Sleeping, goofy, singing child...much better than the punkass I had in his body this morning.

* Sometimes, you just need to tell your kid to "go the F*^# to sleep, you obviously need the sleep". Today was that day.

   It started with Nixon coming over to me, with his water bottle, and saying "It's empty, this is not right!". I looked right at him and said "Excuse me?", to his credit he quickly changed his tune "May I have more flavor water please?". I told him I'd be happy to get him water, but he needed to apologize first, because his first way of asking for water was rude and very disrespectful to me. He said "I'm not sorry!" and stormed to the stairs. He immediately came back over to me, I'm expecting an apology from my sweet and loving baby boy, instead I get: "I said do it now!"
    Nope, sorry son, it's time for you to go lie down because you have obviously just lost your damned mind!

   We got upstairs and I snuggled with him. I told him I still love him, I'll always love him, but he can't be rude and demanding to me like that. It's just not okay. Sometimes we just need to rest and reset our mood.
   He and I napped together in the spare bedroom, because Mac was still sleeping for the day in our bed. When he woke up....whole new mood!

* Nixon is making up silly songs. He made one up tonight about Daddy.

It's always nice to start with a warning..or advance apologies in my case. His teacher has been forewarned and she's still excited to have Nixon in her class!

* Nixon says to me this morning, sweet as could be "Mommy, I think it's time to get out of bed. You need to brush your teeth. Me too, but you do the most." I adore my son and I love this adorable, blunt honesty of his.

* We, Mac and I, are mildly addicted to TMZ the show. We watch it so much Nixon now knows the closing bit and gets angry when he can't do it. Tonight he had just taken a big swig of water and he couldn't swallow it in time, so he acted out the "I'm a lawyer" with his hands! He is so hilarious!

* I went to Nixon's school to picked up his new student packet and pay the remaining registration fee. As luck would have it, I was greeted by his teacher! So, being me, I apologized for Nixon's dry-witted sarcasm (in advance) and also for "being that mom on the first day with snot leaking down my nose and not wanting to let go of my kid". We both laughed and I told her, I was kidding....kind of. I'm hoping I remember tissues, or at least wear something with sleeves.

Life kind of sucks, even when you're only 4 with no real life issues.

* Another great signing at Third Eye Comics today. Nixon and I arrived way earlier than usual, got there before 9am. It was a great crew, chill day, Nixon was great. The creators we met were awesome! They even got the "Name Story" because they asked how we came up with his name (I had them sign something for him).

* Tonight Nixon and I had a deep conversation about friends, love, missing people and broken hearts. Much deeper material than I'd thought I'd have to address with a 4-year old, but he needed to hear it. He was saying he wanted to quit making friends. Why? Because his heart hurt from missing his cousin J so much, he was worried that new friends would leave him too and hurt his heart even more.
   Poor kiddo.
   I had to tell him, his heart hurt from missing J because he loved J. We always miss the ones we love when we have to say good-bye. He seemed to understand, but wow, talk about a really heavy moment for us.

Maybe I'm too open & honest with him??

* Okay, so it goes like this: Yesterday Mac and I had a little "quality time", resulting in a mark (not hickey...more along the lines of a bruise) on me. Nixon saw it today and said "Oh mommy, you have a bad owie. Does it hurt? I know! A Star Wars band-aid will make it better. Those are super strong!"
   I tell him it's fine, it doesn't hurt and it's not really an owie. Then, before I can stop the words from leaving my lips I say, "Daddy did it to mommy, but not on purpose."
   Nixon, the most tender-hearted kid I know says "I'm gonna tell Daddy he needs to play nice! Right, Mommy? We can't be mean to our friends!"
   (He did eventually put a band-aid on the "owie" and he also did tell Mac he has to be nicer to me. So cute!)

   Thanks goddess he didn't ask how the mark was made or why it was there! haha

Bacon?!? Hell yeah I bought him a bacon print tie! I know he'll rock that mo'fo too!

