Fast Times and Slow Days

First, a news item: For only the second time in his life, and the first time in almost three years ,Mal fell asleep in the wee hours of this morning without nursing or being in a car or stroller. I can't repeat it every day, nor do I think it would be reliable if I did, but it happened so it needs to be noted!

At about 4:30, Mal woke wide up and said, "I need a cookie. With icing. And sprinkles." Fortunately for him, we happened to have two leftover Icehouse sugar cookies that I'd purchased last week. I told him to stay still and I'd go get it, but he insisted on walking with me. So first, he accompanied me to the restroom, and then to the kitchen for his cookie. He ate the whole thing, then requested, "Now soda." I thought I had outsmarted him by putting a Sprite in his room, along with the necessary straw. Unfortunately, the pop top didn't work and I wasn't in the mood to scrounge around for a replacement caffeine-free beverage, so I brought him a replacement soda, he drank a few swallows, and the he lay back again. I was waiting for the requisite, "Deedees," but... he started breathing the deep, rhythmic breaths of a sleeper almost immediately. IT'S A PRE-CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

As an aside: Please note that he consumed an entire frosted cookie, practically all sugar, carbs, and some fat; and caffeine. And went straight back to sleep. Definitely my kid.

We've stayed home the past two days, and it's been glorious. Yesterday was hot and kind of slow. We went outside a couple of times, and I took advantage of the full sun in the afternoon to "disinfect" Mal's mattress from the previous night's digestive misfire. He asked about going to the store several times, but in the end, seemed fine with not leaving to go anywhere.

Today, he didn't ask to go to the store for toys at all. He's been driving us somewhat batty recently,
"needing" every toy he can think of. He will cry and insist and beg and has the saddest "pwetty pwease" you've ever heard. I wonder where he picked that up, incidentally. I blame YouTube.

Today was a bit of a challenge because James had three phone interactions. He's staying very busy, and we'd be rolling in it if he were getting paid for all of the job-seeking action he's getting.

Anyway, today I got my chore done quite early and spent the majority of the day playing with Mal. He loves pretending and really needs a very compliant and easy-going child companion, because he's bossy about what the other characters should do and say, and is particularly unforgiving if he's trying to act out a movie scene he's watched countless times and the other person gets the line wrong.

Here's a random aside: Mal has started calling me "Mom-mah" and I lurves it. It's so cute! Not sure where that came from, either, but dang. Sweet pickle.

Now here are a couple of random pictures of our festive holiday decorations.

Utilizing solar energy since 2017!

O Christmas tree! O Christmas tree! Bonk-a-chick-a, bonk-a-chick-a... 

Okie doke, so back to our day. The last two or three hours Mal was awake today were exhausting. His right nostril decided to run constantly, and he was both tired and hyper. This meant he kept falling off of stuff and knocking things over and getting hurt. Although I started the trend by spilling a full soda earlier, he spilled his soda THREE TIMES, even after I repeatedly moved it so it would not be in the way of his craziness.

He kept jumping around in the kitchen, on and off of his step stool, off of which he pulled the anti-skid tabs a few months ago. One time, he fell "into" the dishwasher, and thank God we didn't have any of the silverware with the business sides up, or he might have lost a finger. Then once, he backed into James. It's a galley kitchen, so there's really not room for more than one person, and when we're cooking, Mal bouncing off of the walls is really a disaster waiting to happen.

Thankfully, the last thing he wanted to do was to take a bath, and that wound him down a little. He did stand up at the end and fling some water around, telling me he was "Water Man" and that he had powers.

Oh, also, in the past few days, he's brought up toys he had as a baby and that I got rid of more than a year ago, as we prepared to move. He's very upset that I got rid of the wooden "chicken car" and that one Supergirl he got in a Happy Meal. I guess I'm a pretty bad mom. Also, it looks like he's going to have his dad's cradle memory. He remembers things I cannot believe. He'll tell me "Grandma made me that" about stuff he's had since he was an infant and I don't remember talking to him about where it came from.

Sadly, our day ended with some tears as Mal wanted his toothpaste to eat while he was in the bath. I told him no, and he got over that disappointment by asking to paint his bath toys with tempra paint. I told him I'd order him some bath paint, and actually did order it right that minute from Amazon. I told him it would be here in two days, then he asked, "Is it here yet?" "No. It will be two days." "No, it will be here NOW."

Fortunately, the sadness was short-lived as Mal was definitely ready for bed after that bath.

Today, as I do very often at the end of the day, I think about what all I've done -- the running, the rough-housing, the back-and-forth through the house to clean, pick up, fetch things, check on food in the kitchen, walk to the lake, carry a heavy boy, do intense cleaning, laundry, yard work, etc. -- and I wonder why I'm not skinny. Then I remember that I ordered pizza for lunch, and then I made salted caramel chocolate chip cookies for dinner, and I'm like, "Oh, yeah. That's why."

Oooh, and one final thing! I had the *worst* dream as I was waking up yesterday! I dreamed that we were on vacation, and when James and I were messing with each other, I said, "Ugh, well that's it. I can't live like that; I'm leaving." James looked so relieved and said, "Oh, good. When did you realize it?" I said, "Um, never. I'm being facetious, idiot." (I am super nice, the way I talk.) But he said, "Oh. I'm not. I don't love you anymore." And while THAT was awful, he started acting really resentful and kind of scary, so much that I posted a live video on Facebook, telling everyone what James didn't love me anymore and was leaving me... I guess so if he killed me or something, the cops would know where to look? But I remember thinking, "This sucks SO much. I don't know how I'm going to handle it. But I hope he just goes home so I can have a nice vacation with the kids."

Nutty, I know. This is what I get for my "whatever the opposite of nap is" two-hour waking period during what should have been a rather full night's sleep that evening. Maybe some day I'll realize how important good sleep is, and I'll commit better to it. (I fondly fantasize over that time, folks.)

Enjoy this cold front!