Turtle Serenades

X-man's friends in the Turtle Room serenaded him for his birthday. I caught a few of them. 

"No! No Santa! Please!"

Today was the Turtles' holiday party. I got there a little early to ensure I had a parking spot close to the door in case the possible ice storm suddenly swung in from nowhere. I also had to drop off my cups. (Yeah, I've had so much potluck stuff this month, I've given up cooking or buying food for them.) 

Anyway, the Turtles sang the first part and danced the second. X-man didn't want to sing. He wanted to sit in my lap and have me sing the songs instead. But I didn't know most of them. He got up and danced so excitingly to the dancing part that both Ms. H and I had to tell him to slow down and watch where he's going. 

This is the first time I've gotten to see ALL of the Turtles stand up next to each other. And oh my. There are two boys as tall and as broad as X-man. And I know one of them has a Dad that is like 6'7" or such. But EVERYONE else looked so much smaller than he did. And even though they're all just as frazzled and crazy as he is at 2, one elbow bent the wrong way could have taken out someone else's front teeth in that toddler mosh pit of death. 

After the dance, it was food time. I made my way over to get his plate ready. When I put it on the table I noticed Santa had snuck in the room. My kid RAN as far away from Santa as possible -- crying. His friend R retreated too. As did D and K. In fact, so many friends were fleeing, Ms. H asked Santa to go stand in the hall for anyone who wanted to visit with him. 

We already have the whole stranger danger going on with the man in the big red suit. Santa is not allowed in our house this year. Instead, X-man was comforted that Santa respected his fear of home invasion and just sent us his gifts. 

He likes Santa in theory. But in actual presence -- Not at all. Not even for presents. :-)

Mood Swings

I'm no slouch in the mood swing department. But my toddler seems to be the master. In between days where I'm getting knocked around a bit by his tantrums are days when he's super needy. Days when no one will do except Mama. At naptime and bedtime yesterday, X-man asked for his ba-ba (pacifier). Both times, I told him there were no ba-bas. That the ba-bas had gone to the babies, and that as a big boy, he got to do other cool things like go swimming in his new pool, play in his sand box and play with his new Mack Truck. (The Mac Truck was on sale for $16.99 at Toys R Us last week!) Last night, he got a little sad and asked for a hug. Then he laid in my arms like he did when he was a baby mumbling things. 

I asked him if he'd like me to sing him a song. He says, "Yes." So we start with ABC's. No, that's not right. Pick something else... back to an old standby... the song from Jaws. It's was his favorite at bedtime when he was tiny. 

The song finishes, he asks for more. I sang it three times. Then I wrapped him up in his dragon blanket from Ikea while he clutched his blankie, and I put him into bed. 

This morning, he stalled going to school at breakfast by eating his Cheerios one piece of cereal at a time. 

Then we got him dressed, and he said very clearly and matter of factly (which is pretty good for a kid who doesn't talk much), "I don't wanna go to the Turtle Room. Pandas, Mama, Pandas." It seems, similar to our friend Lightning McColin, X-man has some apprehension about moving rooms at school. 

I held him for a while, and he whimpered all the way to the car. Then in the car he got quiet and listened to the radio. At school he didn't want to come with us and stood at the car crying and pulling on the door handle. I held MacTroll's hand and at the sight of it, X-man ran up for hugs. Then we went into school, and I showed him where his cubby was, and his jacket hook and swimming bag. Then we went to wash hands in a bathroom with two mini toilets with two 2-3 year olds on them using them all by themselves. X-man stood in the doorway for a split second shocked. Then we washed hands and took him to Ms. Holly, who led him to a puzzle. 

I'm pretty sure by the time he makes it into the swimming pool at school at 3 p.m., he'll be glad he's a Turtle. But I can also see where knowing a lot of the kids can go potty by themselves, talk in full sentences all the time and have a bit more coordination is intimidating, particularly with new-to-him teachers in the room.

But my little man doesn't back away from a challenge. So I guess I better get on figuring out how to do this whole potty training thing and let him know that whenever he thinks of a ba-ba and misses them, I'm happy to hug him until he feels better.