Another Group of Random Updates from the Grotto

Hello, friends. How are things with you guys? Great. Or sorry. Whichever one is appropriate. Now on to my stuff.

Lately, I've kind of been freaking out at night. All of the television shows I watch seem to be on some weirdly-timed hiatus, so there is nothing to distract me. And this is my concern: I am starting to doubt that my son will ever be able to fall asleep on his own.

Here he is, more than 2.5 years old, and has still only ever fallen asleep nursing (or in the car, or that one time in January 2015 when he cried himself to sleep in his crib, and then one other time when he was sick and fell asleep in James' arms at the apartment... yes, I remember them all because IT DOESN'T HAPPEN). This includes when he wakes in the night. He wakes up with, "Mommy, deedees."

Also, today we saw a girl at the park who I would have pegged as 6, but it's entirely possible she was just big like Mal and maybe 4? Anyway, she made it clear to her mom in full-on English that she was in need of a clean diaper. My heart sank, because I thought, "Aww, crud. That's going to be Mal." He has zero interest in the toilet, even though he'll say, "Mal pooped again!" or insist that he needs a clean diaper. 

However real those concerns are, there are a few really cool things that he is starting to do.

This morning, when he woke up and was lying in bed, I asked him if he wanted to go to Nana and Pappy's house. He said, "Nana Pappy's house? Eggs, crack... Popcorn... Phone." Then a few minutes later he added, "Cookies." When we went to see them 3.5 weeks ago, Mal played with their Easter eggs, they had gone to see a movie and had left-over popcorn, and he used their ornamental old-school Mickey Moust telephone a lot. Also, my mom had baked cookies to take neighbors, and he got some. 

Then later, we'd gone to the park while my parents had lunch with a friend. When I asked Mal if he wanted to tell Pappy what he did at the park, Mal said, "Roundabout, slide, swing, bongo drums!"

He's remembering things that happened, and he's able to relay them back. He can narrate his own story.

He is also pretending more. Some of his play is based on videos that he's watched, and some of it is just totally out of his own head. He will pull a blanket around him and say, "Get in rocket; close the door." And by "close the door," he means he wants the blanket in a solid ring around him.

Another thing he's doing more consistently is things like today: We went to eat lunch at Cici's. When he sat down to get a drink, he accidentally hit the cup on the side of the table and spilled the entire drink into the floor. I went up to the buffet line to ask for a large rag, but the guy said he'd come out and clean it up.

When he arrived at the table, Mal said brightly, "I'm sorry!" The guy said, "It's cool." The lady at the table next to us said to me, "He's very polite for such a young age." It made me proud, not for anything I've done, but because I actually *haven't* done anything; he's just seen politeness and is learning how appropriately to use it. He did the same thing at the doctor's office when the nurse had taken his vitals and was leaving, explaining that the doctor would be in in a few minutes. "Thanks so much!" he told her.

The thing that makes me happiest about all of this is that we've never insisted Mal say anything, ever. Not "thanks," not "please," not "sorry." We've never made him shake hands or acknowledge anyone... so you can know that when he does it, he's just really good at parroting or he really means it.

But another thing that makes me happy is that Mal was very light-hearted when he apologized, which means he isn't too concerned about accidental spills. I know sometimes I probably blanche when he spills something *again,* but it seems like I haven't indirectly taught him to be terrified of that kind of thing, and some kids just are.

My name is Mal. I spill stuff, and I don't really give a flip.

Oh, and even though he's not fussed by his own spills, he will attempt to help clean them up.

UPDATE: It's Thursday now, and so when I say "today" up there, I mean "yesterday," but I'm too lazy to change it.

So, as we were leaving Cici's (man, lots of nostalgia about that place, from when D was  little), I strapped Mal into his car seat, and as I was getting in, he was singing, "Go Away (Scary Monsters), Go Away" from a video channel he used to watch. A lot of times, I'll sing it (to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' Around the Mountain"), "Go away, Mal Gatannah, go away!" And he'll say, "No! Scary monsters!" But this time, he didn't play along. So I turned around to see him singing specifically to the window, where there was a giant red wasp walking around INSIDE OUR CAR.

That kid was way calmer than I felt! I jumped out and opened the door, but the wasp was kind of having a nice time walking around. I didn't have anything to "swish" it with, and I didn't want to make it mad. So I waited until it had walked up onto the ledge of the door and slammed it. When I opened the door, that thing was still alive! Finally, he got up high enough that when I closed the door, it just flew off. Whew! What a chill kid.

UPDATE: It's Friday now, and our internet just keeps going in and out so hopefully I can tell you two things I did today and we'll be done with this post!!

SMOOTH MOOVES

brought to you by ExLax

1) Today, I made dough for lactation cookies (for the first time; yes, my kid is two and a half). I had the mixer on low because Mal was napping in the living room. When I put in the first egg, half of the shell fell into the batter! No worries; reflexes to the rescue! I'll just turn the mixer off really fast-- NOPE! Turned it up to 10. Spent the next 20 minutes fishing egg shell out of the batter.

2) We got our giant popcorn refill as we left the movie. I put it in the front seat and belted it in for the ride home. It was flawless! Not one kernel spilled! When I stopped the car in the driveway, I triumphantly unclicked the seatbelt, and as it retracted, it spilled the whole box sideways into the seat and floor between the door and seat. I spent the next 20 minutes vacuuming my car.

Bonus: a grasshopper jumped into my car while I vacuumed, and I was trying to get it out of the car so as not to kill it, but I lost it. Sorry, buddy.