The Patience of a Mother-challenged with Juice

I would say that today started out well enough, up until the time that I woke up! My run didn't go so well to begin with and I was a little hassled by the fact that the technical difficulties at the Everett Events Center continued to challenge my presale optimism for Dora and Diego tickets. Then, after I was finally able to connect with a human body and talk to them by phone to straighten everything out, Thomas decides he wants to guzzle from the orange juice container. I should have realized that something was amiss by the fact that I was actually able to hold a rational conversation while on the phone. I should have known that my normally energetic toddler would not be this quiet under normal situations. It was, though, not until I got off my 2 minute phone call, that I realized that my brown leather couch was now splashed with a nice coating of....orange juice!

The empty 1/2 gallon container sitting nozzle down did not initially register on my out-of-control meter. And as I continued to stare at the increasing wetness surrounding my couch, I couldn't quite understand what was staring me straight in the face. My son had dumped an entire 1/2 gallon of orange juice on our couch, much of which was now totally lost to the innards of the frame and cushions, and what was seeping through was puddling under the couch. "Thomas, what have you done?" I called, and from his room I could hear him begin to cry. "That's just the beginning of your crying, buddy," I thought, as I continued to experience the most amazing run of emotions I think I've ever had at one time. I'll admit, it was the first time when I really had to stop and assess how I should react to the situation, even as my anger boiled over. It's our first piece of nice furniture as a family, something we can't just easily replace when needed, something we've really tried to take care of and keep nice. And then I thought of how I was going to tell John. It was an awful feeling. I dealt with Thomas by pulling him from his room and bringing him back to the scene of the crime, although I'm sure he was just guzzling the juice and lost his grip on the heavy carton. I talked to him, scolded him and put him in his crib to cry it out as I cleaned up the mess. A mess I had little ability to clean up, other than to mop up the juice as it continued to drain from the seams.

And then I was reminded of the devotional I'd read last night entitled "Power of Patience". I remembered reading "Those with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense." Proverbs 19:11 NRSV. It gave me very little comfort until later, after the storm had passed, and I had time to ponder it all. I also reread again the comment, "Remember, when the opportunity arises to be patient with your child, consider how you would want God to respond to you in a similar circumstance." How many times do I mess up, and God must roll through the same feelings as I did this morning, not with Thomas, but with me? And now as a mother, that verse and this comment mean so much more to me. How could I have known that just the next morning this devotional would be so relevant.

Firsts

Last night was the first time he's had a bloody nose. He woke up during the middle of the night and John went to him. When I went to get him back up in the morning, I noticed his nose was all crusty. I figure he woke up in the night due to the bloody nose and in the dark John didn't notice.

Thomas is counting to 8 these days. He can count over 10 but rarely. Usually he gets distracted by 8. It would be too much for me to expect ol' Thomas to hold his attention for longer than an 8 count I guess.

Thomas is starting to try to sing nursery rhymes like Row Row Row Your Boat and the Bumble Bee song, but enjoys dancing and entertaining us more.

He'll chose what he wants to listen to know while riding in the car. He'll either chose Kenny, Dierks, Rascals (Rascal Flatts) kids music, or a DVD. He's also getting good at telling the difference between a Dierks and Kenny song. Now, normally this should just be wrong. But with him, it's just too cute!

Thomas told me the other night he didn't want to sleep with his fan on. He's never known a night without the fan on, so it was very interesting to hear him say, "Mommy, fan off, fan off nigh-nigh." and "Better" after I turned it off. It's a bit of a pain without the fan on, as I had to adjust the tv and kitchen noise, but good that he's chosing what he wants.

Thomas has decided he doesn't like bathtime anymore. His whole body is one tickle-fest. Not only does he think his head is off limits for touching, but so is his entire body, I guess. Oh, brother!

Thomas' bedtime routine now consists of a sippy cup of orange juice and a hot water bottle, followed by a story by Daddy and rocking by Mommy. Thomas loves to cuddle with his menagerie in his crib, including his monkey Louie, his monkey George, his new Easter monkey Larry, his singing monkey, a half monkey/half jaguar Charlie, his red Chinese monkey Chopsticks and his doggie, thrown in there for good measure.

Thomas is 36 1/2 inches tall and 29 pounds, and, if we believe growth charts, is projected to be 6'2" by the time he's 18 based on his current height, his father's height and my height.

Easter Afternoon at the Tulips

We traveled down to Skagit to take in the tulips on a sunny break from the rain. I have found that you really can't plan these outings. You just have to go when there is a break in the weather. Bruce and Lil were up for an adventure, so we headed out. We ended up at Tulip Town, where they basically take your money to get in, take your money to ride the tractor out to the tulips, and try to take even more money with other tulip goods. Aside from that, we had a great adventure tromping through the mud fields to get out to the tulips and it was a big mud slogging adventure for Thomas, who just happened to wear the appropriate rubber boots.

Easter Saturday at the Pohlmans 2006

We headed up to Jodi's house this morning for Saturday Easter Egg hunt. Punkie and Gene stuffed over 200 eggs with candy and hid them at various levels of"findability" for the six kids. It was a blast watching the kids all get into it, despite Lauren and Thomas needing a few moments to figure out what the mad dash out of the house really meant. It was really fun to have the kids all searching for all those eggs, and watching them pick up their eggs that were falling out of too full baskets. We didn't search for eggs last year, so this was a real treat to watch him climbing around the yard shoveling eggs into the basket Nana gave him for Easter. He's all about the candy, too. I thought he was taking after his dad for a sweet tooth, but watching the chocolate colored drool hanging out of his mouth, I think he's taken more after me and my chocolate addiction than his father's sweet tooth.

Saturday Farmer's Market

We attempted to go out to the opening day of Farmer's Market last weekend, but the rain held us back. Today was a bit on the brighter side, so we braved the low temps and headed out for a morning of kettle corn, organice produce, a fire thrower that took forever and baby goats. It was a fun time to walk around, get some good kettle corn and come face to face with some of Bellingham's most interesting people.