All personality, all the time

Jayden is a character!!!  I can't even explain.

He's just hilarious.

I'm ready to get really angry with someone at Google/Blogger/wherever.  I pay for extra storage, I'm using something like 1/50th of that storage and I still can't upload videos.  So in the meantime I'll add regular photos and hope that I can figure out how to get videos up here again someday.  In any case.  Here's the good stuff:

Even when Jayden is tired and grouchy, he still manages to make me laugh.  Tonight he was clearly tired.  At dinnertime he couldn't push the pasta on to his spoon, so he was sobbing, with tears literally streaming down his face.   He'd get one bite of pasta on his spoon, eat it and then start sobbing again when he couldn't get the next piece on his spoon.  I felt bad for him, sort of, but really it was hilarious.  I had to try really hard not to laugh.  And I'm sure I laughed a little bit.

Last weekend we had a really low-key weekend.  We barely left the house except for two meals and a trip to the grocery store by me and Jayden.  It was good, though, and nice to be home and relaxed.  I think we're all a little worn out.

Passing out in his sunglasses, because it was "bwight," on the way to the restaurant for lunch on Sunday.  About five minutes after we got in the car we realized we shouldn't have gone.  But by that point it was too late.  We had a good lunch, it just meant I didn't get the nap break at the house later.  Oh well.

Carmen left for a marathon trip Wednesday morning, hitting at least four states, more if you include layovers. When I tell people I'm single-momming it for a few days (and without any local family/friends for support), people feel bad for me. But honestly, single mothering Jayden isn't so bad.  The times I feel it the worst are after Jayden has gone to bed and I'm all alone with nobody to talk to but Jasmine.  And Jasmine is sweet, but she has never once given me career advice or anything else.

This was Wednesday night.

Jayden's fits are almost funny, except when we're trying to get something done.  On Wednesday night, that orange bump on the stairs was Jayden, protesting about coming upstairs.  It was almost hilarious.  Luckily, one of Carmen's friends/co-workers stopped by in the middle of the fit, while I was changing his diaper on the stairs, because that's what he required.  I tossed him in his room, butt naked, closed the gate and ran downstairs.  Because my husband is brilliant, he forgot a winter coat and part of his trip involves going to Denver, where it's negative something, I'm sure.  So his co-worker was picking up his coat to give to another co-worker who happened to be going to Denver tomorrow and will meet him at her hotel (sketchy, I know, but he assures me it's fine ;)).  In any case, the interruption was exactly what we needed.  After I went back upstairs, Jayden was in a great mood and went to bed quite easily. So apparently I need to schedule an interruption every evening around 7:10 pm.  I'll keep that in mind.

He'd also come down with yet another cold - a runny nose, a cough and a very slight fever on Wednesday.  I drugged him up and threw him in bed (again).  He slept a little more than 11 hours Wednesday night and woke up feeling much better Thursday morning.  I still wasn't convinced he was 100% so I took a half-day sick day on Thursday and picked him up after his nap.  We came home early, ran around outside (because that's how you get over a cold, apparently) and then ate dinner and went upstairs.  I was so happy I got home early with him; it really made our evening so much better.

This morning we were up on time and out the door by 7:45ish.  I have a clinic every Friday morning so when Carmen isn't home Jayden doesn't get to eat breakfast at home with me, and I don't eat breakfast.  Sad, but Jayden doesn't mind.  I drop him off and he runs straight to his seat at the table and starts eating his cereal.  Apparently he's very strict about what's his.  One morning Carmen dropped him off, someone else was holding his water cup and he ran over and grabbed it out of the kid's hands.  Carmen started to admonish him and Juju explained it was technically "his" cup so he had a right to it.  If nothing else, Jayden is really good with rules!

I had a busy day today, but Jayden and I had pasta for dinner and a great time after dinner once the tears subsided.

Lots o' pictures for Daddy.  Carmen called while we were getting ready for bed.  Jayden answers the phone now when Daddy's on the other end.  The other morning we were walking and somehow Jayden heard my phone (I didn't) and goes "Daddy!"  I started to laugh and tell him "No, Daddy is in Atlanta (or Alabama, or wherever)," but then I heard my phone and realized how few people call me.  ;)

In any case, Jayden can actually talk on the phone now, especially when there's a picture of the person he's talking to.  I need to put in a picture of everyone important.  But because he can see the picture of Daddy, he thinks Carmen can see whatever he shows him.  So tonight he walked around his room and bathroom, showing him all kinds of different things.  He showed him his baba (his giraffe lovey) laying in his bed; he showed him the cool ball he was throwing up in the air over and over again; he showed him his medicine on the counter in the bathroom.  I had to be careful to explain to Carmen what he was "looking" at and when he was "looking" at it.  Luckily Carmen played along.  He also cracked up when Jayden ran in to the room after one of his circuits around the second floor and exclaimed "I fahhhted!"  With Jayden, there is no shame.  Jayden and I also did some jumps and some dancing after he went potty in the toilet again tonight.  Yay!  We had just taken off his diaper and he was playing around.  Suddenly he stopped and ran into the bathroom and sat on the potty and went pee shortly thereafter.  Sometimes I wonder if I really want to potty train him if I should just let him run around with nothing on and see what happens.  I'm sure I'd clean up some accidents, but I'm also pretty sure Jayden would pick it up pretty quickly.

A couple more stories:
1. Jayden and I went to swim lessons on Tuesday evening.  We got to swim in the "big" pool, which is the outdoor pool, because the little pool was having maintenance done.  Jayden was incredibly excited to be in the big pool and spent his entire time splashing everywhere.  The cool thing was that he actually floated horizontally, face down, in the pool.  I was so impressed.  He'd jump off my leg, land face first, float for a second or two holding his breath, and then kick his feet and move his arms in an attempt to swim.  Inevitably as soon as he started moving he'd sink, but he's at least getting the idea.  He was also the only kid in the five kid class who didn't start screaming.  He was happy and grinning the entire time.  At the end of class, Ms. Stacy grabbed this surfboard and used it as a slide.  The other kids would barely sit on the surfboard at all, but Jayden sat on the far end and let Ms. Stacy dump him into the water.  I didn't even catch him, but let him sink and come back up before grabbing him.  It's so fun to see him so happy in the water.
He really wanted to go to the "swimmmm cool" (aka swimming pool) tonight, but I had to explain they were closed and that we could go in the morning.  It caused a minor episode in the car tonight but he got over it when we saw "big wigs" and "mo-cycles" on the "fweeeway" driving home.
2. Juju has started doing lessons a couple times during the week.  On Wednesday they learned things that start with the letter "P": pigs, penguins, pears, pencils, etc.  She sends the folder home with whatever they did that day so that we can see too and talk about it with the kids.  I love it.  It's not homework, because it's fun, and it lets me know a little bit about what's going on at daycare.  So we talked about what he learned and what the pictures were.  Jayden is also incredibly proud of his folder.  It has "fwogs," "stawws," "heawts" and a "fwower" on it.  It's awesome.  It actually has "thwee fwogs," a "puhple" one, a pink one and a "yewow" one.   Today he learned the number "five."  When we were on the phone with Carmen I asked him what number he learned about today.  He said "two!"  I said, "no, you learned the number FIVE!"  He said "OH!  yeah, five!"  It was hilarious.  As if he understood what I was saying and that he understood he got it wrong.  It's so cute.  

There's another story I wanted to tell you, but yet again, I can't remember it.  I will someday.  AND I am going to figure out how to upload the videos.  Someday.