The Yarn Strikes Again

Well, apparently the Yarn made another terrifying appearance in Gabe's dreams last night. He woke up crying and was even more dismayed to find that no one was in his parents' bed. Why? Because at 6:30am on a Monday morning, daddy was already on his way to work and mommy was doing her best imitation of sleeping on the couch downstairs while holding the child who can outscream even the most annoying of teenage girls (and had been doing so since 4:00am). Gabe didn't want to get on the couch with Sam and me, so he ran back upstairs crying, "I want my daddy." Unwilling to disrupt the tenuous sleep of my little boy banshee, I helplessly wiped the sleep out of my eyes and waited for Gabe to come back downstairs. After finally calming down and snuggling somewhat awkwardly next to me on the ottoman, which I had fortunately pushed up next to the couch, and attempting to share the too-meager blanket covering my legs on the coldest March morning I can remember in many years, he finally told me he had been dreaming about the Yarn (see previous posts if you are unfamiliar with this phenomenon). I asked him what the Yarn was doing. His response: "He was biting me." And that, folks, is the way I started my day. Here's hoping the Yarn takes a night off. And the banshee too. I could use the sleep.

Heartbreak and Questionable Taste

We met mom and dad for breakfast last Saturday at (where else?) Cracker Barrel. Gabe only wanted cheerios and kept asking when they would come. When our orders finally arrived, the server brought everything but his cereal and said it was coming. He, of course, didn't understand and just thought they weren't bringing his food. Mom offered him her orange slice which he declined with a pout. When dad started eating it though, he reached out his hands toward it, quietly saying, "I want it." I offered him mine, which he declined. Then I tried to get dad's attention to give Gabe his other orange slice. I should have seen it coming. This pouty indecisiveness is always the prelude to some sort of emotional outburst. Before I realized it, Gabe turned toward me, covered his eyes with his hands as though he were embarrassed or ashamed, and then began bawling. As I pulled him out of his chair into my lap, it was all I could do not to cry myself. I know it seems like such a minor little incident. It certainly wasn't the first time he has ever cried. But there was a quality to it that was completely new -- the quality of heartbreak. I guess he thought he had just been overlooked and left out, and it hurt his feelings. Now, I won't say Gabe is insensitive, but he is such a happy-go-lucky kid that I don't think I've ever really seen him be hurt in this way. He gets mad and frustrated; he gets scared occasionally; he even gets remorseful. But to see that his little heart was hurting just cut me in two. I know this is only the first of many times in his life that he will feel this emotion to one degree or another; and therefore, I know I too will experience this maternal empathy again.

On a completely different note, Gabe just came in from playing outside. When he came to the door, I could see through the window that his face was covered with dirt, mostly in the area of his mouth. I couldn't imagine what could have caused this since he had been nibbling on goldfish crackers and rice cakes while playing -- neither of which are dirt-colored. I opened the door and asked him what was on his face. His response: "I eat a stick." Yes, that's right, he decided that a common yard stick looked like a tasty treat. Now, this is the same kid who refuses to taste mashed potatoes and has only recently begun eating green beans. I then noticed that the front of his jacket was covered with something wet and little bits of debris -- apparently, the stick wasn't all that tasty because he had spit it out, or more accurately, dribbled it down his front. Maybe I should pay more attention the next time he asks if he can eat the poo poo that is stuck on the bottom of a pair of flops Van left out on the deck...

Oh Lolly, Lollipop

Gabe loves sweets. Can't imagine where he got that from! We probably indulge his sweet tooth more than we should, but at least we have trained him to know that he can only have such goodies after he eats all of his meal or on special occasions. Or when he "kwaprate wif us" as he would say. Or when we have in some other way bribed or coerced him into good behavior. Or when we make a trip to Target, Wal-Mart, or Publix where they give out free cookies. Or when he goes to his Mimi's house. Or to Gramps' house. Did I mention that we may indulge him a little too often? Anyway, as I say, he knows that he has to eat all of his meal before he can have his "buzzert". However, he makes it clear up front what it is that he wants as his treat by asking if that thing can watch him eat. For instance, if he wants to have a Kudos snack bar, he says, "I want Kudos watch me eat." This means we have to put the box of Kudos on the table close enough for him to reach so he can be sure that we will give him one as soon as he has swallowed the last bite off his plate. We also still have a revolving Halloween candy bag -- we just keep adding to it as he receives special candies for Christmas, birthday, Valentine's, etc. He calls this his "pumpkin candy". So, most of our meals are accompanied by the pumpkin bag sitting on the table.

