Nixon, guardian of freshly made beds

* Nixon has been having a real issue with cleaning up his toys lately. So much so that it's come to 3 times of getting asked to clean them up, and then Mac or I clean them up and take them away. Today was that same thing, Nixon had just gotten his cars back and he decided to not pick them up. I was picking them up and he knew that meant they were going to be taken away again. So what does he do? He sits on the stairs and says "BOOOO" when he realizes I'm not going to let him come and save his "favorite" truck.
I ushered him into his room and put him in Time Out for that. I can ignore a lot of things, but a blatant disrespectful act like that...no sir, we're going to address that.

* Nana (Mac's mom) is coming for a week long visit starting next week. Nixon is excited and has even been happily, even at some points begging, helping me getting the house ready. Today he helped me wash the sheet for the spare bed. He then told Amber, after he saw the fresh clean sheets on the bed, "No Amber, that's Nana's bed. You have to stay out! Okay? I said stay out!"

Thank gods today is over!

* Today was honestly one of those days that just started bad and never really got better. Nixon was in a funk of a mood and it showed. He was cranky, bossy, sassy and all kinds of mouthy. Instead of going and running errands with us, he was sent to take a nap because I could not take his attitude for another minute.
I thought his behavior would improve when he woke up, and it did for about an hour, and then he was just as horrible as before.

Thank gods today is over. I can not stress enough that while I love my son, today had me seriously looking for a bottle of wine and a child that hadn't been stolen by aliens overnight replaced by a rotten pod-person.

Nixon, dinosaur slayer and savior!

* Nixon has been a little mouthy and overly disobedient lately. Today was the day I took stand, drew a line in the sand, and refused to bend. He is not happy about it, but by bedtime he stopped talking back and started listening. I may be laid back, but I'm not going to be my child's doormat!


* Nixon was playing with his dinosaurs. He says there is a mommy, a daddy, a grandpa and a baby one. He was lining all his dinos up to kill, then asked me to keep the baby one safe "because he's so cute". A few minutes later he brings me the rest of the family to keep safe "because the family needs to keep the baby safe and not be dead".  He's so random!

Sometimes, I take a picture of Nixon and just fall in love with him a little bit more. This is one of those photos. I can't explain why, but I am in love with him because of it.....he is just perfect!

...and then Nixon and I "were on a break"

* What do you do when your kid is having a rough morning and you know it's your fault? After a 3rd meltdown, I cave and let him spend time alone watching tv upstairs while I relax downstairs. We spent about 90 minutes apart and we both felt better in the end.

* After dinner we had a kiss war. The rules are simple. We start by counting the kisses we give each other. Winner is the one who keeps giving kisses until the other person stops counting. Tonight, I won because Nixon stopped counting at 12! haha

* We laid in bed and read two books tonight. At the end, Nixon kissed my cheek and said "Sweet dreams mommy. Now get out, I need to sleep." the funny in this? He's sleeping in my bed tonight!! The little turd kicked me out of MY bed!! Oh well, at least he stopped yelling at me.

the low, the high and the way he makes me feel like I'm failing him

* Can I just write today sucked and I'm glad it's over?
Because it did and I am. Nixon threw a fit in the grocery store because he wanted a Matchbox car and his evil bitch of a mom, I mean, I said no.

* He did eat 2 hot dogs, toast and raw broccoli for dinner.

* And he's breaking my heart by crying over how badly he wants to go to school. We're trying, but there's wait lists and other hoops to jump through. But to hear him say "I want to go to school" and watch the tears well up in his eyes, it breaks me inside.

sleep well, my child, and may tomorrow be a better day for all. 

"I built this for you, mommy"

* Nixon was in a big, busy building mode today. He came over to me this evening and said "Mommy, I built you this cute brown house, just for you. It's cute, just like you." He piled a couple cardboard boxes on top of each other and called it my cute house. And it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!

* Now him playing with his Lego's made me want to go deaf! What is it about a child's whine that makes a parent want to stop it before it begins? And why is it Lego's makes that whining all the worse?
Damn you, Lego's!!

ass in air and my child is all over the bed...yep, just another night in our house. I couldn't love my life more. Silence is golden. 

Guess who's getting a new hair brush??

* Nixon's new way to ask for something to eat:
"Mommy, I need food so I can grow big like Daddy. That's bigger than you!"