* Nixon has wonderful manners. I can not complain about his "please", "excuse me" when we're out and about. But he's not so good at looking and talking to people when we sit down and eat out. He doesn't talk directly to the server, he speaks super softly and he gets annoyed with Mac or myself if we tell him he needs to speak louder.
  This morning at Denny's he got so annoyed he huffed his annoyance, grabbed his menu, opened it up and pointed to the smoothie choices. "Here! This one...please" he said as he pointed to the strawberry banana smoothie. I resisted the urge to ask her to "hold the attitude" haha

* There's something about Nixon when he gets super excited about something. I bought him a simple dry erase board to help him practice writing him letters and numbers on. He immediately wanted to start using it! Sat down at his table and wrote 4 lines of "words". I read an "F", "T", "S" and "I". I was most impressed with the "s" because it was the most legible.
    The dry erase board? It might have been a Star Wars Angry Birds one. Okay, it IS a Star Wars Angry Birds dry erase board. It hardly matters though because I'll use what ever it takes to get Nixon excited to start trying to write on his own. Learning is not learning when he thinks its a punishment....

* Nixon also got a new tie today. It's a bacon print tie. He loves it! It was a dollar at Target.

Wiping his ass on his own...one sticker earned at a time. Bribery works, y'all!

* Nixon, this morning: Mom, can I have pretzels?
me: You haven't had breakfast yet.
Nixon: *very seriously* Mom, it's okay, no one is here, I can have pretzels now.
me: *laughing* Nixon, the family being here is not why I say no pretzels before breakfast, but that's  a good attempt at logic.
(he did NOT get pretzels for breakfast)

* I haven't been able to brag lately, about Nixon's good behavior because he hasn't really had really awesome behavior. Today, I get to brag!
  We had several places to go this morning and errands that HAD to be done. Nixon was fed and dressed and we were out the door on this rainy, dreary day.
   Post Office? Nixon was great. Stayed where I could see him the whole time I was at the counter (I should explain, our local post office is in the back of a small gift shop, so lots of things for Nixon to look at, but he stayed where I could see him). He was so good, I let him choose a small piece of candy.
   Next stop was the Pharmacy to pick up my meds. The wait was long, and there were several retirees waiting and no one close to my age, let alone Nixon's age. Out comes the PSP and Nixon was good. I got called up, and then told it'd be a bit. So I took Nixon to get a soda for me (I'd left the house and hadn't had any coffee!!) and a bag of pretzels for Nixon. We returned to the waiting area and Nixon sat down, watching his PSP and eating his pretzels as quiet as could be. I was so proud!!

* We're back to another sticker chart for Nixon. It's got 4 chores he needs to do on his own, he gets one sticker for completely each chore. 5 stickers in one chore box gets him a trip to the Toy Basket I have hidden.
   One chore? Wipe his own ass! He got a sticker in that box today! YAY!!

About last night....

* Nixon got a whole bunch of "new-to-him" toys. He also got new organizational groups for all his toys. Yeah, I'm OCD like that. Because these new-to-him toys had been stored in a shed for a while, we needed to clean them first. They were cleaned in the bathtub and then drying. Nixon was coming down frequently to tell me  "Mommy, I think they're dry now".

* Nixon was showered, dressed, teeth brushed and in bed before 9pm last night. So why were Mac and I still trying to get him to fall asleep well after 1030pm? That's a good question! We were trying everything. At first we were lying on the floor of his room, with him in his bed. Then we moved to our bed, where Nixon and I were cuddling and Mac fell asleep. I sang to Nixon his Baby Song, and then told him the story of how I made up the Baby Song. Still he wasn't falling asleep.
   Finally, I resorted to trying quasi-hypnotic sleeping techniques. I had him lay his head on my chest, right over my heart and focus on listening to my heartbeat. When he was calm and focused, I added deep breathing. When he was doing good with that I asked him if he felt his eyelids getting heavy? He was really getting deep and sleepy, and everything was pointing to him finally falling asleep (this was around 11pm now). I moved him to his bedroom and went downstairs.
   Less than ten minutes later, Nixon was slowly coming sneaking down the stairs. Mac caught him and he went back to bed. I checked on him about 20 minutes later and he was FINALLY asleep.

