He "blahed" in the morning, tripped over the cat and calmed himself by listening to my heartbeat.

Last night I spent the night moving flies onto an external hard drive and then backed up my laptop. After that I defragged and cleaned my hard drive...turns out that took a lot longer than I had expected. It was still running when I went to bed last night. 

This morning Nixon comes into the bedroom and tells me he "blahed" Nixonese for vomited. I go into the bathroom and he did, in the toilet, but it didn't look like anything serious. I tucked him back into bed and went back to sleep myself. He came back in a couple hours later and said he "blahed" again. He's had an awful wet cough lately, my thoughts were that he was coughing too hard and ended up bringing something up.
We woke up and I made Nixon some toast.

Nixon and Amber were both in the kitchen with me. Some how, Nixon ended up getting tripped by Amber and fell hard on his knees and hands on the kitchen floor. He was good about it, even apologized to Amber for falling over her. I iced his knee, while he sat down on the love seat.

He's in bed now, has been for almost 2 hours. He woke up crying a bit ago. He always wakes up crying when I put the vaporizer in his room. The odd thing is (odd as in this is a total mom thing) the heat is running and I have the TV on, his bedroom door is closed and I still heard him without him ever getting out of bed. I get into his room and snuggle him. He always says the most incoherent things when he's half-asleep. Tonight he told me he needed to go downstairs because he lost me and I was falling. I assured him I was not lost, I was holding him and we were not falling. He asked to listen to my heartbeat, so I let him listen to it. He relaxed in a few seconds and was ready to get back under his blankets. This kid kills me he's so sweet.

An apology...and then my kid almost made me piss myself!

(I have a good excuse for not posting last night. Mac had a sleep study and was given a sleeping pill for, with instructions to be driven to and picked up from the hospital. It was nearly an hour drive one-way and Nixon and I got home at nearly 9:30pm and needed to leave by 5am this morning. I didn't do the post because I needed to sleep.)

* Nixon and I woke up around 4:45am today, in order to leave and pick up Mac by 6am. Nixon was really good about getting up, dressed and in the car. He was even good when we got home and needed a nap (seriously...I was exhausted!). Nixon was so tired by 1pm, he was incredibly hyper. I finally had to force him to nap because I thought he was going to hurt himself! and I was going nuts listening to his hyper jabbering about total nonsense <- bad mom confession

* This evening, while making dinner, Nixon mastered the silent sneak up behind someone and yell "BOO!". It would've been a super awesome, proud mom moment...except he did it to me and I was in the middle of draining hot pasta in the sink and he was right behind me and nearly got elbowed in the face!
    Good job and the scare, bad timing.

* Finally....Nixon finally cleaned his room. By himself. While I supervised. When he was done I explained it's important for him to keep his room clean because for his birthday we're getting him a fish and his fish will need a nice, clean room to live in.
   He is super excited about his birthday gift! Nixon said "I can do it, because I'm a big, growing boy, Momma! Growing boys keep their rooms clean, like me!"

About last night....Sept 30th's post

   I couldn't write a post last night. I was raw and emotional from the day.

   It started really bad, with Nixon crying and refusing to go to school. Ultimately I sat down with him and talked to him (and listened). My poor, sweet boy is dealing with what sounds like a bully situation at school...in preschool?!?! For real!
   Mac and I took Nixon to school, and I spoke to his teachers about the situation we face at home (sadly, this is not the first day Nix hasn't wanted to go to school) and what he had told me that morning. Nixon pointed out the child to Mac, who in turn brought it to the teachers attention.
   When we picked him up, the teachers assured us nothing out of the ordinary happened and they saw no inappropriate interactions between Nixon and the other child. It was also mentioned that Nixon sometimes overreacts to some social interactions (example given was Nixon telling a teacher she was mean when a Lego she tossed into a pile, bounced and hit Nixon's arm. The group was sitting on the floor and it was clean up time, and the Lego toss was part of a clean up effort, apparently) and perhaps Nixon is just misinterpreting normal play with bullying. It was also said that Nixon was playing with all the boys yesterday, as they were all chasing each other and "shooting" each other (gun play is not allowed on school grounds and this was quickly discouraged).
   While I'm not totally opposed to listening to that, I've witnessed the child Nixon pointed out mock Nixon in the past. Nixon has a very sweet voice, and has trouble with some pronouncing some words and I heard this child mocking Nixon's voice and speech. Nixon, at the time, laughed it off and walked away that day. It makes me wonder what happened since then.

