a heart-broken boy

My son has a blankie. He loves his blankie. His blankie was knit by his great-great-aunt who lives about 2000 miles away....you can probably guess where this is going.

A couple weeks ago, his blankie ripped about 6 inches in the middle. I panicked at first but then I managed to do a temporary fix and had hoped to get it to a friend's mom who knows how to knit (I've tried in the past...and failed...miserably). The problem was finding a day when I could get it to her, she could work on it and possibly even get it back the same day since she lives about an hour away. Plus, my temporary fix seemed to be doing the trick so it went from being a not-so-minor emergency to just something that needed to get done....

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, after the boy's nap, I went upstairs to pick up his room and bring him a snack when I noticed what can only be described as tragic. The temporary fix no longer was in place and the boy's blankie ripped another 8 inches...it looked like the whole thing could just fall apart at any moment. To make matters worse, we're supposed to go out of town for the weekend. And my friend...the one whose mom was kind enough to offer to help, has lost her grandfather (as in her mother's father) so of course I can't and would never call to ask for their help now of all times.

So, last night, the boy slept, more accurately, laid in his bed and cried without his blankie. It was the saddest, most heart-wrenching night. He would fall asleep and be down for a couple of hours and then he'd wake up and whimper off and on for a few minutes. Nothing I did helped. He just wanted his blankie.

The worst part is that I knew this day would come. I knew that no matter what a child attaches themselves to...blankie, stuffed animal, doll, etc...one day it will get ripped or lost or in some other way be totally unavailable to the child. I've told every parent I worked for as a nanny to buy and encourage that special thing in their lives to be something replaceable...something you can buy 3 or 4 of and have extras when the inevitable happens. Did I listen to my own advice? No. And now my sweet boy is the one paying for it. I'm hoping this weekend he'll be so busy during the day that he won't notice it's absence. Oh why didn't I just give him a run of the mill, Disney Store Donald Duck to sleep with at 5 weeks old instead of a one of a kind blanket?!

Tacky? Cute? ...or somewhere in between

So...we're taking the boy back to Disney World in September...it's just kind of our thing and I'm SUPER excited because today I picked up some new sneakers for him and they totally give him the height I was hoping for. See, if he's 35 inches tall, he'll be allowed to ride the children's roller coaster, Goofy's Barnstorner and he's so close it's unbelievable. I don't want to chance him being a hair too short and have to wait another year so I'm "insuring" he'll be permitted to ride (please don't give me crap about the fact that the height requirements are there for his safety, if I didn't think it was safe, I don't care how tall he is, he wouldn't ride).

Anyway, I'm thinking about making a "special" shirt for the boy but I'm not sure if it's a cute idea or just tacky. Ugh. I wanted to upload the Works page I have for it but it's not working so basically it just says "I'm a 2007 Walt Disney World souvenir"  (the Walt Disney World is the typical logo with the Disney font and all that and the I'm a 2007 & souvenir are in Bradley ITC font in case you're ubber attentive to detail).

So, what do you think?

Post-children friendships...

can really, really suck sometimes. Especially when you were friends pre-kids but end up having totally different parenting styles. I don't want to be judgemental...I really don't but at some point different parenting styles do effect friendships. I don't want the boy to be surrounded by kids whose parents have vastly different boundaries for their children (in either direction). Without going into it, I'm in a bit of a pickle with a woman who was at one time my best friend. There are multiple reasons we've grown apart and I believe that sometimes friends come into your life only for a season but this just sucks.

Strong-willed child

I have been absent (totally) from the blogging world for a couple weeks (sorry there wasn't any warning). I won't bore you with the details but Joshua's still not home and the boy is being 2, very 2. Which, I have to remind myself, is a good thing. He's painfully independent (painful for me because he's discovered one of the only two areas in life that children can control-what goes into his body...thankfully he has yet to discover he controls what comes out). He's made mealtime difficult. He's a stubborn child (no idea where he got that from...*sarcasm literally dripping off those words). Every meal, he screams for chips and crackers...that's his idea of junk food and although, it's not terrible, it's not exactly a well-balanced meal. He's even gone on hunger strikes. He went for two and half days without really eating much of anything because all I offered was healthy food. One of the only things getting me through right now is my own stubborn obsession with winning. I will not be beat by a two year old. Besides, I know, eventually he'll break down, eat some healthy food and like it. I've seen it happen and when it does, angels in heaven rejoice...you might be thinking I'm exaggerating but that's probably because you've never had a strong-willed child. I celebrate who my son is and I'm glad that he knows what he wants and that he's creative...like when he pulled the kitchen drawers out like steps to climb onto the counter so he could get to the goodie cabinet. I like that he's not afraid to speak his mind...like every day when he's angry with me because I tell him he's not allowed to give his food to the dog. I like that he loves to be read to...even if it means I have to read the same book ten times in a day and go to bed with "Oh The Thinks You Can Think" repeating itself over and over in my head. I love that he's passionate about the things he's not supposed to do or have because he's equally passionate about positive things too...like when he laughs because we're jumping on his trampoline together or when I'm sitting on the floor and he rushes me like a football linebacker with his arms spread wide wanting nothing more than to hug me. I have a two year old, it's a good thing.