   The lesson?? Hypnosis is not a successful way to get your stubborn child to fall asleep

Arwen photobombed Nixon's picture last night. 

sometimes it really is the calm before the (emotional) storm.

* Nixon was so chill today that I was able to finish reading a book, which I started reading over 9 months ago! How did that happen? He was enthralled with his squinkies and his other small action-like figures. I was laid out on the sofa and he was playing on the living room floor.

* Are you a child of the 80's/90's? Can you complete this phrase: "Thunder, Thunder, Thunder.....", because Nixon can! He loves him some Thundercats!

* My poor baby boy. He freaked out after his bath, crying (sloppy, snotty, messy real tears crying!) saying he missed Daddy. Instead of trying to calm him down, I let him call Daddy and tell him he missed him. Between the phone call, hearing Daddy's voice and me letting him snuggle in my bed with me and watch an episode of Bob's Burgers while he calmed down enough to go to bed, he was finally ready for bed minus the tears. What a rough night for him...it came out of nowhere!

I don't always let my son talk to strangers, but when I do it usually results in a really awkward conversation

* Last week Nixon took a sudden interest in noticing people walking with canes. It was always elderly people using the canes and he always points and says loudly "Mommy, what's wrong with that person?"
   Today, at the dollar store, Nixon sees an older gentleman (OG from now on) using a cane in the same aisle as us. Enter the scene from above. I say to him "Well baby, why don't you ask him yourself, politely." And he does just that.
Nixon: walks up to the man: Excuse, but what's that?
OG: It's my cane.
Nixon: Why do you have it?
OG: Because I need it to walk.
Nixon: Why?
OG: *to his credit his was very kind to Nixon during the "why"s* Well, I'm old and my legs don't work as well as the used too.
me: *before Nixon can ask why again* Honey, he's had a lot of birthdays and with lots of birthdays your body gets worn out.
Mac: Like Daddy's knees buddy.
me: *to the OG* Thank you.
Nixon: Thank you, yous cane is awesome!

  Poor old guy couldn't get away from us fast enough. I thought having Nixon ask the guy himself was better than me fudging an answer with the guy standing only 2 feet away from me.

I need more robots!!

* This is a warning for all the moms who have sons (or daughters, but mostly sons) that might enjoy wearing ties: Please, make sure you teach your child to remove said tie before using the bathroom. We had not thought to do so with Nixon and well....He did not move the tie out of the way and peed all over the tie. I'm also pretty certain the bottom of the tie went into the toilet, but he swears it did not, he only peed on it because "It was in front of my peenie and would not move when the water came out of it!"
   The tie needs to be washed.

* Nixon was playing with my stickers today. I have some I use for various reasons, one page in particular he likes. He pulled off a frog wearing a crown and brought it to me:
"Mommy am I your frog prince?"
me: Of course you are. *I put the sticker on his shirt and kiss him*
Nixon: *brings me a princess sticker* Here Mommy, a sticker for you.
me: A princess, really?
Nixon: Yes, your MY princess! *he kissed my cheek*

* We watched Star Wars: Episode 2 tonight. Nixon's first compliant? Not enough robots. He did enjoy the big Jedi battle scene, so much so he was up re-enacting it as it happened on TV.

* Once again, Nixon was "reading" my book and it said he needed to get 2 smiley faces to get a Super Mario Bros. go-cart ball. I've got a few chapters left in this book, but that's just not meshing with the storyline! haha

A quiet child is a scheming child!

* Mac and I woke up around 830am and realized, we don't hear Nixon. At first we thought he was still sleeping. Oh how wrong we were. He had snuck into the spare bedroom, closed the door behind him and was quietly playing with the large basket of toys that had been in that closet for months! He saw the basket before he went to bed last night, but really didn't say much about it. Which leads me to think he plotted the pre-dawn, bedroom break-in before falling asleep last night! That little sneak!
He was super quiet about it too.
Tonight, before he went to bed (after he slyly asked to sleep in the spare bedroom), we explained that those toys are going to be given to kids who don't have a lot of toys. We're going to let him keep a few, but the massive majority of them are getting donated in the very, very near future.