   I was, and still am, upset over the idea that Nixon is being bullied already. But I'm listening to him, talking about things and helping him deal with this at home, all while letting him know his parents are here for him no matter what. Sometimes I just need to slow down and listen to him instead of reacting to him. Yesterday morning was that day.

This time the latest national tragedy hits close to home, while everyone I know is safe, the stress is frightening. My heart is with the DC Navy Yard tonight.

* Nixon had a great day at school! He gave his teacher a hug before he left and she said today was his best day yet! There were 3 happy people leaving that class today (Mac, Nixon and myself), which was awesome!

* The rest of the day was spent with the shootings that took place at the Navy Yard in DC weighing on our minds. Just after 3pm, Mac got called to report to work and go to DC to be part of a team being sent as additional support on the team. Nixon started to act out because he could sense the tension that both Mac and I suddenly had oozing from us. It was unintentional but it was a reaction to the unknown circumstances of the situation Mac was getting ready to go face.
   
* He called at 10pm, very briefly, he's safe and was taking a chow break. I'm going to bed and not taking photos tonight because I want Nixon to have a solid, uninterrupted night of sleep.

I don't know who is telling my kid he "can't" do things or like things because he's a boy, but I'm not raising him like that, so stop trying to break his spirit and ruin his purest happiness in life.

* Nixon and I went out for a mommy & me breakfast date. It was a surprise I did for Nixon just to give Mac some total peace in the house. We went to Dunkin Donuts and just sat, ate and enjoyed each others company. He was a total gentleman, using his manners, eating politely and being adorable.
   We even brought home a donut for Mac.

* Nixon and I were watching our usual Sunday morning cartoon, My Little Pony to tell the truth, when Nixon saw a commercial for Easy Bake ovens. What happened next broke my heart:
Nixon: I can't like that. It's for girls.
me: Nixon, you can't like what? The oven?
Nixon: yeah, 'cause it's for girls.
me: Nixon, I want you to understand something right now: There is only one thing that a girl can do that boys can't do and this is carry a baby in their belly. And there is one thing boys can do that girls can't and that is pee standing up without making a mess, because boys have a penis.
Anything else in the world boys and girls are equal. If you want to bake you can bake.
Nixon: So, I can bake cookies?
me: If that's what you'd like. Do you want to bake?
Nixon: No. Not now. But mommy, I'm glad I can do those things.
me: Nixon the only thing I don't want you to do are things that hurt other people and break laws.

* Nixon did something awesome last night, I can't remember what, but I was sitting on the sofa and put my foot out and asked Nixon for a "foot five", totally expecting him to high five my foot with his hand. He didn't. Instead he lifted his own foot up and touched my foot with his. He said "Haha Foot Five!"

Another night, another weird position sleeping on the floor.

Feeling better and no fights to take his medicine, always a giant plus!

* Nixon is feeling much better. He slept soundly all last night, had sniffles this morning but was good enough.
   He said to me, when I mentioned that he's going to school tomorrow, "Then I need to get better so no one can make fun of my voice." And my heart broke thinking that, after just 2 days of school, Nixon is already worried about being made fun of.
   I didn't say anything...right away. When I did, I just let him I'm here for him, even if he has a bad day at school and if things get too bad he can tell his teachers.

* Tonight before bed, Nixon asked for his medicine and then told me "But make sure I have some for in da morning too, Mommy".

