moving day

Dear blogger.com,

I'm leaving you.
It's not you. It's me.
You've probably heard that a million times.
But it's the truth.

You see.
I've rekindled an old love.
And his name is Photography.

Surely you must have seen this coming.
I've dropped hints.
You've seen a few photographs.
I hope we can still be friends.

Sincerely,
Cynthia

http://talesfromdamotherhood.wordpress.com/

I've moved my blog to WordPress, my friends. And, yes I'm dropping my SAHM-I-AM alias. I haven't written anything new there yet but I hope to soon. I've also created a photography blog called a picture in time. Nothing much to see there yet either but I hope you'll come to visit me one day.

the sum of me

Instead of writing a post, I've managed to waste time creating this word cloud ... the top 150-ish words appearing in my blog since I created it a year ago. The bigger the word, the more frequent it appears. The shape reminds me slightly of a thumb print.

potty watch

The path to successful potty training, not unlike sleeping through the night, for Little Dude has been a long worn one fraught with many ups and downs. With every 2 steps forward, we're almost immediately met with a step back. Last night, when I asked Little Dude when he was going to go potty on his own, he cheekily answered, "Don't worry, mommy. I'll go in March."

This morning at breakfast he announced that he was never going to go potty again. Yikes. Back to square one! I needed a different tactic and went on a hunt while the boys were at nursery school.

I presented Little Dude with the Potty Watch, a $14 purchase, at lunch time. He liked the music it played and agreed to put it on. The idea is that every 30, 60 or 90 minutes a musical alarm will go off to let Little Dude know that it was time to go potty. I set the timer to 60 minutes.

Ten minutes before the music was scheduled to come on, Little Dude came rushing by announcing that he had to poop and off he went to the bathroom to do his deed. "Put the music on, mommy," he asked still sitting on the toilet. And I did. Over and over. Finally, I told him that he had to wait another hour for the music to come back on.

The alarm went off while Little Dude was watching tv. Okay, here we go. The true test. I reminded Little Dude that the music meant it was potty-time, put the tv on pause and helped him out of his pants. Off he ran towards the bathroom. Minutes later, I heard, "Put the music on again! I peed!"

So here we are again. Back on track. How long the potty watch music will hold his interest, I don't know. I hoping much longer than the purple truck and trailer set did.

At least, he's going again.

update: Five hours. That's how long it took Little Dude to figure out that you have to press 2 buttons simultaneously and then the blue button to toggle through the settings to get the damn watch to stay on "play music" mode. The good news is that he's still going to the potty. [Sigh]

a year in review

February 6th will mark my first anniversary of blogging. Given that I haven't posted here in weeks, it seems absurd to even mention it. But here I am reflecting on the year past. My year of blogging sporadically.

So instead of celebrating my blog (a modest total of 63 posts ... 64 including this one), I think it is more fitting for me to celebrate the act of blogging. Briefly. Because it's late and the Good Man has just asked me to not be too long.

Thank you blogosphere for providing me with free therapy as I muddle my way through motherhood.

Thank you all you mommy bloggers out there. I love the way your stories make me think, reflect and laugh out loud.

Thank you to the few people out there who have taken the time to comment on my posts. It means more to me than you'll ever know.

In particular, thank you SMUKKE, a mom living in Europe who doesn't blog herself but followed my ramblings silently. You reached out to me with the most helpful advise and comments during a rough patch with LittleR Dude. You did not know me, yet you seemed to know me the most. I was so self-absorbed at the time that I forgot to really thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm sorry I haven't posted lately. To be honest, I've been using my camera more than words to capture my life as a mom raising two boys and have been posting them on a personal site.

I offer you a sampling of the latest photographs I've taken of my family in this video slideshow:

big imples

I'm sitting on the toilet. LittleR Dude walks to the open door and asks, "Can I come in?!"

He sits on the stool directly across from me and notices a magazine hanging sideways on the towel rack. There's an ad showing the back of a woman. She has nothing on except a thin line of body lotion wrapping around the back of her neck mimicking halter top strings tied into a bow.

"She's naked."

"Yes, she is."

"She has big imples."

"Her elbows are little big." More bony than big, I think to myself.

"Her imples are big." He points to her shoulder blades.

I turn my head sideways to see the ad right-side up. A light bulb switches on inside my head.

"Oh, that's her back. You can't see her front."

"I have big imples," he says tweeking them.

I smile.

"You have big imples," he adds and I redivert the little fingers reaching towards me, wrapping them around my neck instead.

2010

Early last night, I bade 2009 a fond farewell without fanfare and told 2010 that I'd see her the next morning. I needed the rest and so did the Good Man. But 2010 wasn't having any of it. I was startled awake thinking someone just got shot outside my window. Fireworks! Damn. The clock showed 12:09 and Little Dude was crying for daddy. The Good Man settled him back to sleep. Half an hour later, bang! More fireworks.

Today, on the 1st day of 2010, the Good Man and I cleaned up after the messiest wet poop exploding out of LittleR Dude ever. It went down the length of one leg. Covered the bottom of his feet. In between one set of toes. Tracked in the kitchen. And, escaped clumps in the family room.

2010, I see it's going to be that kind of year, huh?! You just couldn't cut a girl recovering from pneumonia and her tired hubby some slack. Here are my resolutions, you b!tch.

I will celebrate the coming of 2011

Because this year can't end fast enough. And I can't believe it's only Day 1.

I will stop thinking that it's still okay to be seen in public in maternity clothes

A repeat of last year's. Voice screaming in my head: "Your youngest son is over 2 years old! You're not pregnant and will never be again. It's been assured in multiple ways. Put the stuff in a box, seal it with duct tape and give it to charity. Pants with a stretchy waist band that goes over your gut is NOT a good look unless you are pregnant. You have a big ass. Accept it and buy some big ass pants."

I will floss my teeth

Because I've got an appointment in mid-January.

I will put more thought into mom's Christmas gift

She really scored big this year. A scarf from Louis Vutton. Another one from Hermes. A Burberry watch. From me, she got a 3-container CrockPot for all her entertaining needs. I'm so lame. Next year, I'm going to swipe a Mercedes hood ornament and put it on her Toyota. [Insert sorry-ass nervous laughter here.] So very lame. Note: No, my siblings are not rich. They just love my mom way more than I do.

I will stop swearing in my blog

It's not how I've been raised. And, I think my mom might be reading my blog. (By the way Mom, I was kidding about loving you less. I love you lots and lots.)

I will have the boys see more of their grandmas and grandpa

My little guys just absolutely loved having grandma L and grandpa F visit over the holidays. When it was time to take them to the airport, they packed their toy trains in their nursery school backpacks with the expectation of going on that plane with them. At home Little Dude asked mournfully, "Are they coming back?"

Earlier in the week after an overnight stay at grandma N, Little Dude asked, "Mommy, I want to ask you something. Can we drive to grandma's house, put her in the van and take her here?" Oh, dear child, abduction is a punishable offense. How about we call her in the morning?

There. I wrote that last one without swearing.

Good night, y'all. Hope 2010 brings you good health and happiness all around.