* After his nap today, Nixon was in a real pisser of a mood. He spit in my glass of soda...twice. Then, when I was talking to him about that, he dry spit (that "pfft" but no actual spit) at me. After he was done with his punishment for that one, I found him in the bathroom....pulling my hair brush out of the toilet.

...ugg, this age is rough.

* Using my phone tonight, Nixon swings BeBe into the phone which hits my lips and teeth...ouch! Not the best way to end our night. After he went to bed, we talked everything out...the spitting, the brush in the toilet and the using BeBe as a weapon.. ending with hugs, kisses and lots of "I love you"s. About 20 minutes after Nixon was in bed, he came out and into my bedroom, where I was, and said "Mommy, I sorry I broke your heart because I was mean. I love you, your my best friend." He got more hugs and kisses and was tucked back into bed.

tomorrow can only be better than today.

Where is my bacon?...would have been tonight's title if Nixon hadn't broken my heart....

* I asked Nixon if he wanted some of the bacon I was baking for my dinner. He said yes and then went off to enjoy his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. About 15 minutes later he comes over and he says "Mommy, where is my bacon? I smell it, but it's not in my tummy!" Of course, we only eat turkey bacon in our house, but I love that he is still excited to eat bacon, just like his dad and I!

* At bedtime, after his agreed on tv bribe time was over, he says to me "I don't love you" because I told him it was bedtime. I told him he just broke my heart and he was to go to his bedroom now. He then said "I'm being bossy and I broke you heart in a lot of pieces. Good night!"
Yeah, not such a good night...
 When it was time to tuck him in, he said he was sorry for being bossy. I told him I wasn't sad he was bossy, I was sad he was say he didn't love me. Eventually, we hugged and kissed and said good night.

his beautiful lips, that perfect mouth I helped create, formed words that hurt me in a way I thought I had years before I'd feel.

meet mega tron

* Nixon today decided his pj's were all wrong, and ran around the house naked for almost 2 hours. At one point he decided to put 2 buckets over his ears and say "I am Mega Tron"

Mega Tron

* Mac got a haircut and when he was done, Nixon  finally agreed to get his cut. This would not have been possible without the help of Cadbury's finest (egg) being in my purse and Nixon already spotting it. He sat mostly still,while I gave him small bite size pieces as he got his hair cut.

And then he had an epic screaming fit in the store and I had to take him to the car....lovely. But his hair is cut and that is the important thing I'm taking from this.

Daddy took these pictures, I did a little cropping, but they look pretty darn good! Good job, Dad!

Brokenhearted....

* Nixon smacks himself in the face. When I ask him why he did that, he says "I have to smack him because he is stupid". This killed me to hear. I never call him stupid, but he hears me say it about drivers on the road (road rage...it's a serious issue of mine). I covered his face in kisses and told him "You are a very smart boy, not at all stupid." I hope it sunk in.

* I had to take one of our cats to the vet this morning. Nixon was phenomenal at the office. He played his memory game and only interrupted twice during a 30 minute check-up. Even the vet was in love with him...until the tantrum when we left the office. Twice he threw a fit leaving (we left Amber at the vet and went back to pick her up a few hours later), not a high point of the day.

* A very rough day....Nixon spent most of the day refusing to listen and telling fibs. Not a good day in our house.

glad today is over....may tomorrow be a better one for all of us.

An idea was born....

365 quiet nights.
What does that mean, right?

Well, it started as a nagging thought in the back of my head sometime during my recent battle with the flu. Fever plus hours and hours of straight sleep plus an active mind led to this.

I love, simply adore, sneaking in and watching Nix sleep. I have lost an unknown number of hours of my life watching him sleep since he entered my world 4 years ago. I'm lucky (please no hate mail, I know I'm lucky) to have been blessed with a seriously awesome sleeper. I can go into his room, camera in hand, take some pictures of him sleeping using flash, and he never wakes up! I've gone into his room and apologized for a bad day, kissed him for a wonderful day and snuggled him during nightmares and night terrors.

It made me realize, I can do more with this.
And I fully plan on it.

365 quiet nights is my new daily (or is it nightly?) blog which will feature a photo on Nix sleeping, the date somehow in the picture and a brief highlight or low light of the day. Why? Because, as a mom, for me, when I see him sleeping the whole day pales in comparison. He is so beautiful when he sleeps. I feel I need to be a better mom every single time I see him sleeping.

Here's a sample of the pictures you can expect:

Nix, sleeping as an infant

Nix, sleeping on his 4th birthday (this was a nap)

Nix, sleeping in May.