In other news: Nixon's now got a new room. Yesterday Mac and I rearrange the 2 bedrooms (Nixon's and spare) in an effort to cool Nixon's room down, which for some ungodly reason is the hottest room in the entire house!  Nixon also now has more room in his bedroom as what was the spare bedroom was larger than his bedroom. He's quite happy about the move and even gave up 7 stuffed animals to be donated, when I asked him to choose 7 to give to children without stuffed animals.

My little birdie has left the nest....for 2.5 hours and then he came back home, until Friday when we do this all over again.

* Nixon had his first day at his preschool today. He came into the bedroom only 10 minutes before my alarm went off, and he asked to snuggle with me. Mac came home, also before my alarm went off, and Nixon went to say good morning to him.
   Mac was in bed when my alarm went off and Nixon got a kick out of my alarm song "Oink, oink, oink" by Pinkie Pie! Nixon and I got out of bed and left Mac to get some sleep.

* Nixon was so excited to go to school. He barely gave Mac and I a hug when we dropped him off! He was happy to meet the kids in his class and go see all the new things in his classroom.
   When we went to pick him up, we got the expected report: He had some trouble transitioning from one task to another. I knew this was going to be an issue, which is a large reason why we sought out a preschool setting for this school year in the first place. But we also found out he helped with snack time, by helping set it up! So he wasn't a total terror, just a normal unacclimated-first-day-at-school kiddo.
   He didn't want to leave, another thing I was prepared for, which is why we had a surprise ready for him: an after-school trip to FroYo! That was all it took, he happily left the classroom and was good to go!

* Best news of the day: I made it all day without shedding a single tear!

We have arrived!! (Aug 17th's post is late)

We made it to NY safe and sound. Nixon was awesome, doing little sleeping, some picture taking and, unfortunately, getting sick at one point. He told us "I'm okay, just too much food in my belly". We cleaned him up and carried on.

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

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!!

"I'm awake, but I am cranky", words that were spoken this morning, but not by me!

* Our morning started way too early today. I volunteered to take the family to Penn Station for their train to NYC, allowing them to save on parking by keeping their car at our place while they were gone. Nixon had to get up with me, since Mac was still at work.
   I went in and started giving Nixon's kisses to wake him up. He pushed my face off his and said "No mommy, it's too early for kisses. The sun said go back to sleep", then he rolled over and went back to sleep. We did this three times before he finally sat up, looked at me and said "Mommy, it is too early for this! I'm awake, but I am cranky!"
   Kiddo, welcome to mom's life!

* Nixon was kind enough to let me come home and grab a few z's after we drove home from Baltimore. He played quietly and happily with his toys, while I slept. He went to the bathroom and at one point came over and tapped my shoulder "Mommy! Excuse me. Mommy, I made a big poop in the potty and I need help wiping my butt! But I pooped a big one! Come look! MOMMMMM!" I got up, wiped his butt and went back to sleep. I did not look at the poop. He put his undies back on by himself....backwards....he didn't care.

* Nixon is on his new bedtime routine. Bedtime is 830pm. Mac is home to say goodnight, which makes Nixon going to bed a lot easier. Let's hope this leads to a happier, more well rested Nixon in the future.

A rude awakening indeed

* Nixon woke me up crying real tears and saying his leg was broken! Talk about jolting me out of a sound sleep! I snuggled him while I found out what happened: he was playing under the bed with Amber and managed to bump his head and then bumped his knee when he was crawling out from under the bed.
  I woke Mac up so he could snuggle with Nixon while I grabbed his Iron Man ice pack. He calmed down about 10 minutes later and I was up for the day. *sigh* The life of a mom.

* I love how Nixon asks for his "Baby song" every night. I adore that he sings it with me now. He told Mac tonight that he's a big boy, even though he loves his baby song.

the day the poo was stuck in his butt "FOREVER"

* Nixon was eating his snacks today, I was chilling on the sofa. Nixon walks over to me and says "Open up mommy", which I do, he drops a cheese cracker in my mouth and pats my head saying "Good girl, Mommy!"

