Last day

Today was Andy's last day at his old school. It hit me when I woke up this morning, that the transition I put in place is all leading up to one thing -- going back to work. I'm ready on one level, terrified on another. Meg is becoming more adorable every day (especially when she sleeps through the night). When I go in most mornings, she looks up at me, smiles and kicks her legs. It's so precious and in some ways so simple. No negotiating about clothes or food, just a simple smile of welcome. Granted, she can't hug me and say I love you, but she also can't declare that she's not my friend yet. Meg and I have come a lot way together in the last three months (well, nine months and three months). It's sort of hard to believe we're here already.

On another front, I've been reading up on strategies for outsmarting Andy's annoying behavior of whining, crying, arguing and temper tantrum throwing. The book by Thomas Phelan Magic 1-2-3 was recommended and I'm going to give his strategies a shot. The basic premise is that while these kids can talk, they are not adults and you therefore can't reason with them on behavior. Instead, if they act up, give them a count of three to act right and then it's time for time out. No discussion and no arguing. The other part that rang true is keeping my emotions in check so that I'm not having a temper tantrum back at him. I'll keep you posted as to whether it works.

Meanwhile, I pulled out the high chair and put it in the kitchen so Meg can watch what's going on. She seemed to like it, especially Andy smiling at her, until I took the picture. The face captured here really cracks me up. I have taken a lot of cute pictures lately that I'm going to get up to Flickr soon.

Another milestone

We reached another milestone this weekend -- I put away the high chair. For weeks, Andy has been refusing to sit in it and I've been nearly killing myself tripping over it to get to the booster chair at the table in the dining room. It was simply time. It was not, however, time for what abandoning the high chair means.

I have been in denial for some time, but it seems clear that I have a little boy and not a baby on my hands. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. I've grown so accustomed to handling a baby that dealing with a little boy seems so scary. Pretty soon he'll be asking me where babies come from, wanting advice on calling girls on the phone and trying to get his driver's license. I'm not much of a planner, per se, so this fills me with fear and dread. Plus, I really like Andy as a baby (well, most days) that the thought of him growing up seems so foreign. Sigh.

In other news, Bjorn's mother came over today for a belated birthday celebration. We've been celebrating for so long now (starting with Mark's birthday two weeks ago) that Andy clearly believes all cakes with candles and all presents are meant for him. Well, duh. Except we went to a birthday party yesterday and I had to restrain him from rushing over to blow out the candles on Charlotte's birthday cake. It just seemed so obvious to him that candles on a cake plus singing means he needs to be there to blow out those darn candles. He loved today's celebration as well as the awesome V-tech toy she brought him. It's aged for 3+, but he figured a lot of it out already. Clearly he's gifted. The best part was he loves it so much I took it with us to Old Navy and he happily played with it while I shopped. I imagine the other patrons didn't want to hear "The Wheels on the Bus," but given the choice of a tantrum vs. the song, I think they'd choose the song.