Ready for Spring Break

It's funny to read my last blog entry because I said "so far so good" with his transition to his new bed. Well, it wasn't good at 2:30am on Feb. 16th because I woke up to hear a huge "thump" from Mark's room and I heard it...that heart-stopping "I'm in SERIOUS pain!" cry. As soon as I heard it, I knew it wasn't good. And then I made it to his room, and there he was laying next to his bed and when I picked him up, I saw blood. I tried not to freak out, but I knew that it couldn't be good. I took him downstairs, got him some milk, turned on the tv, and calmed him down. I gave him ibuprofen for the pain and tried to look at his head. Apparently he found some way to fall of his bed at an angle that made his head it a corner. It didn't look tremedously bad at 3am, but I was tired and it was dark. When I got him up at 6:30am to get him ready for day care, I tried to get a washcloth to get a better look at his head. That's when I knew it wasn't good. So I drove to our doctor's office, made it there by 7:45am and our amazing doctor looked at his poor head. Mark was acting completely normal, but as the doctor and the nurse cleaned the wound and brushed aside his red hair, what was at first a "1-stitch" wound ended up being a "3-stitch" wound. So I held little Mark down and looked at his face to try to sing to him as the doctor and two nurses gave him a numbing shot and three stitches in his head. I didn't look at any of it, and tried to be a good, calming mother.

One week later, he got the stitches out and I just pray that it'll be a while before that boy splits his head open again.

But in one week my Spring Break will start! I think all the students and teachers are ready for it. The trick is thinking of ways to make class fun, engaging and educational.

And Mark is still amazing. He's constantly astounding us with what he knows. When I ask him (if he's in the mood), "What letter does f-f-flower start with?" he'll tell me, "F!" without hesitating. As long as I sound out the letter, he can tell me what it is. And he LOVES Thomas the tank engine. He's got the wooden railway and loves to play with it.

We're also trying to potty train him. For the most part, he's doing pretty good. He still has an occasional accident, but he's mostly good if you remind him. It's still not his idea to sit on the potty, but he'll go if you ask him.

So, Mark's hungry, I'm hungry and Craig's on his way home. So I've gotta get dinner ready! Adios!

Starting a blog

What's in a name? What's in a blog? A blog is spot for your thoughts, they say. So may my thoughts be thoughtful enough to enlighten your day.

I don't intend to rhyme with each blog. And I don't know who else will actually read this, but I had someone tell me once that a blog was awesome for a mom with a little baby because I can just blog what my kid does and it's kind of like the kid's baby journal. So when Mark is graduating from college with a PhD, I can say, "I remember when you learned to read the word poop before you were 2 1/2," and actually have the blog to prove it. Because my word (spoken or written) is as good as gold, and I would never lie. Especially when it comes to bragging about Mark. He's absolutely adorable in every way, and because pictures speak louder than words, I'll try to post pictures too. And of course videos prove that what I saw is true as well.

So on to the most recent amazing achievements of Mark, who turns exactly 28 months old on December 28th, 2008, is writing. And when I say writing, I mean actually writing letters. Yesterday, I was amazed when he drew what looked like to be a backwards nine, and he said, "A G!" And after turning my head upside down, I realized the "nine" wasn't closed in all the way, and there was an almost perfectly shaped upside-down G. I have also found the letter "H" written rather often, even in our nice coffee table book. He has also clearly written the letter A, C, D, E, F, I, J, K, L, M, N, O (that's one of his favorites), P, Q, S, T, U, V, W, and Y. So if I can just get him to do an R, then he'll be able to write all the letters in his name. Those are all the letters I can clearly remember seeing him draw without any help from an adult.

What amazes me is how he can transpose letters in his head. Like the other day he point to an N and said "Z!" At first I was going to correct him, until I realized his head was turned to the right, and when I turned my head as well, I realized, he was exactly right. The N was a Z. And when he turned his head straight he identified it as an N. So he definitely knows his letters and it amazes me how he can see them everywhere. His spaghetti was "J" the other day, and he moved to sticks to make a T, V, L and I. He found a branch at his daycare and proudly showed his daycare lady how it was a "Y."

What can I say? My boy is a genius. Except he now says "Barbara, look!" every time he wants to show you something. Barbara is his day care lady. So besides having to correct him and tell him that no, I'm Mama, he's perfectly brilliant. :-)

You know, I really could keep rambling about all the amazing things Mark does every day. He's the twinkle in my eye. He's getting over a bad cold right now, but he still lights up and shouts, "Christmas!" every time he sees Christmas lights on a house. He was scared to sit on Santa's lap, but what 2 year old boy isn't? I think he's excited for Christmas though. He's loved opening the presents so far he's gotten from day care... :-)

So with that thought I'll end my first blog entry. May it not be my last.