* This is my son:
We went to our storage units this morning and Mac sorted through some crap looking for paperwork while also reorganizing and marking the boxes more clearly with the contents of what's inside each one. Nixon had a chair to sit in, his PSP to watch, food to eat and should've been really content. And he totally was, as he was accumulating random crap from the boxes Mac was going through! He gathered a small Snoopy & Woodstock figure, some Garbage Pail Kids cards, a Joker & Batman goodie bag and a plush Stitch stocking. (I was singing "da-na-na-na Joker" instead of Batman, so Nixon started copying me, right down to the "pfftttt Batman" line I added. What can I say? I'm a classy mom!)

Nana went home today :(

* Today was the day for Nana to return to Miami. We went out to breakfast together before heading to the airport. I had a feeling Nixon was going to take it kind of rough, so I was accidentally prepared. Yesterday, Mac and I were at Target when we saw a plush Skylander dragon toy. Nixon is obsessed with this particular character since he got one as a happy meal toy a few weeks ago. After a little discussion we bought it, but stashed it in the back of my car so Nixon wouldn't see it until we were ready to give it to him. 
As he was freaking out at the airport, we dropped Nana off curbside so Nixon stayed in his car seat, Mac handed his mom the dragon and let her give it to Nixon as a good-bye gift. Instantly soothed the raging beast that was Nixon! It's not always about getting credit for buying an awesome toy for your kid, sometimes it's knowing the toy you bought was exactly the right thing to make a situation a little easier for your child.
We were not even a mile from dropping Nana off and Nixon says "I miss Nana" quietly from his car seat. I look in the mirror and he's hugging his dragon as he says that. It was exactly what he needed.

* Sometimes other peoples kids give you an opportunity to teach your own child to be a better person.  That happened tonight during a family walk around the park near our house. The short story is we watched as a young child, around Nixon's age, was unsupervised and threw a softball at 2 ducks in a small pond nearly hitting them both...I mean mere inches from striking them with the ball! I got very concerned (and did say quite loudly "Are you kidding me?!?" though obviously no one cared) and wanted to march over to the children, but instead after Nixon asked why I was upset, I talked to him about the importance of being kind and caring to all animals, not just our pets. Especially wild ones who are in their own home (like the ducks were on the pond) and asked him if he would like someone throwing something at him in our house. He said no, because that's mean and it would hurt. I went on to explain that outdoors is the animals homes and it's just as mean to throw things at them in their homes, even if it is outside where we are allowed to throw things, because we don't throw things at animals. Ever!
He asked why those kids did that and all I could say was, sometimes other parents don't tell kids to be kind to animals. But it's important to be kind and nice to all animals.
That was about all his 4-year old attention span was ready for.

* Nixon spent about 20 minutes before he went to bed "packing and unpacking" a box so he could "go back to the airport". Apparently (or at least according to Nixon) we're flying to go see Nana soon and Nixon wants to be prepared. I'm not ready to tell him that's not happening, he can have happy dreams of airplanes and Nana tonight.

Movie night with Nixon....great in theory.

* Here's a parenting tip for you: Don't watch a movie with your 4-year old that you haven't pre-seen and expected to catch the whole thing. Every few minutes you will hear "Mommy, why did he do that?" and "Oh no! What's wrong?" and "Mommy, what's going on?". When you don't answer, because you really want to try to watch the movie (silly Mommy), the questioning will get louder and the child will get closer to your face thinking the issue is you can't hear him, not that you are choosing to ignore him!
There is a solution: snuggles! I ended up snuggling Nixon in my lap and whispering that I couldn't answer his questions but I loved watching the movie with him. He was still bothering Mac but that's another issue for a different day.

* Mac says to me, after he tucked Nixon into bed "Do you know Nixon just told me that Amber is mine and his cat?". Umm, yeah, because he's been telling me that for weeks. Nixon says "Daddy and I share Amber. She is both our cat. Arwen is just you cat Mommy, because she loves you the most. But Amber loves me and Daddy best." True fact, son.

