[Yash]

Have you seen her
Tell me have you seen her


Have you seen my baby? I know when it all changed when I brought Layla into work for a quick visit on Good Friday (yes, I know…we worked on Good Friday….My boss tells me something like if we don’t work then nothing will get on the air…It’s Good Friday…can’t we put a picture of an empty tomb on the screen while “I come to the garden alone/While the dew is still on the roses..” but that’s just me)…But I digress. But suffice to say after becoming reacquainted with her adoring work family and getting the basics on how to play poker (nothing like a little extra cash to help out with the golf scholarship), Layla changed. She turned into a toddler.

My bouncing 15-month-old no longer wants to be held. She pushes against you and squirms to get down. She is holding onto things, walking around the house. My baby!!!! She’s constantly standing, getting into everything. My baby is gone. She now puckers her mouth and spits food out, if she doesn’t want it. What happened to my baby with minimum taste buds? What happened to my baby that thought prune juice and water was a great drink? She can unplug things, pull her Oma’s records out of the stereo. You think you’re redirecting her by placing her somewhere else, but she just discovers new things to get into.

“Mommy, aren’t trash cans meant to be turned over and the trash inside played with?”

“Mommy, isn’t the goal of a bath to see how far I can splash water? Or how many times I can splash my sister in the face? No, it isn’t? Are you sure?”

How can she be so selfish? Doesn’t she understand that there is a 98% chance that she is the last baby I will ever call my own? How quickly time flies…I came home nearly four months ago with a baby and now I have a toddler. A cute toddler mind you, but I miss my baby….

I love Rowan. Let me start by saying that. I love her with all my heart. But if Jory acted as like Rowan did at the age of two, then he would have been an only child. Two-year-old Rowan has three modes…crying, whining, and screaming (CWS). A friend asked why she was crying, my response was because the sky is blue. Because the sun is in the sky. Take your pick. She screams because Jory took her toy, because Layla touched her. She screams so much, I don’t even run when she screams. I now understand why people only have boys. I look at my precious Layla and pray she doesn’t turn out like Rowan.

A smart woman told me that Rowan is just really sensitive and will one day grow out of this CWS phase, I don’t want to rush life by but I can’t wait for that day. In the in-between CWS phase, this two-year-old smiles at me or learns something new or does something incredible and I forget about everything else. I think this is why I love this incredibly brilliant little girl.

As for the potty training…UGH!!!! I won’t even mention that at twenty-six months Jory was completely potty trained. I won’t mention that. How can you device stealth ways to get at food and drinks, but you refuse to tell me when you have to go to the bathroom? Literally the other week, she peed while standing on the toilet seat lid. REALLY?!?!?! And they say girls are easier. LIES!

Jory came home weighing a whopping six pounds and two ounces. When we went to his one month doctor’s appointment and he weighed in at eight pounds, I remember walking outside and immediately calling my sister.

“He weighs eight pounds,” I cried. Visions of being on Maury with a two-year-old who weighed eighty pounds danced through my head.

“He’s supposed to gain weight,” she replied in all her wisdom. “Some people have babies that weigh eight pounds at birth.”

What in the world?! How do you do anything with a newborn that big, I wondered.

And now that one-month-old eight pounder is now four-years-old, weighs more than thirty pounds, and now goes to school. Here is my Easter conversation with the educated Jory.

“Mommy, George Washington invented the peanut.”

“George Washington Carver invented many uses for the peanut.”

“George Washington Carver invented the peanut.”

“No, he didn’t invent the peanut. He discovered many uses for the peanut.”

“Miss Hampton (his teacher) says he invented the peanut.”

“No, he didn’t,” I responded.

“I had this conversation with him already and I gave up,” his Oma piped in.

There is no way a four-year-old is beating me.

“God invented the peanut.”

“No, he didn’t,” Jory countered.

Dude, it’s on like Rae Dawn Chong….”Ask your teacher did God invent the peanut or George Washington Carver.”

Silence. I thought so.

