The Story on Morning Glory

I feel like people ask me frequently what Jack's saying these days....and I fumble around and come up with Mama and Dada, which he's been saying forever, because I haven't really sat down and thought out what he's saying! 

So, you'll be my handy dandy notebook as I list off things I hear Jack say today. 

Mama = Mama
Dada = Dada
Jus = Juice
Thin = Think
Vava = Vincent
Nahnah = Nattie
An Tat = Aunt Kat
Ma = Milk
Chee = Cheese
Bye = Bye
Pha = Please
St = Stick
Ba = Ball
Tak = Truck
This = This
That = That
Lyla = Lyla
Ba = Balloon
Tee = Three
Aaal Da = All Done
Ma = More
Ha = Hat
Wawa = Water
Souside = Outside
Buh = Blue
Ba = Balloon
Poopie = Puppy


The list of things he can identify is super long...so I'll spare you most of the details.

He still loves to use his Look and Learn ABC book to point out all kinds of things!  We've been working on identifying the animals in there and I can't wait to take him to the zoo this spring.  It's going to be so much more fun than last year!  He'll actually care!  In his book, he knows the tiger and does the cutest little roar when he sees it.  I was teaching him the kangaroo, and said, "The kangaroo goes hop, hop, hop!" so now when he sees the kangaroo, he says, "Hop, hop, hop, hop!"  CUTE!  He also knows the zebra, elephant and the bunny.  I can't wait for zoo weather!

So, you know how I lamented on how I just wanted time to slow down the other day?  God has a funny sense of humor.

It all started with Parent's Day Out.  After Jack's first day, he got a cold.  That's to be expected, honestly.  A cold, I can handle.  Last Wednesday, he started coughing and had a low grade fever, so I took him to the doctor.  Totally a first time mom visit, he was fine, the doctor said give him Mucinex and Tylenol and commented that he was the healthiest kid he'd seen that day, and be careful...."If you weren't sick when you got here, you'll be sick when you leave!"

The rest of the week was ok....not great, but ok.  And Saturday was just not good.  His fever rose a bit and he was just not happy.  I hate not happy Jack.  The hardest thing about sick toddlers is that they won't.........sit..........still!  Jack will not sit still to save his life.  And being sick didn't change that.  So Saturday was a battle.

Jeff and I put him to be like normal on Saturday night.  Little did we know what was in store.  Midnight, he woke up, so I refreshed his Tylenol fill and headed back to bed expecting him to lay down and fall asleep, just like normal.  But he didn't. 

Now, Jack's been sleep trained since like 6 months or something.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's a great sleeper!  The few days of sleep training wasn't fun, but now, it's absolutely fabulous.  We don't need to rock him, stay with him until he goes to sleep....we say bedtime prayers, give him kisses and hugs, turn on the sound machine, make sure paci and Monk are in place, walk out and he's out! 

When you have a newborn, you know what to expect.  You're going to be up all night.  Bottom line.  When you have a toddler, that's not what you expect. 

But that's what happened Saturday night.

Starting a little after midnight, the only way Jack would fall asleep is if he was being rocked.  Many, many times, I tried to transfer him, asleep, from my shoulder to the bed.  The result?  Screaming like a banshee. 

His temp rose to 103 and I could tell he was just feeling terrible.  It was terrible!!  He finally fell asleep at 7am.  Yep, 7am. 

Lord, help me. 

As I sat there rocking him for what seemed like FOREVER, I couldn't help but think about my "Stop" post.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I wanted that night to last forever.  I didn't.  But, what I couldn't help but love was holding my sweet son, listening to his congested breathing, dripping all kinds of snot and nastiness all over my shoulder, and knowing that this wouldn't last forever. 

There's two ways to take the whole "this won't last forever" thing.  There's the "Thank God this won't last forever!" The kind that comes in the middle of the night, weather it's a newborn or a toddler, being beyond thankful that what you're going through will eventually HAVE to get better!  And there's the, "I can't believe this won't last forever."  The kind you just know you need to savor, to breathe it in, take a mental picture to hang in your life's museum.  The kind you'll treasure and remember back and long for. 

Saturday night, I took part of both. 

When he finally decided to nap at 7am, I napped, too.  Sunday his fever wasn't as high, and I planned to bring him back to the doctor on Monday morning.  But by then, his fever was gone, and I was dealing more with an over-tired child than a sick one.  Over tired and sick aren't too different when dealing with a toddler, so Monday was challenging in his own way.  Monday was overcoming the idea that since Mommy rocked me to sleep Saturday, she should rock me to sleep forever.  Um, no, sweet child.  So if you wonder where I am this week, I'll be over here, re-sleep training and hoping today is a better day!