This is what happens when Nixon chooses a birthday card without being able to read yet:

* Today is Mac's birthday. He doesn't believe in making a big deal out of it, but Nixon wanted to do something special for him when I told him last night that today was Dad's birthday. Nixon said Daddy needed a surprise party, with balloons and cake. I kind of dug the idea because Nixon came up with it.
  This morning, while Mac was asleep,Nixon and I bought Mac a couple small gifts. I brought Nixon over to the card section and asked him to choose one. He chose a pink one, for a 4 year old girl, that said "Princess". I loved it! Why? Because Nixon picked it out for his dad.
   We stopped at the grocery store and Nixon chose a very small cake as well. He took care in deciding between cake or cupcakes, but decide on a small round cake ultimately.
  We came home, I wrapped gifts and inflated a few balloons to tie to Mac's computer chair. Everything was finished just in time for him to wake up, he came downstairs as I was making him a cup of coffee.
   Nixon chose some very geek-friendly gifts for Mac. They were spot-on perfect gifts!

photo on the left was taken 15 seconds before this one. He recovers quickly, eh?

Long car ride makes for one wound-up little boy

* We had to take a road trip to Virginia today. What should've been about an hour drive, turned into an almost 2 hour drive because traffic in the AM sucks! We woke up stupid early (630am) and left within an hour of getting up and none of us were at our best.
  We took care of what needed to be done, and hit up Denny's for breakfast before the drive home. Nixon was...well, Nixon was a kid who was tired of sitting. He wasn't horrible (Angry Birds on my phone kept him occupied for the most part) but after his food was gone, so was he. He was ready to get gone!

* There was an older gentleman sitting behind us at Denny's, who was trying to talk to Nixon, we were sitting right there and watching them and he'd already spoken to me. Nixon was too wound up and would not stand still for a second! The older guy took it in stride and just laughed at Nixon's hijinks. He even complimented Nixon for waiting to talk to him until Mac said it was okay. Maybe the strangers talks is finally setting in??

* I told Nixon today "You are getting Daddy's nose", because it seems to be widening lately, much like Mac's nose.
Nixon says "No! I don't want Daddy's nose. I like your nose."
me: Why don't you want Daddy's nose?
Nixon: It's big. Your nose is small, like me.
me: *laughing at his logic* Nixon, you are going to be big and strong like Daddy when you grow up, don't you want a big strong nose like Daddy's to go with a big, strong body?
Nixon: When I get bigger? Not now.
me: Nixon, I just meant your nose is starting to look more like Daddy's and less like mine, not that it was getting big like Daddy's right away. You have a lot of growing to do still.
Nixon: Oh, okay. I want Daddy's big nose because I'm going to be big like Daddy not little like you, Mommy.
me: Awesome!

This is why daddy isn't in charge of the daily blog...

* Nixon decided to skip his nap today...or so he thought. We spent quiet time in my bedroom for about an hour and a half before we came downstairs. We came downstairs, he ate some plain toast and then started getting crazy cranky. I let him deal with his issues and ignored him. About 20 minutes go by and he is lying on the floor, dead still. HE FELL ASLEEP!! In front of the door.
  I gave him another 20 minutes sleeping before picking him up and moving him to his sofa to nap out of the way of the door. He napped for over 90 minutes! Woohoo!! Pure, uninterrupted silence.

* I made a quick run to the store. Mac and Nixon stayed home together chilling. I came home, got ran over by Nixon giving me a hug as usually happens and have Mac tell me "Uh man, Nixon said the funniest thing while you were gone...but I can't remember what it was. He came over to me, said something and I remember it being hilarious, and he ran off."
Yeah, I was gone less than 30 minutes.
He still can't remember what it was, but swears it was "blog worthy". Here's the blog! haha

It's SUPER CRANKYPANTS!!

* Nixon has been in full-on crankypants mode this whole week. Some days he's okay, other days like today he admits he's being bossy and he's mad. I let him go, as long as he's not throwing things/hitting anyone/hurting himself.
  We had errands that HAD to get done, but I needed to let him get his bossy attitude out before leaving the house. It worked. Eventually he came to me and said "I'm done being bossy and mad. Can I get dressed and go bye-bye now?"

