The 7 days of Last Week

I have been remiss in posting lately. This has been a CRAZY couple of weeks, with all the joys of toddlerhood keeping me on my toes every second. Let me just give the Cliff's Notes version (the to tune of the 12 Days of Christmas) If you sing it out loud it's more fun:

On the first day of last week, my Toddler gave to me; A crayon that he'd tried to eat.

On the second day of last week, my Toddler gave to me; Two new contusions and a crayon that he'd tried to eat.

On the third day of last week, my Toddler gave to me; Three broken pens, Two new contusions and a crayon that he'd tried to eat.

On the fourth day of last week, my Toddler gave to me; Four laundry loads, Three broken pens, Two new contusions and a crayon that he'd tried to eat.

On the fifth day of last week, my Toddler gave to me; Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive ruined CD's, Four laundry loads, Three broken pens, Two new contusions and a crayon that he'd tried to eat.

On the sixth day of last week, my Toddler gave to me; Six carpet stains, Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive ruined CD's, Four laundry loads, Three broken pens, Two new contusions and a crayon that he'd tried to eat.

On the seventh day of last week, my Toddler gave to me; Seven sleepless days, Six carpet stains, Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive ruined CD's, Four laundry loads, Three broken pens, Two new contusions and a crayon that he'd tried to eat. (The end)

Most of this would not be that big a deal, but I'm in my first trimester of pregnancy and EXHAUSTED ALL OF THE TIME! The new carpet stains that I'm referring to are two days in a row of diaper removal that had a #2 in it. In my former occupation, I used to roll my eyes when people talked about the kind of stuff their kids did when "I only turned my back for about 5 minutes!" Well, I'm here to tell you that it's true.

H game me the "opportunity" to shampoo his carpets and deep clean his bedroom two days in a row. The second day's event involved an entire tub of Boudreaux's Butt Paste, his CD collection, and a naked two year old (wait, he was wearing his velcro shoes). This event was about 15 minutes of poor supervision in the safety of his own bedroom. His cabinet has the magnetic lock on it that you use in the doctor office, but he muscled the door open. I had recently moved most diaper changing supplies to the bathroom, so can be thankful that it was only the one tub of butt paste, and not all of this lotion, etc.

I walked in the room to see him standing there in all his glory, with whitish schmere all over his legs, arms, boy parts and, yes, across his eyes. Little white eyelashes batted up at me, and I thought for sure my lack of supervision was going to lead to his blindness, but it's luckily a very mild product that wiped right off his face. He proudly exclaimed "I put the lotion on the bottom!" Oh honey...that's certainly on more than your bottom! I took him straight to the tub, then let him color while I shampooed his carpets and opened the windows to dry it all by the time his "quiet time" rolled around that afternoon.

Quiet time; what a joke! There are the rare days that he just drops from being so tired and falls asleep in his bedroom on a pile of book like the time shown above...please note the socks on his hands...his newest love.

Through it all, though, I couldn't stop laughing. I felt like I couldn't even be irritated because I can imagine how good it probably felt to put the paste on, and I KNOW that there were quite a few similar incidents in my childhood (bottle of foundation on my sister's white desk anyone?) He is such a curious and funny kid, but seriously, there are a lot of times lately when I think that it was almost easier(I'm not saying that one's easier than the other, only that each has its advantages) to be a full-time working mom.

Of course, when I was in the thick of that, I daydreamed constantly about just staying at home, under the delusion that this would be my big break, as I'd been working at a job (not including baby-sitting and lawn mowing) since I was 15. I guess I forgot to take into account that whole parenting a toddler bit.

Hmmm...seems you can't win for losing. I've been talking a lot with my friends and my sisters about "having it all." In trying to decide whether to go back to school right now, or wait a couple of years, I finally had to make peace with the fact that I am where I am, and I don't want to be going to school full-time, while juggling a toddler and, eventually, a new baby. I hope that I will be able to have it all eventually, maybe just not all at once.

Oh, and if anyone has tips for napping after the transition to toddler bed, please pass them on. I can only shampoo my carpets so much, and I'd really like to go back to napping when he does!