* Playing around with two cat toys, I managed to hit myself on the wrist bone with the hard ball. I said "ow" because it really did hurt and Nixon said "Wait mommy, I go get you a bandaid for your owie" He put the bandaid on my wrist (it's Hulk, which rocks!) and then kissed it better.

* Nix was in the bathroom for a while. I knocked to check on him:
me: Nixon, you okay?
Nixon: Mommy, the poop is stuck in my butt! It won't come out!
me: Okay, relax. The poop will come out, but don't force it.
Nixon: It's never coming out! It's STUCK IN MY BUTT FOREVER!
me: How about I get your PSP and you sit in here and just relax for a few minutes, giving little pushes?
Nixon: Okay. but the poop is super stuck up my butt.
me: *about 15 minutes later* Nix? Baby, you done?
Nixon: No, the poop gave up.
me: Gave up?
Nixon: Yeah, I'm done.
me: Okay, well let's wipe and wash your hands.

* Nixon: Hey! Who turned out the lights?! I can't see!
Yeah...he's walking around with his eyes closed and saying this. He started this stuff this morning while I was still asleep. I was only half-aware of what was going on, so he came over and lifted one of my eyelids and said "MOM, I said....."

Happy Father's Day!

* Nixon has a new hobby: taking ants he finds and "reuniting" them with their families. Which means he brings them from whatever part of the living room he finds them and puts them at the front door. He gets extra excited about it too. He comes running over to me and says "Mommy, I'm a hero I saved a baby ant!" because to him all ants are baby ants that need to find their family.

* Nixon is learning the finer art of bubble blowing. Today he was working on mastering blowing those really big bubbles. He watched me do it for awhile and then took to trying it himself. The highlight for him wasn't his large bubbles, it was when bubbles would stick to the sliding screen door. He was amazed by that! Best of all? I was able to sit at the kitchen table and work on some crafty stuff while Nixon was playing with his bubbles and I was watching him the whole time!

* Happy Father's Day!!

this is how I found him when I came to take tonight's photo. His head was almost under his bed. 

he's my beautiful, sleeping angel 

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.

Swords and spells and running, oh my!

* Nixon and I were "arguing" over who got to chose the show we'd watch. I suggested throwing out the highest number, Mac suggested using Nixon's dice and rolling for it. We used the dice: I rolled a 6, Nixon rolled a 3. Nixon said "Boooooo!" and immediately re-rolled this time getting a 6 himself.

* I love when Nixon and I have fun running together in the nearby park. Tonight, Nixon added fun to it and spent his time chasing me, trying to "kill" me with his invisible sword. I decided to beat him, by casting an immortality spell, and explained to him that it meant I couldn't be killed by his sword! Only my wee little geek could bring out the inner spellcaster in me in such a fun way!

Big, important day of sorts

* Nixon had an evaluation today with the county's public school system. I'll write a more in-depth post about that on my Random Mom-ments blog, but the jist of it was: Nixon is not on the autism spectrum (a concern of mine) but he does have some sensory issues (we've known this and have made adjustments when possible accordingly), he's doing things above age-level and is perceived to be intellectually bright with above average cognitive skills.
  He is a self-led learner, which may be an issue in a classroom setting, so we were given information for a program to see a behavioral therapist to help with that.
   And no day is complete without Nixon being given tasks to complete, completing them and then when it's time to leave (before he's ready) he offers a tantrum of epic proportions as a parting gift.
We'll be hearing from an occupational therapist soon about the evaluators findings overall.

He's a little offbeat, but laughter makes our days brighter

* Nixon was playing with one of his matchbox cars. It's a sliding rampbed car, so he managed to figure out how to pin his pj pants into the car and then walk around with it hanging on the pants saying "Mommy, what's wrong? Why are you laughing at me?" I had to warn him "Nixon, honey, if you pinch your peenie in the car, I will laugh at you when you start to cry. I'm sorry, but I will. I do love you."
(he did not pinch his penis so I am not a horrible mother for laughing at my son while he's in pain)

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!