A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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Just when I thought Halloween couldn’t have come any faster I was faced with Baby T’s birthday. I honestly feel like he just had his third birthday two months ago. Summer was over and fall was here so fast that it didn’t even really sink in that the cold weather signaled it was that time of year again. As always we needed a recreation hall for all our family and friends. Our home is way too small for more than a few people so sticking to what works in terms of space was established a long time ago. This year was a much mellower party. Baby...
In the past Baby T’s sleepover place has always been Totagirl’s. We were so surprised that all of a sudden he wouldn’t stay overnight there anymore. He would ask us to go over and we’d call and bring him over. When it was time for us to leave he would simply just tell us he was going home with us and did. Hmm, we have had to drag him out of the house in the past. Baby T has even scored sleepovers during school nights. Totagirl’s house was our surefire source of a break and basically our only babysitter that could take Baby T for longer th...
I know I have already written about embarrassing things Baby T has lovingly subjected me to. Never on purpose…well if you don’t count the screaming out to strangers that I am not his mother. Now that Baby T is much older the embarrassment is almost what would happen if I were with a friend. Baby T and his dad never feel the embarrassment themselves, then only laugh when something occurs, finding it as funny as a bystander lucky enough to witness it would. Since the time Baby T could talk his dad has made him say the funniest phrases. The one...
It has occurred to me that all (well maybe some are perfect but most) parents tell little white lies. It never starts out on purpose but we eventually fib a little to get desired results. Like leaving a shopping center or maybe going in the house when it’s getting dark outside. Some of mine must be pretty believable because once in a while a family member will actually question me about it in front of Baby T and totally blow my cover. Fibs I have told in my own selfish conquest at sanity were started by Baby T’s never ending interrogation. It...
As Halloween approaches, so does the quest for “the” costume. Most kids are pretty specific I guess, knowing exactly what they want. Out of all the things they could be they know what. That is Baby T, a kid who knows what he wants and why he wants it. Baby T’s dream for this year is to be a ghost. Just like on the old cartoons, a simple sheet with three holes cut out of it. He even told us that’s what he needed, a white sheet. Imagine this, we don’t own an old white sheet. What kind of people are we? This baffled our poor kid. I do have to s...
Before Baby T could talk I used to wait and long for him to say his first word. And it wasn’t the first word I expected. Yes I was naïve and strongly believed that his first word would be mama or you know calling me something. Nope, it was bubba, then Tota, then dada then daddy. I was a slow fifth in the name game. Once he really began to talk, it was a great reward in itself. If I said something enough he would copy me. Before I knew it he was talking in full sentences. Even as I write about it I find it hard to remember how quiet he was at...
A routine to my surprise has fallen quite nicely into place. Though I am one for schedules and what works equally, I usually have dealt with what works. Since the beginning of bedtime in our house it has sort of been when Baby T was tired enough to pass out. And even though I would crave an earlier bedtime for him, he always would stay up until eleven. Which is pretty late and well was all too normal for us. As a family we would go to bed when the late news came on. Back when Baby T was a newborn that is how it was every day. I mean Baby T...
Baby T has started school and seems to enjoy it. And even though some mornings he cries and whines to stay home, when that bus beeps he runs to get on it. Both Baby T’s father and I agree that it’s the combination of all the traffic stopping just for him and the kids on the bus waving. My days of being the bearer of bad news to the leg clinger have seemed to passed. Except for this morning. This morning Baby T was crying to stay home as soon as he got up. He began bartering getting ready when he got out of bed and negotiating getting pic...
After waiting all summer and wondering how my shy Baby T would handle school we went through three first days I guess you could say. The first day at school for Baby T was last Tuesday and his school has what’s called “staggered entry and only a few children go each day the first week. After Tuesday, Baby T had to wait until the following Monday to go to school again. Then there was what Baby T’s dad called his “real” first day of school, which was when all the kids in his class were there and he rode the bus home. Then there was this morn...
Summer has finally come to an end. September is here and so is some really nice weather. This season just flew by even though some days seemed to last forever. Like when Baby T would throw a fit over something that I have no control over like say the rain. Those were the “It’s still all my fault and I must pay for it” kind of situations. I did enjoy not being on such a strict schedule for a change. But this last month has been a struggle to wake Baby T up early to get him on a routine for school. Mostly a struggle for me, why wake up a perfe...
After Baby T spent weeks badgering me about when he was starting school (Who will be there? What am I going to get learned there?) all his excitement and anticipation turned to anxiety and fear. Earlier, I had wished he would stop asking me a million questions about something I didn’t know too much about. I have never attended his new school and when he registered we saw the office and playground. All summer Baby T’s mind has been wondering about this and imagining that. Last year during Headstart Baby T never rode the bus unless of course it w...
With so much to do and not do in the summer Baby T has been able to not take a nap. In the beginning I tried and tried to get him to take a nap. I would shut everything off and lay with him and make a room completely black and cool. We started a failed routine of going to a park and playing for an hour or more then driving around hoping Baby T would eventually pass out from the combination of hard play and the movement of the car. Of all the usual sure fire ways to induce a nap each failed miserably. All I ended up with was a giggling kid in...
Summer may have flown by for some but not for Baby T. At our house it’s been a slow and rainy summer. One that has left Baby T asking me every other day if today is the day he goes to school. And I always have to give him the same disappointing answer. Nope, not for a few more weeks kid. And then he’ll reply that yeah its time and he just wants to go. When school first let out he was so excited to just stay home with mommy. The last few months at his other school had been an outright challenge in the morning. He would come up with all these exc...