* Four-hour nap today! What?!?! Yeah, thinking his never-ending appetite and this mood thing might be a growth spurt in the making....

* After he went to bed, he wasn't asleep. I checked on him and he says "Mommy, youse being too loud I cannot sleep because your mouth is too loud!" I was downstairs talking to Mac, not laughing outrageously loud! Thankfully, Amber went back into the room with him and he quickly fell asleep with her in bed with him.

sometimes I get pure, accidental magic in these photos. this is tonight's magic shot. Nixon rubbed his eye as the photo was taken.  

He "boo"ed me....he really did!

* The family took a short road trip to go to lunch with a friend. On the ride there, we see (well, hear is more like it) a sports bike go flying down the highway.
me: That's pure stupid right there!
Nixon: Hey! Do not say that word!
me: Nixon, I know "stupid" is not a nice word, but in this case, there is no other word to describe that...a-hole we just saw.
Mac: It's true buddy.
Nixon: It's not nice.
me: Nixon, that guy is putting himself and everyone else he's speeding past, at risk by racing his motorcycle down the highway at over 100mph. That is stupid! I don't hate motorcycle riders, as long as they are safe and I can be a safe driver around them. This guy is an accident waiting to happen.
Nixon: BOOOOOO!
me: *to Mac* He just booed me, didn't he?
Mac: Yes, yes he did.

* I love Nixon. One of his best qualities is his random ways of making me laugh. Today, all it took was a popsicle stick and Nixon making it his mustache. He said "Look at me! I'm a guy. A grown up with a thing on my lip!"
(I did not mention herpes....even though it was totally on the tip of my tongue! He wouldn't get it, and Mac was already in bed for the night, so it'd have been a waste. But someday he will get it and I will say it!)

and for the 3rd night in a row, Amber on the bed with Nixon. Warms my heart because she now comes upstairs at bed time with him. 

Happy Easter!

* We don't make a big deal out of easter. This morning I slept in a bit, while Mac fed Nixon. By the time I woke up Nixon was just finishing breakfast. I brought the baskets down with me (yes, we each got a basket because we can and that's how we roll here) and we had fun opening the small gifts in our baskets. Nixon loved his 5 pack of Matchbox cars, which he knew he was getting and kept asking for every day since Tuesday, while Mac liked his Star Wars/Superhero basket. Not a whole lot of candy, but enough to make Nixon ask for some every 3.2 seconds. Including asking for ours because we weren't eating it fast enough.
Since he doesn't get candy a whole lot, when he is given it I still limit how much he gets to eat in a day. Of course, in Nixon's opinion, it's never enough and I'm ruining his fun. Oh well, party pooper mom table for 1, your table is ready!

Darth Vader wearing bunny ears?? Awesome! Happy Easter everyone! Ours was geek'tastic. 

"I'm a big brave boy but I need my sleep"

* There's something about the movie BOLT that just sends Nixon to tears. Tonight it was the squeaker carrot toy. Nixon curled up on my lap crying because "Mr. Carrot" was sad and missed Bolt. He was a sad little boy for about 10 minutes all because of that squeaker carrot toy. Then, he starts crying at the end of the movie because he was so happy Bolt and Penny (the little girl) were together again.
He really is an emotional mess sometimes. But he's MY emotional mess.

* Nixon walked over to me, cocked his head sideways and just stared at me. It got a little creepy. I asked him of everything was okay and he said "Yeah. I'm just being a zombie." Then he walked away, only to do it all over again a couple more times.

* After Nixon went to bed, on time without a single fight. Less than 10 minutes later I hear him at the bedroom window saying "Excuse me, can you keep it down? I am trying to sleep it is bedtime now be quiet!" to the noisy passersby on the sidewalk below. I went upstairs to check on him and he says "Mommy, did you hear me? I was nice but they need to keep it down."
Of course, no one outside could hear him, but I wasn't going to take his pride away. He was adorable! Climbed right back into bed, under the covers and said "Mommy, I'm a big, brave boy. But I need my sleep too."  

Amber photobomb.