attention and will do anything for applause, so if you clap or make a big deal about it when he uses new words he is very motivated to show off even more. He is now at the point where he can identify most of the pictures, animals, etc. in his many books and on TV.

So last night was pretty funny. Ryan was doing his very good, very active impression of a monkey which got Than all riled up. He was running in circles nearly hyperventilating trying to mimic the monkey noises that Ryan was making. It was so over the top that Ryan and I were laughing so hard we were crying.

So I took Than up to put him down for bed. We have a very good very sweet night time routine at the moment. We change him, brush his teeth, and read him a book. Lately it is usually the Berenstein bears as Than is very big on bears right now. He points out the things he recognizes, names the characters etc. Then after that I turn off the light and turn on the turtle that projects the stars and constellations onto the ceiling. We cuddle for a minute say goodnight and get kisses and he stays happily in bed looking at the stars until he falls asleep. Last night as we were cuddling and saying goodnight he told me "I love Daddy. I love Mama. Daddy's funny when he's a monkey." Then he giggled and started making monkey noises and said "Daddy's silly", "Night Night Mama".

This was after Ryan's latest favorite thing which is if you ask Than to "give me some sugar baby" Than says "Sugar!" and gives you a kiss. Sometimes I have trouble believing he just barely turned two.