Baby T has pulled some outright brilliant acts in his world. He has also come up with the best comebacks to my demands. I suppose I have grown accustomed to the things he throws at me (not literally he knows better). And even though I sometimes do not have the answer for everything he asks I am to him the “knobbier” of everything when in fact he seems to know it all. I spent Sunday with my grandma and I could have told her about all the things that he has done to tell me off in a nice way all day. The list, it seems to go on forever. That lis...
This weekend Baby T’s grandma invited him to Old Forge, a town with a water park about four hours through the Adirondack Mountains. On Saturday morning Baby T’s dad and I packed up the truck and went to pick up my mother as Baby T kicked his legs excitedly in the back. Grandma sat in the back with Baby T and kept him happy by handing him the cars he would purposely drop on the floor and openening up his snacks for him. We stopped for lunch in a small town that I don’t even know the name of. Then we hit the road again. As luck would have it I fo...
This weekend our little family had the pleasure of relaxing on Stanley Island. Baby T’s paternal family owns a cabin out there and we made plans to stay for a day or two. After extensive packing on my part, we ended up with a suitcase of clothes for the three of us, and sadly most of it was Baby T’s. The morning we were getting ready to go I was all stressed out because I wanted the house to be clean before we shipped out and with the packing-unpacking war I was having with Baby T it wasn’t happening. When it was time to pack a bag for Baby...
Over what I’d have to say the last year, I have dealt with annoying little hiccups with my trusty old car. At first when I got it my only real complaint was that the driver window didn’t go down. So when I would have to go through a drive through or customs I had to open my door. Sometimes in the winter that isn’t something I wanted to do. Like when Baby T is fast asleep in the back and a gust of cold air would gasp him out of a slumber. But hey it could be worse. The radio never worked in it either but we dealt with it. If you ever see a perso...
Aside from beating the heat Baby T has had quite the social calendar. He has managed to go to the movies twice and the beach four times. The only time he wants to stay home is early in the morning. He likes to take his time getting ready and packing his stuff up. He tries really hard to remember everything he thinks he’ll use. And lucky for me he isn’t too crazy with what he actually expects me to haul. When we went to the movies he had me carry a pillow and blanket. Even though I did feel a little weird being the only parent with an arm...
So last week we were on our way to Parc Safari or so we thought. In the morning as we all loaded into the car and were hitting the road it started to rain. Not a lot but enough. And then the temperature dropped so we knew there would be no swimming at Parc Safari. We had been thinking of taking Baby T to the insectarium so we decided before leaving the driveway that Montreal it was. We were going to the Biodome and the Insectarium. Anything after that would just happen. While inside theBiodome it began to pour outside. It was my first time bein...
Since it’s so nice out and hanging out in our driveway gets old pretty fast - especially when the battery in Baby T’s mustang dies - we have taken up going to the wooden park in Massena on the insistence of Baby T. Everyday he asks, “Can we go to the wooden park?” And no matter how sick of it I am or how hot it is we go. I just don’t like going when it’s scorching hot out. But Baby T he doesn’t mind. He’s got all those cubbyholes and tunnels to seek shade under. As for me I am sitting there in the sun baking while I try to follow him from...
Baby T has taught me many lessons. They range from “should have known better” to “told you so” moments. Though some I would have never have expected in a million years to learn from my baby, he did give me valuable insight for my next kid or any other kids in close proximity. I was thinking about it the other day and I thought I really should list it. Since as the years pass I’m going to forget or better yet think I figured it out myself. - Baby T taught me that baby gates only work if a child is afraid of heights or if they are properly...
I know I always talk about what a big boy Baby T has become. I think about how he isn’t that little baby of mine anymore a lot. And this weekend I actually bought a pair of shorts in the “big kid” section of Wal-Mart. Not the baby section that we all browse through even when we no longer have an infant. But it’s like a routine you grab what you need, then wander around aimlessly oohing and awing over teeny outfits. When I got home I wanted to cry thinking about how unless I had another baby I wasn’t going to be shopping in that section a...
I’m pretty sure when equal rights came into play, so did doing your fair share of work at home argument. Once upon a time women were in charge of households only. Women have taken on many new roles since those days and men, well, let’s just say I think they kept the same pace. Their day ends when work is over. But a mom’s, well she doesn’t stop. I was hanging out with some mom friends about a week ago. Just hearing a mom’s to do list makes you exhausted which is probably why most men tune it out. In one ear and out the other because if they a...
As Baby T grows and shows me how much cleverer he has become I sometimes cannot help but think of how simple it used to be. Before he was walking, and jumping off things, and had begun to talk so well he could make a point and leave me speechless. Back when he was a quiet, content, and shy baby. He’s still content but he is no longer shy or quiet oh no. He has come out of his shell I guess and voices his little opinions to anyone within shouting range. He went from clinging on to my leg for dear life at parties to taking off in a full on sprint...
When Baby T was at the age where he could walk but not yet talk clearly, he was surprisingly sensitive. Not a “wah I’m a brat” sensitive (yes, he’s spoiled) but caring of others. Even if they were in fact strangers. I could understand what he would say because he’s my child but I would have to explain what he said to anyone else. Baby T is that kid who sees a baby crying and makes it his problem. First by asking me why is that baby crying? Then going right over there and patting the baby’s foot if the baby is up high being held by a parent. O...
