This is a long update as it’s been ages since I posted. I think I’m feeling a little better than when I last wrote. Spring is here and we’ve had some small glimpses of sunshine. Augie has only been sick once in the last couple of months and we are all getting a bit more sleep.
Sleep has changed big time here! First we started co-sleeping and that helped a lot. Then Augie decided to drop his day nap. 😱 I fought for it for a little while and then I realised that I can’t force him to sleep if he doesn’t want to. And I just don’t have it in me to fight with him for hours or drive him around to sleep. Plus, when he does have a day nap, he’s up until 9 or 10 pm because he’s had enough sleep. So now he’s going to bed about 7.00 pm and sleeping until 7.30 or 8.00 am. This is amazing!!! I honestly don’t even know myself to have some much needed time to myself.
Co-sleeping 🤣
We also got him his own bed! He just started hating his cot so we thought we’d try a bed. We have only just set it up and last night he woke after 4 hours quite upset and scared so we bought him into our bed. I expect the same thing will happen tonight. I left a light on in his room this time in the hope he won’t be so scared. I don’t mind if he sleeps in our bed, I just want to give him the opportunity to sleep in his own bed if he wants too.
First time seeing his new bed
Augie is getting super cheeky lately. When I tell him that we are going for a drive he says “daddy’s car” to wind me up. I say, “no it’s mummy’s car” and he keeps saying “daddy’s car” or “Augie’s car” or even “Petal’s car” (his toy bunny) and giving me the cheekiest look until he eventually says “mummy’s car”. He will eat paper and run away from me and say “what are you eating?” Or leave a room when he’s not supposed to and say “where are you going?” as he runs away. When we go to the park, every slide he says “one more slide” and holds one little finger up with a very serious look on his face. Yet, it is never the last slide. In fact, we normally still have about 20 more slides. 😑
He’s obsessed with stupid YouTube videos of balls and cars changing colours. Honestly, if you told me two years ago I would have a kid watching that crap on TV I’d say “never!” But you do what you have to do for some sanity. When the ads come on he says “bloody ads” obviously repeating me. The only saving grace is that he watches a lot of Spanish and Italian videos and has actually learned to say some colours in Spanish and Italian now so it’s not all bad. Why can’t he watch Disney movies though?
He also loves play doh, tea parties and his dolls right now. I love watching him get his dolls and put them in bed and kiss them good night and say “nigh nigh sleep tight” or make them tea and cupcakes. It’s so bloody cute. He spent ages at playgroup yesterday doing a dolls hair with a brush and hairdryer and putting a headband on. He has a cousin the same age as him and we went to her house and he picked up her toy drill and pretended to blow dry his hair. The funny thing is that she had no idea what a hairdryer is and he had no idea what a drill was… so much for gender stereotypes!
Tea party!
I love hearing him speak, he can pronounce words so well now. He won’t say shortened words like “hippo” will just say “hippopotamus”. He can say my name perfectly and most adults struggle to say my name (my real name is a mouthful). He calls AJ “AJ” a lot now instead of daddy, I have no idea why, maybe I yell it out too much. ☺️
He loves telling me our routines: “Augie shower, mummy cook tea” or “daddy work, mummy Augie day”. He is starting to say very short sentences like “one more time” “close the door” “where’s my daddy?” “What happened?” “mummy kiss it better” “Augie bumped his head” “try again” and in general will repeat the last sentence of anything you say to him. The communication makes life so much easier. I can ask him what he needs and he will tell me:
What do you want in your sandwich?
Ham please.
Which park do you want to go to?
Pirate park. (then he says “Ahoy me matey” 😂)
This saves so many tantrums! He even tells me when it’s time to change his nappy or that he has sore teeth (effing molars).
The most he talks is when he sings sings, I’ll hear him singing all the words to 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed, Johnny Johnny (yes papa) or if you’re happy and you know it… Though in saying that, no one else except me could probably understand these songs as they get a bit muddled.
First ever ice cream!
He shocks me with his memory! Last month we were going to sleep he goes through all his favourite people and says “nigh nigh Poppy, nigh nigh Nanoo” etc and out of the blue he says “nigh nigh Uncle Simon Aunty Jo”. This is my Aunty and Uncle who he met 2 weeks prior and didn’t speak to them at all but must have remembered them. I was also chatting with a friend and we mentioned the word daycare. He pipes up in the background “pick up Polly” because 6 weeks ago we went to Sydney and while we were there we picked his cousin Polly up from daycare.
He has entered the super determined ‘I do it myself’ stage of toddlerhood. This is fine, except when he wants to do things that he’s physically incapable of doing. Every nappy change or clothes change is a battle. Mornings are exhausting because I have to change his nappy, dress him, brush his hair and teeth. Kill me. Lately he’s been crying for “mummy cuddles” whenever he doesn’t want to do something. I thought he was just stalling, but I started giving him a long cuddle for a 3-4 minutes and then he will normally happily comply with what I asked. So maybe he just wants more connection?
Making his own snack
I must say that every transition with him is hard work right now. He does not like to start or stop doing anything. He gets upset when he has to have a shower and upset when he has to get out of the shower etc. I try to give him plenty of warning of what we are doing, but it really doesn’t help much. It must be hard having no control!
His shyness is out of control right now. Every time we go to the park or playgroup or anywhere with kids he gets upset when another kid comes within a couple of metres of him and says “mummy up” or “mummy cuddles” and wants me to take him away. I try to explain it’s ok but I don’t want him to be scared. I hope it’s just a stage. I hate watching him so scared.
Making his own weetbix
Ok, I know I’m going on and on about Augie. But I was filling out his baby book the other day and I found these updates super helpful for myself. And maybe if I have baby number 2 it will be good to look back on the different stages.
And what about me? Well I got a new part time job! It’s only 8 hours a week, but that’s just enough time give me some income without pushing my sanity over the edge. Plus it connects me to the workforce and helps my self esteem. It’s work from home, very flexible and seems like it won’t be too stressful (once I get the hang of it). I feel very lucky!
I’m still feeling like I miss living in the city and my life there. We just spent two weekends in the city so AJ could attend footy finals (Richmond supporter) and I did love feeling more connected to the city, my friends there, the food and lifestyle. We keep toying with the idea of moving back to our townhouse in Brunswick, but it’s probably not the right space for us. I’m hoping that when summer hits I’ll enjoy the beach lifestyle here more (except the bloody sand 😒).
On the way to the grand final
For full disclosure, I think it’s worth noting that despite what it may sound like sometimes in these updates, I find motherhood a daily, hourly, minutely challenge!!! It’s all sorts of wonderful (especially the older he gets) but also all sorts of tedious, tiring and frustrating. I’d hate someone to read this and think I find this easy and I’m happy all the time or that my kid is perfect. I scroll Instagram and I feel like everyone else’s kids are easier than mine or everyone else with kids manages to have a better social life than me.
My favourite thing was when my sister in law sent me a photo of the new couch she was going to buy and her daughter was in the background sitting on her phone in the shop watching a show. It made me feel so much better that she has the same challenges shopping with her daughter because she always seems so much better behaved than Augie. Comparison sucks!
Must hold my nose as he goes to sleep
you would be pretty if... 