That time we dropped $22 for a new lovey

I never saw Colin as the type of kid who'd have a lovey. When he was sleepy, we popped in the paci and he nodded right off. He's always been a pretty easy going little dude in that regard. However, a few months ago, Justin's parents went away to Charleston and came back with a gift for Colin. It was an incredibly soft, brown and white stuffed dog that we affectionately named "Puppy." Colin and Puppy quickly became BFFs and bedtime buddies. Colin would pull Puppy's string and listen to Brahm's lullaby as he gently stroked one of Puppy's ears. The one time we dared put Colin down for a nap without Puppy, he refused to sleep until the two were reunited. As soon as they were, little man relaxed and readied himself for his nap. Little stinker. At nap time or bedtime, I would go through a mental checklist: Clean diaper? Check. Paci? Check. Puppy? Check. And in the crib they'd go.

Meet Puppy.

Due to all the slobber loving Puppy has received, he has gone through the wash several times already. The first couple times, the process didn't seem to affect Puppy's music box at all. But the third time, we weren't so lucky. Today, I pulled the string to start the music before Colin's nap, and... nothing happened. The string didn't move, and the music didn't play. Whoops. We figured this day would come.

We did a little detective work and found the website of the company in Charleston that made Puppy. After tax and shipping, we paid $22.51 for a brand new Puppy. The plan is to replace Puppy Senior with Puppy Junior, clip Puppy Senior's broken string, and keep him around as a back-up in case Puppy Junior needs to be washed or goes missing.

If your kid is attached to a lovey, you'll understand why we had to buy another. You can't put a price on your little one's happiness, right? You also can't put a price on something that soothes your child to sleep within minutes. Can I get an amen?

Maybe we'll work on getting our next baby attached to a washcloth or something. Those are a lot cheaper to replace.

 

Yes, please!

Last night, as the three of us were eating dinner (grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberries. Yum!), we thought we heard Colin say, "please." I offered him little bites of a potato chip to see if he'd say it again. And.. well, see what happened.

I know they try to teach the kids to say "please" and "thank you" at daycare, but I did NOT expect my sweet little man to be saying these words at 16 months! I am so proud of my little smarty pants and had to do a little showing off. :) There is nothing like being a momma!

Toddler Tears

I don't know about you other toddler mamas, but it seems when Colin went from baby to toddler, his crying spells kicked it up a notch. It happens for all sorts of reasons. You might take his hand out of the dog's water bowl, for example. Wailing ensues. You might tell him "no" when you see him about to put your flip flop in his mouth. More wailing. He might bump his head on something, not very hard, but of course that triggers the end-of-the-world wailing, too.

Poor baby boy. I don't remember what started this, but he was fine a few minutes later.

Poor kiddo. It breaks my heart to see him cry, but it happens so often these days that it doesn't faze me as much as it once did. Especially when I know he's okay, and they're just alligator tears. We do comfort him if he hurts himself, but we're trying to ignore the mini-tantrums he's starting to throw when he's told "no" or has to have something taken away. (Seriously, why does he want to eat our shoes?! Gross!) How do you handle toddler tantrums?
 

Call for sponsors!

Hey y'all! Just a quick word about sponsorship. I am currently accepting sponsors, so if you're interested, click the Advertise tab at the top of the page for more info. I would love to work with you! Right now you can use promo code newclient to get a 20% discount on all size ads. Ads run for 30 days. Or, if you'd rather swap buttons with me, I would be glad to consider that as well. E-mail me at sbuxsweetie at gmail dot com if you'd like to chat about sponsorship, or about anything at all!

And now, a picture of Colin with his big red ball. Have a great day!

Just a little story

Once upon a time, there was a sixteen month old cutie who liked to color with markers. He colored and colored, and had a wonderful time. When he was finished, his mommy turned on cartoons and went to go to the bathroom. A minute later, the little boy walked in to see what his mommy was doing... and he had a red marker open, and in his mouth. He was sucking away on that red marker. By the time his mommy took the marker away (much to his dismay), he had sucked the (thankfully non-toxic) color completely out, and the tip of the marker was white.

Luckily, he did not, as his mommy feared, color on anything except the inside of his mouth.

And then his mommy put the markers away, as she should have done in the first place.

The end.

 

Happy 16 months, sweet boy!

Wordless Wednesday: Watching the Rain