Difference Between Sons and Daughters

Among the many differences between sons and daughters, this is one that I realized the other day...

When a daughter asks to fix her Mommy's hair, she brings a brush, hair bands, and bows. 

When a son says "I wanna fix Mama's hair," he carts over his Handy Manny tool box and winds his singing pliers in to your hair before yanking hard.

Fun times, friends. Fun times. 

Nap Time Woes

Little Boy has decided that he only needs one nap a day now instead of two. Actually he decided that several weeks ago, but I refused to comply and insisted on putting him down for two naps anyway even though he spent at least one of those nap periods giving loud, long, boisterous speeches and shaking his crib so hard I thought the bed would just collapse on top of him. Apparently we have a much sturdier crib than I would have guessed.

So I have finally relented and am allowing Little Boy to only take one nap a day. Only Little Boy is not entirely sure when he wants to have that one nap. Some days he wants to go to bed at 9am. Other days he doesn't want a nap until 2pm. If by chance I put him down too early, the entire house is subjected to one of those long-loud-boisterous speeches which are actually becoming less cute and more angry as he gets more frustrated about being forced to sleep when he doesn't want to. I also run the risk of him refusing to go down for another nap later in the day when he actually becomes tired enough to sleep. And if by chance I put him down too late, he's overtired and sleeps less than an hour causing him to be even more overtired and an absolute nightmare as the afternoon goes on. Sounds lovely, yes?

So I am at a complete loss of how to handle this transition from two naps to only one. I'm assuming most moms survive this phase? Any survival suggestions for a desperate mom? Because with me and Aiden facing off over these nap time woes, I feel that planes are crashing mid-air almost every afternoon!

Yucky

Little Boy learns new words every day, which is absolutely so fun. He started using his first phrase - "What's that?" - a couple of weeks ago, and my favorite use of that phrase occurred during breakfast on Sunday. I had just handed him two slices of string cheese, and out of the corner of my eye, I watched him peer at them for a moment, pick them up, and then hurl them to the ground as if they had offended him in some way. I turned around and said, "Aiden, what did you just do with your cheese?" He surveyed his tray intently, then glanced over one side of the high chair, and then looked over the other side where the cheese lay defeated on the floor. He gasped and said, "Uh-oh! What's that?" in a tone that clearly said, "How in the world did my cheese get on the floor over here?" Where do kids learn these tricks?! Too cute!

But, friends, I am now in trouble from my hubby for teaching Aiden a not-so-cute word: Yucky. My intentions were good, I assure you. I thought "yucky" would be a great way to teach Aiden certain boundaries without teaching him the dreaded N-O word.

"Yucky" to pulling dirty diapers and wipes out of the diaper pail
"Yucky" to eating kernels of cat food that he found on the kitchen floor
"Yucky" to playing in the outdoor garbage cans on the side of the house

Unfortunately I failed to think through the possibility that Aiden might begin to grasp the concept of this word and start using it on his own terms.

"Yucky" to green beans for lunch just before he sends them flying through the air like green torpedoes
"Yucky" to the shirt I'm trying to desperately tug over his head as he attempts to throw himself off of the changing table
"Yucky" to the cashier at the grocery store for absolutely no reason

Now I have the nearly impossible task of trying to unteach a word. Or at the very least continue to get him to use words on my terms and not his.

Green beans are "yummy"
Clothes are "fun" (and "necessary")
Cashiers are "nice"
Dirty diapers are still "yucky"

Wish me luck! I'm afraid the learning and unlearning (or reassigning uses) of vocabulary words only gets harder from here on out!