sea of snot.

Henry is sick.  Again.  His last two colds, that were one right after the other, somehow escaped me.  This one, not so much.  I am exhausted.  He is miserable.  I am worried about him.  I feel so bad for him.  He's such a trooper but tonight when I tried to wipe his nose for the millionth time (I do try to just let it go because I know it drives him coconuts but I caught him trying to wipe his nose on.  the.  wall.), he put up his hand and said, "No mom-mom.  No don't come near me with that.  No."  And it was so sweet and sad and yet so serious that I had to step away and just let him wipe his snot on whatever stuffed animal was sitting on the floor next to him.  I hate snot.  Most parents act like their kids' snot isn't a big deal.  I think they are as gross as their kids' snot.  Yes, I still use the snot sucker but only because it works and for the time being, Henry is sleeping soundly.

Did I mention I'm tired?  And snotty myself?

Tomorrow I have to get up at 6 and hope he sleeps at least until 6:30.  Monday morning he actually slept until after I left for work.  You know what I got done that morning?  I showered, dried my hair, washed the dishes, made a pot of coffee, ate breakfast, folded a load of laundry, and made it to work on time.  Today, oh God, it's only Tuesday... fuuuuuck... anyway, today he got up at 6:20 as I was getting out of the shower.  You know what I got done this morning?  I half-dried my hair, cuddled with Henry, made my breakfast and fed it to him, cuddled with Henry some more, made a pot of coffee and had to run out the door before it was finished (I've turned into a coffee snob and I have convinced myself that I can taste the difference between a half-brewed and completely brewed cup of coffee.  Ridiculous, I know.  But I still think I can tell) and made it to work 10 minutes late.  Oh.  I did brush my teeth both days.  Nothing worse than halitosis! 

It looks like I'm going to start working full-time soon which means in the next couple weeks I get to find a day care provider for Henry, figure out how I'm going to pay for it, and convince Henry it's a good idea.  We've been talking about it off and on since I started working and I think he's almost on board.  Tonight he wanted to throw away a perfectly good tractor that he thinks is broken so I told him maybe I could take it to work and put it on my desk and he said no, maybe he can take it to school.  And then he went and threw it in the trash can.  Perhaps he was sending me a message?  Most likely it had nothing to do with not wanting to go to school and the message was, you don't want me to throw away this perfectly good tractor?  Too bad. 

My sweet, sweet, snotty boy. 

Love.

Also, the hugs and kisses and cuddles I get when I get home from work almost make up for having to be away from him.  He's such a big kid, I have to brace myself for the tackle.  We hug and he puts his face so we're nose to nose and says, "I love you, mom-mom." 

Still, the snot is gross.

doh.

One of the many issues I have with having to get out of bed at 6 every morning in order to get everything done before leaving for work is that on mornings that I don't have to get up for anything because it's Henry's weekend to visit his dad, my brain wakes up in crisis mode at 7 because my ears haven't heard It's Tricky (my alarm clock song) and Henry hasn't put his precious face next to mine to whisper, "Good morning mom mom sunshine.  I have to go pee pee in the potty." and it thinks I must be late or something is wrong with my boy. 

Brain.  You are wrong.  Shut the fuck up so I can get some sleep.

See how tired I am?

done.

Henry woke me up this morning by telling me he had to go peepee in the potty.  His diaper was dry.  Shortly before he went to bed this evening he took a shit in the potty.  Everything between these two events happened in the potty.  That's right.  His first accident-free potty-training day.  He's got the concept. 

We did this, he and I.  We make a great team.

Also, I know we aren't really done and there will be more accidents but it's only been just over a week that he's been doing this so I consider it a win!!

potty training.

I decided to potty train Henry this week.  He turned three.  It seemed like a great idea.  It was an even better idea when I received a call asking me to come to work part-time on an interim basis (filling in for someone until the agency can hire a full-time person).  I leave Henry with the sitter for half the day and they have to deal with wet pants.  Perfect! 

At the beginning of the week I was on the phone and mentioned that maybe I would throw some Cheerios in the toilet to give Henry something to aim his pee stream at.  Apparently he was listening.  Yesterday he was deep in thought and I asked him what was on his mind.  He replied, "Mom-mom.  Cheerios do not go in the toilet.  Please.  Do not put them in the toilet.  They do not go in the toilet.  No.  Not at all.  No, Mom-mom.  Please."