Pages

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Haps

A few things that are all completely unrelated but have been happening around these parts...

Gus is obsessed with frozen blueberries, he goes crazy for those messy, stain-inducing little buggers.  Like, last night, wouldn't touch the pizza, yes pizza, that was sitting on his plate all delicious-like and instead opted for two huge bowls full of frozen blueberries.  When his first bowl was empty he looked up at me with those big eyes, his entire mouth and chin stained blue, and exclaimed, "Oh NOOOOO!  All GONE!"  So I filled er up, and that was pretty much it for dinner.  Toddlers are so weird you guys.

So... looks like my child is the class bully.  Goodness.  We've been having separation anxiety issues over the last three weeks or so, which has been super strange for him, but clearly the little guy is going through something.  So yesterday he did not freak out when I left him in class with Teacher Ann, Teacher Kathy and the rest of the kids, and he actually looked excited to play with all the toys, running around smiling, still hugging me real tight, but there were no tears, no drama.  And I was so relieved, because the whole routine just breaks my heart, and I was hoping that he would get better.

But THEN!  At the end of the class, when us parents came in during snack time the little guy was sitting on the teacher's lap, all smiles exclaiming, "Mama!  You came back!".  And THEN!  Teacher Ann pulled me aside to tell me that he had a bit of a "rough morning".  My immediate thought was that he was sad for a while, like last time.  No, he was just really aggressive with other kids, throwing toys, pushing, not sharing.  Ugh.  Now I am not at all surprised by this, he also seems to be going through a little aggressive testing limits phase as well, particularly with his little 7 month old cousin.  And we are working on it, but he just doesn't seem to be getting it, the "talks" we have about being nice to other kids and sharing, the time-outs.  I'm not too concerned, because I think HE IS A TWO YEAR OLD who does not spend a ton of time with other kids his age, and I think this type of behavior is actually quite normal.  But jeez, no one wants to be pulled aside by the teacher at the end of class.  I felt totally admonished.

I'm sure it's a phase, he's clearly going through something, and that something might even have to do with the fact that he can sense an impending, dun dun dun... new baby to compete with.  And I have to keep reminding myself that he is a toddler, and toddlers are, in essence, crazy.  Because I simply can't imagine it would be possible for two of the most introverted conflict-avoiders out there (I'm talking about Dan and I) to mate and produce a bully.  No, that just doesn't make sense!  All through grade school and even high school my friends used to yell at me for saying "I'm sorry" too often, or when completely unnecessary.  I am a conflict avoider to a fault, and it's something I have to work on, my self confidence, and the ability to stand up for myself and my opinions.  So no.  My child the mean kid?  No. 

Honestly, I have some hard core mama-bear fears about sending Gus off to school someday, and all that potential for him to have trouble making friends, or get his feelings hurt by some other bully kids.  Just the idea of it breaks my heart.  But there is the other side of it I suppose.  That fact NEVER even occurred to me, that he might end up being the mean kid, you know?  My mind is blown people. 

Switching topics...

I am becoming increasingly frustrated by my maternity wardrobe, since I'm doing the pregnant thing on a completely different timetable this time.  Blech.  So I am getting big, officially in the 3rd trimester today (whoa!), the weather is getting cooler, and my closet full of springy maternity tops and sundresses is looking very out of season.  Dern.  I was pregnant in the winter last time, but obviously not wearing maternity clothes yet, so... there you go.

I hate the idea of buying more maternity clothes, I've already made my fair share of purchases this second time around, a pairs of jeans, cords, some simple tanks for under non-maternity cardigans.  So I told myself NO MORE!  But goodness, it is getting difficult to get dressed in the morning.  I have a lot of great dresses that could work for the office, but now I need tights.  And the non-maternity tights I have are like torture devices, so uncomfortable sitting under the belly all day.  I am ready to rip them off my body with my teeth by the time the afternoon hits.  

Anyway, such a stupid thing to even be stressing about.  I need to just bite the bullet and buy some cheap winter tops from Old Navy, or shut up about it.  I remember getting this way in the third trimester when I was pregnant with Gus, so many changes happening with my body, I just have this intense desire to buy things that might help me feel like myself a little bit.

In other pregnancy news, tomorrow morning I do the lovely glucose tolerance screening for Gestational Diabetes, so that should be good times.  I've mentioned this before, but because Gus was over 9 lbs at birth, they do things a little differently, taking into consideration the fact that I could have been borderline GD during my last pregnancy.  So I took a two hour test at 16 weeks, which involved fasting for 8 hours, getting my blood drawn, then drinking the nasty flat extra sugary orange drink, waiting an hour, getting my blood drawn again, waiting another hour, and getting my blood drawn a third and final time. 

It really was a blast, as I'm sure those of you who have done this screening in any of its forms would agree.  Ugh.  Actually it was extra horrible to do at 16 weeks because I still had some of those first trimester symptoms, and not eating only made them worse.  Whatever, I passed, I was relieved, my midwife was cool.  I went about my second trimester. 