“I want to visit him,” Jory announced.

“Who? George Washington Carver?”

“Yes.”

“He’s dead.”

“Did the police shoot him?”

Dude, what have I told you about sneaking out of your bed while mommy and Oma watch 24 and Criminal Minds….And Jack Bauer is not a cop, he’s CTU. And the crew at CM are FBI. “No, the police didn’t shoot him. He died of old age.”

“Can we visit him?”

If he’s buried in a state that Mommy hasn’t already been to in her goal to go to all fifty states before she’s too old. (FYI – he’s buried at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Been there, done that. But he was born in Missouri and I haven’t been there.)

Educated Jory is fun, but there’s nothing like big brother Jory. While driving back from church, Layla decided she would cry all the home and the whole ride Jory tried to soothe her.

“It’s okay, Koala Bear. Koala Bear, it’s okay.”

My heart melted. I love this kid. And this kid loves his little sisters. Though maybe his love for Layla is being downgraded. Once upon a time, he could give his baby sister any toy and go and pick it back up whenever he wanted and she said nothing. But toddler Layla isn’t having it.

“Mommy, the baby is messing up my fire station,” Jory whined from his Lego table.

I guess I was supposed to get the stacked and connected Legos were supposed to be a fire station. Okay, if you say so, Jory. “Layla, leave your brother’s fire station alone.”

Holding onto the table with one hand and the other hand holding a Lego in her mouth, Layla looked up at me, removed the Lego from her mouth and smiled.

Okay, cute smile. Cute baby. But that’s not going to work. “Leave it alone.”

Seconds later, a crying Jory tugged on my shirt. “Mommy, the baby won’t leave my fire station alone.”

“Layla, leave your brother’s stuff alone.”

Once again she smiled. Okay, it’s now really time for intervention, so I picked her up, gave Jory back the slobbery Lego, and redirected her, which meant she crawled to the bathroom.

I think Layla has been officially put in the same category as Rowan, little sisters who bother your stuff. Where is the love, the love, the love?

I’ve also discovered and try not to laugh at stern Jory.

As I was doing Rowan’s hair, yesterday, I heard a splash. “Jory, is Layla playing in the toilet?”

“Yes.”

UGH! “Get her out of there and bring her here.”

As Jory struggles to carry his sister who weighs nearly half as much as he does, I heard him say, “Baby, don’t play in the toilet. That’s nasty.”

Now you’re going to play the heavy?! Really?!?! When you saw her putting her hands in the toilet that was okay; but when mommy gets involved, now you’re going to reprimand her?

“Mommy, dry her hands cause their wet and dirty.”

What would I do without the helpful and insightful four-year-old. Thank God, the toilet was clean.

Where are my babies? Where have they gone?


There’s some strangers in my house
Took a while to figure out
There’s no way they could be
Who they say are
They’ve got to be someone else

Cause Jory wouldn’t talk like that
And Rowan wouldn’t scream like she does
They would adore me
And Layla would still be a baby
That’s why I’m convinced there are strangers in my house

[Cjmeck]

That is just beautiful! Seriously, tears in my eyes! I think you just summed up my life Especially the toilet scene, btdt. You are a gifted writer. Thank you for sharing that...print it out for your kids when they're older.

[Yash]

Originally Posted by Cjmeck

That is just beautiful! Seriously, tears in my eyes! I think you just summed up my life Especially the toilet scene, btdt. You are a gifted writer. Thank you for sharing that...print it out for your kids when they're older.

Thanks, Jen. I'm glad you liked it.

[saj]

Wonderful insite and so skillfully written. More...I want more.........

[Yash]

Originally Posted by saj

Wonderful insite and so skillfully written. More...I want more.........

Thank you. If only those kids' mom had more free time to write more.

[Synesthesia]

That could not be more heartmeltingly adorable!

I want kids.

[Yash]

Originally Posted by Synesthesia

That could not be more heartmeltingly adorable!

I want kids.

Thank you. Your turn will be here before you know it.