Yesterday at lunch he wanted the pumpkin candy to watch him eat, and when he had finished his meal, he picked out a blue lollipop. After I cleaned up the dishes, I sat back down with a plum in my hand, and he wanted to know if that was my "buzzert". Once I saw the blue stickiness begin to drip off his chin, I got a baby wipe for him to clean up a little. He continued to eat the lollipop as I puttered around the kitchen. A few moments later, I heard him talking to himself or, apparently, to the lollipop. "I put dis cape on you wike Genral Gweebus." Now, if you aren't a Star Wars fan, this will mean zilch to you. Gabe, however, is a complete Star Wars nut. He has capes, helmets, action figures, multiple light sabres, Star Wars dinner ware, stickers, etc., ad nauseum. So, I look over at the table and realize that he has wrapped the baby wipe around the lollipop and is referring to it as one of the villains in Episode III, General Grievous. Then he begins shaking water out of his sippy cup and dragging the wipe through the water. I never ceased to be amazed at the things that amuse him.

On the Sam front, he has now officially slept through the night 3 nights in a row! HALLELUJAH! I think around 12 weeks or so we went through "baby boot camp" where I stopped feeding him at night and just let him cry it out. The doctor said it would take 3 nights of that hell for him to finally get with the program -- it took 8!!! Then after a few days he started waking up again around 4:00am. I could easily settle him with a pacifier, so that was no big deal...until he started waking up more frequently and I was getting up as many as 5 or 6 times a night to put the pacifier in his mouth. Well, I started really looking at his daytime routine and realized that I had been treating him like he was a toddler and not really respecting the fact that he needed more down time during the day. Now that I am making sure he has a reliable feeding and napping schedule during the day, he is sleeping great at night and even napping better. This has also improved his disposition. I don't think I would call him a difficult baby, but he is a little high maintenance. He likes attention and he loves to be held. Gabe was content to be left in his bassinet to watch his horse mobile. But Sam really loves to interact, and he is such a flirt. He has the most darling toothless grin I've ever seen and he flashes it quite generously. It takes me forever to get any errands done because people are constantly stopping to gawk at him and talk to him. He's begun to chatter quite a bit as well and loves to have conversations with us. I think he might have even been trying to sing with Gabe and me yesterday. He has also learned how to control the pacifier a little bit. He grabs it and take it in and out of his mouth. Before he figured that out, he would tick himself off by grabbing the paci and pulling it out of his mouth without realizing what he was doing. He still has a good bit of cradle cap, and it keeps jumping up on different spots on his head as well as other places on his body, like his neck and the insides of his knees and elbows. I'll definitely be glad when that phase is over.

Where is God?

A conversation with Gabe while sitting in the parking lot at Bruster's and eating ice cream:

Gabe: Where's God?
Beth: We can't see him, but he's everywhere. He's right here in the car with us.
Gabe: Where is he?
Van: He's really big. He's at our house. He's in Bruster's. He's at Jaden's house. He's here in the car.
Gabe: No, he's not. It's just us.
Van: Well, we can't see him.
Gabe: Is he under your belly?

And just how would you answer that one???

As we were leaving the house, he asked, "Where's da yarn?" We don't have a clue what the yarn is. He's been talking about this thing for several months now, and best we can figure, it's something he saw in a dream that really scared him. He always wants to know where it is and to see it, especially at night, and it is apparently out in the yard somewhere. When we first heard about the yarn, Sa-sa had scared it off -- again, we assume this was part of the dream. Since then, we have been trying to figure out what it is and to give him some comfort so he won't be scared. So, we asked him what the yarn looks like. Here's how that conversation went:

V: What does the yarn look like?
G: It's not real. It's just fertend.
V: OK, but in pretend, what does it look like?
G: It doesn't wook wike inafing.
B: What color is it?
G: Uhhh...I guess it's gween.
V: What does it do?
G: It goes, "ARRRR"!

Still not much closer to knowing the nature of the yarn.