Weekend of happy mom memories

I got up bright and early (7:51am) on Saturday as it was "my day" to wake up with Reilly. I decided to get us dressed and go run some errands, and had the brilliant idea to call a friend and her son who's a year older than my little one to meet us at Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A is by far the best rainy Satuday lunch spot on the planet. Not only do the kids get chicken nuggets (classic diet staple), but they get fruit and milk and a book. AND there's an indoor playscape built for the little kids. Our kids played for a SOLID one and a half hours! Leading to a 2.5 hour nap afterwards. So awesome.

Then on Sunday, we went to a co-worker's house who has horses and she showed my kiddo how to brush the horse and then threw a saddle on him (the horse, not the kid) and let Reilly ride around her property. And then took him around the property again, after a very happy "I wanna go again!" My favorite moment was when he yelled "Giddyup!"

I felt like an awesome mom this weekend. Truly memorable moments.

Then Monday rolled around and we were back to the "Hurry up, honey, mommy has to get to work!" routine. *sigh*

Two more weeks until family vacation! Jeers to British Petroleum for ruining our beach vacation, but we'll still have a good time at the grandparents' house since they have a pool! Not looking forward to that 16 hour drive, though...

Constant Stream of Noise

Today was rough. It was a clingy and chatty day for my son. It was like I had the TV on all day but never saw a thing. A constant stream of noise but none of it amounted to any substance. He ends all sentences with "Right?" and replies to all comments with "Why?" If I use the Mommy tune-out he will continue to repeat his statements until I acknowledge some recognition. My auto-pilot now includes random interjections of "yes", "that's right", and head shaking. I've tried several techniques for a little quiet but none of them seem to work. He follows me around while I do house cleaning, talks over the vacuum (and usually pulls out his extremely loud lawn mower to help with the job), he even talks between bites while eating. Naptime is usually the only peaceful time in this house and now those are lost since I have to nap myself. When he's home there's no time to myself.

I was blessed with a child that is motivated by mommy and daddy's approval. He has a STRONG moral compass and wants to make sure (every second) that he is on the right path and that he is thinking the right way or doing the right things. I know this but it still wears on me. I have tried answering his questions with questions rather than definitive answers. It seems to help but it takes more effort on my part and is very exhausting. On day's like today I can usually only muster up "Yes's" and "Uh huh's".

I have only 2 hours a day and 2 days a weekend to set, correct, and maintain proper behavior. It is a constant science experiment to see what is ACTUALLY going on. I know from my bachelors degree in child psychology (and watching a few episodes of Super Nanny) that almost all childhood problems stem from parenting. Fix the parents, fix the children. It's just really tough to do in 2 hours.