Labors of Love: 2 1/2 Years

Hello, Tuesday. This past week has been crazy, and is sort of flying by when I consider all the things that need to be done.

We finally had our garage sale this weekend, and I am so relieved it is over. This has been months in the making, as the people we hired to help finish the basement were not true to their quoted schedule...by 2+ months, and at that point it was too cold for a sale. Now that all our stuff is gone...

...we finally have room to breathe - and walk. And making money off things we no longer want is not the worst option. At the end of the day, I finally feel like we can get our lives put together and organized to my standards.

I spent Sunday afternoon pulling out all Everett's baby clothes and arranging them for storage. It is surreal seeing all these tiny things again. We have so many wonderful memories from when he was a baby, and it makes me sad those days are now over.

Here comes the cliche statement every parent makes...I am absolutely baffled by the fact that Everett is 2 - 1/2 years old. I watch him run around the house, clumsily put on his shoes, creatively play with his toys, flip the vinyl records and turn on the turntable, and cue up Thomas all by himself, then I wonder where the time has gone. My baby is getting HUGE!

This phase of life is in many ways more stable than babyhood. He can somewhat communicate his needs, we have a solid routine, and it seems his stint of toddler anorexia has passed (we discovered the nanny was giving him way too much milk during the day). I have reasonable expectations for how my day will look, and I know my limits as a mother. For example, I still cannot talk on the phone in front of him. He whines until I let him talk, rips the phone out of my hands, hangs up on whoever I am talking to after staring at the phone in silence for 10+ seconds, then opens the Game Center App to send out friend requests to strangers.

Because of his independent nature and growing physical skills, he also knows how to push the limits, to the point that my head starts spinning. Sometimes I am terrified to pick him up from the sitter's house. I drive like a mom and take my time getting there, anxiously wondering what the ride home will look like. This is because I know that 25% of the time there will be a battle to get him in the car. Oftentimes, I am at the sitter's house for an hour trying to get him to the car, or I am only able to get him in the car if the sitter herself straps him in. This is because kids (...and adults when you think about it...) will be perfect angels to anyone but their parents, and this is a maddening fact of life. And when toddlers are sick, they are 10x more challenging than normal, and unfortunately they are sick frequently.

Despite all this, I find that taking time out of my day to channel patience has helped immensely. It also helps for me to remember what it was like being a kid. I have to calmly give him options when he is testing his limits, then let him decide which option he would rather choose, "Everett, we will either read this book in your bed, or we will have to go to bed without a book. You have 3 seconds to decide what you want to do..." (He likes reading books, prefers this activity on the couch, and especially loves putting off bedtime.)

We are also getting to the point where it is no longer appropriate for him to be in a crib. However, the kid is so active that it is nice to have a place where he can be contained. I am not looking forward to the transition, but I know it must be done soon. My baby is growing up too quick!

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However, we are continuing to make memories, and we are currently getting ready for a much-needed family getaway. In addition, we have an exciting new piece of furniture in our house, which I stayed up late last night preparing us for today's delivery. I literally have no Before photos of what this space used to look like, but here it is: ready for our new prized possession (Honest Floor Cleaner and all)...