Okay, last one I promised.

I found this reallly old video from 6 months ago and it stuns me for a couple of reasons:

1. I just retired those jeans he's wearing in the video, which were cuffed up and way too long. Now they just hit his ankles.
2. Look at him! That's the first week he learned to walk.

He could barely touch the door knobs, and now he twists them open to barge right in, yelling "HI MOM! HI DAD!"

I guess I never realize that he changes until I look back at the videos.

Pot Pourri.

While I was going through my photos, I stumbled upon these videos which didn't really fit with any post and weren't stunning enough to dserve their own. So, enjoy these mediocre clips of our better than mediocre child.


1. Oliver loves to watch video games, because he usually isn't allowed to. This game happened to be child friendly so he was allowed to watch. Thinking it was like our PlayStation Kinect games, he copied the actions on screen.



2. I don't remember what Oliver was doing that was cute, but he stopped as soon as I started filming. Story of my life.



3. Oliver dances in girls' pajamas. Desperate times...




Enjoy.

For Alyssa, our favorite stalker.

Here is a sleeping baby montage of sorts. There are all photos taken of him falling asleep in various places. I know you've seen them all but I feel like I should put them all together for a dramatic effect.

Perfect execution of the Dine & Doze.

The classic Lap Nap.

I call this Messy Hair, Butt in the Air.

MH,BH as seen from aerial observation deck.

Intense father/son sleep training session.

I swear he picked this outfit out. I just had to say that.

Busy weekend.

What a busy weekend. Jared graduated. I took Oliver in for a second opinion and found he has seasonal allergies. We put him on Zyrtec and BAM! He is sleeping again like a champ. Simple solution for a really hard problem. I'm glad it's over with finally.

We had Jared's parents here with us over the weekend so we mostly were hanging out with them. It was nice to have people around to play with Oliver.

I had apprehension about going to the graduation ceremony with Oliver, but it turned out very well. He slept in my arms through the welcoming and key note speakers. It felt really good to stand there and hold him as we watched Jared come in. It was a huge relief, such a huge achievement for us all... Finally, Jared is done. He can be home now with Oliver more often. We can do more together than eat a quick piece of toast in the morning and a shoddy dinner before bed.  Weekends will be like summer for us - we can get up together, we can run to Target together, we can spend all day doing nothing in particular together.

This might sound selfish, but when Pomp & Circumstance played I felt proud not only for Jared but also for myself. I helped him get there. I gave him clean clothes and decent food to eat. I dropped him off at school in cold weather, at odd hours, in the 15 minute rushes before papers were due. I spent hours and hours and hours alone taking care of Oliver. It was hard for me too, and I am happy that we made it. I gave myself a mental pat on the back.

But most of all, it was one more achievement to keep us away from being "statistics." So many articles about children of young parents make it seem like we're all terrible and incompetent. I was harshly judged for being pregnant and having a small child at the age of 20. And to me, graduating seemed like one more thing we could do to prove "them" wrong. That I'm not "too young" to parent.

Our child is developmentally on track. He's not ignored in some daycare room. He's not living in filth. We read to him. We feed him healthy (and unhealthy!) foods. We take the time to teach him things, to play with him, to talk to him. And it is working! He is sociable, intelligent, independent... all of the great things we could want for him. He exceeds our greatest expectations.

If anything, our age has permitted us to be more flexible with him. We can admit (without shame!) that we don't really know what we're doing, and we can ask for help. We're not so far removed from his age and his "generation" that we can't relate to him. We haven't forgotten how to play.

So sure, we don't have the money of older couples and we don't have the favor of society, but we're getting there. One day we'll be real adults.

Congratulations, Daddy! We love you.

Nap? I want to sleep at night.

I'm ready to forget about his naps if he'll go back to sleeping at night. Last night he went to bed at 8:20 and got up at... 11:15! PM! Since Jared had gotten like 6 hours of sleep by that point, he got up with him and tried to make him go back to sleep. It didn't work.

Finally, at 3:30AM, we took him out for a drive to get him to fall back asleep. Since Jared got up with him this morning, I'm not sure what time he woke up but I feel like it was way too early.  I really have no idea what to do with him.

We went to the Doctor's office on Monday. It was a big waste of time. He had no advice, and he didn't even want to examine him to see if he was sick. He told me to "look online and read some books" .... as if I hadn't done that already. He also told me he only needs 9 hours of sleep a day. That I should put him into a big boy bed right now. That I should never let him cry for any amount of time. He then referred me to a specialist which has openings in.... 6.5 months! Great! That'll solve all my problems.

 I'm just not dealing with this well. I hate not getting sleep. I need a lot of sleep. The sleep I do get is riddled with nightmares now. I walk around yawning all day and forgetting what I'm doing. I nod off while I'm watching him and he gets into stuff around the house.  I am completely disorganized and way behind everything that I'm supposed to have done. I'm feeling so overwhelmed, and at 3:00AM when he is screaming I just want to scream right back at him.

And you know, if this were all by itself, maybe it would be fine but I'm also supposed to be getting ready for Jared's graduation this weekend and for our wedding in 6 weeks. I can't do it if I can't sleep. I am endlessly and hopelessly behind.

Sleeping through dinner.

And guess what. Even after that, he still screamed when we put him to bed. There is no winning.

P.S. Video attached for you email subscribers. And also I feel like I should add that he spent all day throwing our (clean) laundry around the house, pouring cheerios into our couch, and ramming his dump truck into various things.

Nap Battles.

Guess what! He's still not napping. Today I turned down all the lights in the house, turned off all noise, and read him the same three books over and over again until he fell asleep in my lap. Then, I picked him up, he realized we were heading to the bedroom, and he screamed. I put him down and he was silent for 2 minutes. Just long enough for me to get my hopes up. Then he screamed more. Sadistic, sadistic child.

He is sleeping less and less. He's getting up earlier and earlier in the morning and going to bed later and later. He is a zombie. And he's starting to get crabby. Really crabby.

And, worse yet, I'm starting to get crabby. I function very poorly when I don't get enough sleep. I've been having problems sleeping even before this so now I feel completely screwed. I just want to go to bed.

I've been trying to remember that me being grumpy makes him seem 10x grumpier than he really is, but it's hard. Really hard. Terribly hard not to be grumpy when I am so sleepy and there is so much to do.