Life as a Stay At Home Mom: Toddler Edition

I know I've posted before about a day in the life of a sahm, but it was many moons ago, and it was with a baby. Life with a toddler is a completely different ball game. It's practically a whole other sport.

I was reading past entries, pondering how I could have had enough time to do all the things I talked about. That was then. Life as I know it is essentially a never ending fencing match. Or maybe it's more like constantly chasing a tornado to try and keep it from destroying entire cities. Scratch that, it's like fencing a tornado. Yes.

My child never stops. I'm not sure if this is the nature of my child, or if it has to do with the fact that he's a boy. It's probably just a two year old trait. I've heard that boys are much more insane when it comes to constant energy and being destructive, though. This child is like the energizer bunny on crack. From the moment he gets out of bed, he's running. I can hardly change his clothes. Most of the time he runs off with one arm in his shirt and one out because I didn't do it fast enough. He loves playing with moving objects, so cars and things of that nature are his favorites. He loves to dance, so we watch shows with lots of music and he really lets loose. He really loves being close to us, so he's in our face a lot. I say in our face and not on our laps because he can't sit still. There are days where he's more inclined to sit with me and read or play, but they're more rare. This kid also never stops talking. Ever. He is constantly saying something. He talks to people in Walmart. He asks who we are going to see when we are in the car. He talks to cartoons on tv. He really gets going when Daddy comes home. Poor Daddy thinks Gunner doesn't have an off switch.

He loves taking things apart. From toys to food, to ripping up paper. I'll never understand why he would rather completely obliterate a toy than play with it.

It's hard to get him to do things like sit and eat, or be still long enough to go potty. He is so impatient. He gets very frustrated when he can't figure something out in less than two seconds. He has started throwing fits. This is not acceptable. I'm trying to figure out how to handle it. On one hand, he's only two and I shouldn't expect him to understand why he can't just throw fits. On the other hand, I don't want this to become a habit. It's not an easy thing trying to communicate with a toddler.

The kid is smart. He's sharp. He really catches on quickly to most things. I want him to be in a constant state of learning so I try to keep him doing things that are challenging. He is starting to learn to count, he can say most of the alphabet, and the other day I discovered that he can color match! (Put blue items with blue items, red with red, etc) His speech is ridiculous and I'm amazed at how well he can talk. He will say almost anything I say. He's my little parrot. Not only can he say a ton, he says it quite clearly. He recently started saying snacks instead of nahh. He used to call his favorite show (Bubble Guppies) dah dah duppie, and now says bubble duppies. Yain morphed into rain, she is shoe, da is socks, and dee is feet. Baby talk is fading. Learning every day.

It's kind of insane. I have to be careful about what I say, and wait to do certain chores until he's either in his high chair or asleep. He's so hilarious though, and he's so sweet (most of the time). It's been awesome being able to actually communicate with him. I think he has enjoyed it too.

He has started taking an interest in helping with things lately. He likes to help do the laundry, and at the end of the day loves to take off his clothes and put them in his laundry basket before he streaks into the bathroom for his bath. He's very good at helping pick up his toys too. (I'll be ecstatic when he can help me carry the groceries in.) I've even gotten him to "clean" the windows a few times! We are working on learning to put our clothes on, though I think it will be a while before he masters this.

Potty training has been in progress for two months now. He is doing very well. We had a setback recently since he wore pull ups the entire time we were on vacation, and nearly the whole month of December since we were so busy. He's had several accidents since Christmas, but being only in underwear really gets him back in shape. So I'm hoping that in another week we will be back on track. Pooping is just a disaster. I really have no idea what the heck to do. He has gone on the potty several times, but something has yet to click with him. He seems to be afraid of it, and I don't mean the potty. He's fine with the potty. He's afraid of the actual task of pooping. I won't give details, I will just say I literally am at a loss. We just wing it.

He is learning and growing so fast I can hardly keep up. It is a different world than it was two years ago. I'm very proud of him.

New Year, New Goals

I don't think there's anything wrong with making New Years resolutions. Some people don't like to do it because they feel it's like setting them up for failure. I am not afraid of failure, I'm afraid of being stagnant. I need to make sure I am working towards a goal to keep me going. That said, New Years resolutions aren't meant to make you feel like you're a failure if you don't accomplish them. It should be something that keeps you motivated. The journey is important.
Here are my goals for 2013.
Starting with the obvious, I'd like to be healthier and lose weight. I'd like to get to a healthier weight (not an unrealistic one), drink more water and less sodas, and start cooking healthier meals for my family. Along with that, I would like to take better care of myself in general. More flossing, more exercise, better skin care, stuff like that. Also along the same lines, I'm going to try and look less like a stay at home mom (aka a hot mess). Seriously, I shouldn't have to wear a hat every day I go out in public. That's just me being lazy. Speaking of laziness, I'm going to start trying to keep a better daily routine. I'm going to work to keep the house cleaner by being more organized and I'm going to work towards saving money by really keeping a tight grocery budget.
Going along with a daily routine, I'm going to try to start incorporating a time during the day where Gunner and I focus on something school related. Maybe we will do flash cards, or work on counting or his ABC's. I'm wanting to start him in a Mother's Day out once a week this year, and I would like for him to start at home getting used to a scheduled learning time. I think it's going to be important for him (and myself). Lastly, and this goes in with the first things I listed, I want to run another 5k. I would love to do that by October. I was really very proud of myself doing it once, and it was the first thing I've done in a long time where it was up to me to make it happen and I actually finished it.
There you have it! Nothing too insane, just things that I really need to do to make myself a better human.
What are your goals for the new year?