Tomorrow, at 28 weeks, I do the same two hour test again.  And the two hour test is not like the one hour test in that if you fail, you have to do the 3 hour test to confirm and/or rule out a false positive.  The two hour test is IT. Do or die.  You fail, you have Gestational Diabetes. 

Wow, all this third trimester testing stuff is really bringing things home, I can't believe how quickly these weeks have flown!  Should we be doing a refresher labor and delivery class?  Gosh, I haven't really even considered it.  Just not even on my radar.  At the very least, I should start reading through my Bradley books again.  Crazy.  As I've said, second pregnancy = SO DIFFERENT.  At this point in time during my first pregnancy I was obsessing about this stuff, constantly.  There really is just no time for obsessing anymore!       

6 comments:

Erin said...

That sucks that you are pregnant at a different time of year this time around... I'm definitely lucky that I can wear the same stuff, but it's also quite ratty after that much wear the first time. You have a long way to go yet, so I think you can justify a few new tops, tights, etc :) Do you have any people you could borrow from? I'd honestly offer you some of mine but obviously I need it :)

As for Gus being a bully, I highly doubt it. At this point (still may be early for aggressive behavior anyway) Annie is almost TOO passive for my liking - almost always lets kids take toys from her without even any protest, doesn't seem bothered when she's pushed or hit, etc. She gets wildly angry about stuff with us (like, WHAT?! You did THAT with the dish towel? OH HELL NO. I wanted you to do THAT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THING, GOD MOM!!) but with other kids, she's pretty much down for whatever it seems. I guarantee you, I would have been that friend that yelled at you for saying "I'm sorry" too much (did that to some of my friends, in fact!) so I hope she gets some balls and learns to stand up for herself a little bit at least :) Such a fine line between being too passive and too aggressive!

Lisa said...

It's not even possible for Gus to be the bully - no way! Don't all kids go through a phase of learning how to share??

Good luck on your glucose tolerance screening tomorrow! Bummer you have to do it twice, but at least it's important for the babe, no? I can't believe you are in your third tri already. Weren't you just telling us the big news? Craziness. He'll be here before you know it. Gosh, I can't wait to meet him!

Freckles said...

So, so much going on for you!

A. Gus is not a bully. He is an active toddler. Big difference!

B. I need to see your beautiful pregnant self ASAP. This baby of yours will be here before we know it!

C. Yay for new maternity clothes! So much fun! You deserve new clothes :) Every pregnant woman does!

val said...

I think kids do stuff partly to keep us humble.

I've always said any time I got on a high horse about someone else's kid, mine would do something so despicable I didn't even want to admit I knew them.

You are never on a high horse, always patient with other people's kids, including mine.

And two year old behavior isn't despicable, just never know what to expect.

But you get what I mean.

Gus will outgrow it, and we'll tell stories. (My sweet cousin Kelly used to BITE other kids. Imagine how dear THAT was.)

And definitely buy some new maternity clothes. It's well worth the $100-200. It's a while until January, and you need to be comfortable and enjoy these weeks before he emerges.

I could not have imagined Gus and how miraculous he is, and I'm excited to meet the new guy whom I have nicknamed Gonzales. Where that came from, I have no idea.

Last night I dreamed you were in labor, though we were at Todd's house. Made zero sense, but it was a happy dream. love, Val

Erin said...

I remember feeling the same way when getting pulled aside and told that Lib was hitting other kids at daycare. You feel so embarrassed, and it's just totally a stage! Nothing really to do except reinforce that we're gentle with people, blah blah. Do time outs work yet? They didn't really work for Libby when she was in her hitting stage. :/ Luckily my daycare provider was very calm about it all, just saying she had to be separated from other kids at a few points, and it happens with all of them. I'm sorry you felt admonished! No one should feel that way about something that's out of their control.

Maternity wear - oh, do I hear you. I'm able to wear pretty much all my stuff from my last pregnancy, but bought three or four pairs of maternity leggings from Old Navy (they're pretty consistently on sale online - like 12ish bucks) that I've been living in lately. So comfy! And perfect with the long maternity tops. I do need a few more long sleeved tops. Target's been slim pickings lately. I also need to see what I'm going to do about a winter coat...

take care!

Berbs33 said...

Hope the Test went fine, those long tests are not fun at all! And don't worry about Gus, he is just discovering what he can and can't get away with - it is normal (or at least I hope so becuase Colton went through the exact same thing)! And I hear you abour the maternity clothes... I was pregnant at a totally different time of the year the second time around... but luckily I was able to wear most of my long sweaters over my belly without a problem but I did splurge on several pairs of Gap Maternity jeans and that was the best thing I did! Enjoy the last trimester, he is going to be here before you know it!