Chicago Moms Blog

Parent vs. Toddler vs. Parent

Parenting a two and a half year old has proven to be quite the challenge.  To marathon runners I say, "I don't need to run a marathon.  I have a toddler".  We've entered the stage where the toddler has decided that she runs the show..or at least "thinks" she does.  I sit here, as she screams bloody murder through the monitor.  She's doing it again.  She does not want to nap.  She did not want to sleep last night.  We were awake for about four hours with her in the middle of the night.  She wouldn't tell us what was wrong.  She would only point her finger in our faces and say, "I NOT going to sleep ANYMORE!"  I can  only assume she may have had too much sugar and napped for too long yesterday.  The daily routine has been working just fine but all of the sudden, we are having major issues around bedtime and nap time.

This new change is making it very hard for me to concentrate, especially since I work from home.  I could turn off the monitor but that doesn't stop the echo of wails and banging fists on the crib rails, which we just  re-attached to the toddler bed at three a.m. this morning.  That was all we could think to do, after putting her back to bed a countless number of times of her getting up, screaming and following us back into our room.  I question what could be the matter.  Could she have had a nightmare?  A stomach ache?  Could she be thirsty?  I've made an attempt to soothe her by rubbing her back and her tummy. But that's not it.  She just doesn't want to sleep.  She wants to test us.  She wants to see how far she can push us.

Just Another He Surfed/She Surfed Story

by Matt

My wife and I spend our evenings – after the kids are in bed, of course – pretty much glued to our matching PowerBooks. Friends of ours, also parents, refer to time spent like this as "parallel play with laptops."

If you didn't look at our screens, you'd think that we were both up to the same thing: working, checking email, surfing the web. But if you stop and listened for a while, you'd hear more clickety-clack from Jordan's direction than you'd hear from mine. A lot more.

That's because, of course, she's busy writing, for this blog and her own. And composing emails, no doubt. And occasionally IMing with one of our handful of friends who even know what IMing is.

And what am I up to, over here

Wrapped around her little finger

My beautiful wife Amy thought that I should take a little break from reviewing the next big band over at my own music blog Can You See the Sunset... and contribute something here.

So today was a beautiful, crisp day here in the Western 'burbs.  I was home early and decided it would be nice to take our O.O.C. (out of control) 23 month old daughter on a little jog.  She usually just talks up a storm and points out clouds, cars, bunnies, dogs, and says that the sun in in her eyes.  After about 10 minutes, I realized that she was being awfully quiet.  I stopped running and looked down at her only to find

Because She Said Yes

A simple list was all it took to start off our perfect life together.

Guests read “31 Reasons why Eric Loves Marcie” to my wife at our rehearsal dinner. She was shocked and amazed. Some were funny, some were serious, and some were shrouded in dirty innuendos that only she and I knew. Each one was crafted with love and humor but each was meant to capture a moment in time and to let her know how much I really cared.

Man, how life has changed since then. We set off with the perfect plan for life;

They say your life changes

They say that your life changes when you have kids, but they, as usual, aren’t exactly right. In fact, I’d argue that not much in our lives has changed, or at least not significantly, since Z was born, and certainly not much more since Baby A was born two months ago. We still have the same jobs, like the same foods, still spend time doing the same things we did before.

The biggest difference between “now” (life with two kids) and the rapidly fading memory of a pre-kids “then” is one of freedom.  Our lives haven’t changed much, but they have been divided up into much smaller (and far less flexible) parcels.

“Then” we were free to do whatever we want, whenever we wanted. Now,

Testosterone Day

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