TMI

I should write some fabulous post about the Christmas we had, and how wonderful it was (and it was.) But tonight's post is about how 15 months after birth, I finally got my period back! I was starting to think it wouldn't happen until LM was fully weaned but it showed up today in all its glory... welcome back old friend. Because we're in the middle of a colossal snow storm, I had to call my Little Brother and ask him to pick up tampons for me on the way here. Yay for new age men. He even asked which brand... and better yet, actually BOUGHT the right brand. I realised I had no idea what stores even carry, because I haven't had to buy tampons in over 2 years.

Don't know whether it's a coincidence or not (probably not), but I've had mad baby fever lately. It's too soon though - must remember that. Need to work a little longer. But oh, wouldn't it be nice to drag all those itty-bitty clothes out of the basement and get them all set up for someone new?

Scattered Leaves

I know there are people out there who say they do no chores after their kids go to bed. I cannot understand how that works! If I didn't do chores after LM went to bed, our house would be disgusting - well, let me qualify that - even more disgusting.

Our usual routine is that one of us gets home at 5:15 with him. When it's D he's really productive and usually makes dinner. When it's me, I usually just get to the defrost something stage. I attribute that to the fact that LM is much more clingy with me, and also that I have a far lower tolerance for just letting him fuss on the floor while I cook. I only get a couple of hours a day with him, so I like to cater to his wants rather than be the mean mummy.

When the other person gets home around 6 or 6:30, we finish up dinner together. After that we eat, hang out for a bit, and then one of us bathes him while the other cleans up from dinner. Bedtime for LM is work time for mum and dad. Just the every day (or every other day) tasks of changing the cat litter, sweeping up under the high chair, doing laundry, paying the odd bill, emptying the dishwasher, emptying the bath and putting away bath toys... they take so much damn time! I leave the major tasks to a cleaning lady who comes every other week but just the maintenance is crazy.

Not sure why I am stressing about this... I am in a bizarre mood because of a disturbing visit I had with my aunt this afternoon; she has metastatic c@ncer and she's in hospital after a bad incident. She wants to go home and we had a little dispute about the level of care she needs to do that. I guess because I am the lawyer-type person in the family, I was charged with helping her make some of these decisions. She wants to pay a friend to stay with her but I think that's unrealistic. Without going into detail, the level of care she needs at this point is a lot more than what a friend can provide. Do you ever want to stomp out of a difficult situation because you're just a kid and you shouldn't have to make these kinds of decisions? I do. And then I look at my driver's license and remember that I'm practically an old lady myself these days. Weird. I hate having to be the grown-up.

Oh, I want to thank you for the Christmas ideas - they were lovely and I will definitely use them. I also like the idea of just staying at home at Christmas, but it's complicated this year for a few reasons. D's parents will be in town, but not staying with us, so we have to go over to where they're staying for Christmas dinner... I wanted to host Christmas Eve, but my aunt cannot come here because she cannot manage the stairs. But we will preserve Christmas morning all to ourselves - definitely want LM's memories to be of waking in his own home and spending the day there.

And finally, I am a Dooce-whore and I totally bought this Christmas album solely because she recommended it. It's good if you're not a Christmas purist. It beats Stompin' Tom anyway - thought my mother was going to lose it when we started playing that at dinner last night.

Freeze Time Please

I've had rather a stressful weekend, and it's not made any better by the Stompin' Tom Christmas carols that D bought on iTunes. The Lord's Prayer done country-style just doesn't suit me.

But instead of waxing on about stuff, I thought I'd do a recap of the adorable things LM has done lately:

• he's started signing! I signed with him from the time he was a baby, but he never really 'got' it and I'd almost given up hope, but then a few weeks ago he started signing 'milk' and so I thought I'd start up again. While he also has a few words, it's cool because the signs he says aren't the same as the words he can say, so it's double the communication fun. So far he can sign: milk, toothbrush, stars, eat, duck, bird, dog and love. Okay, not the most useful signs (I'm not even sure he's ever noticed 'real' stars) but very adorable nonetheless. He can also say: ball, milk (ma), uh-oh, dada, apple (ap-ah), cat (c-c-c) and a few others that come and go.

• he started standing! It's funny, I remember when my niece started to walk at a year, smug childless me thought "that's late..." because the only other baby I knew started to walk at 10 months. Even when I was a little wiser, I always assumed LM would walk at a year. Well, he's quite far beyond that and still not walking, so ha! on smug childless me. I actually really, honestly don't care at all that he's not walking... it has its advantages in fact. But that doesn't mean it won't be supercool when he does, nor does it make this milestone any less exciting!
  

• he's so funny! he loves to make me laugh. If he sees I think something is funny, he will do it over and over again to entertain me.

• he loves books! Honestly, the child could "read" for ages. He pulls every book off the shelf, crawls up into your lap, and turns the pages quickly. You can barely get through one before he wants to start on another, but he is entertained for hours like that.

• he's so affectionate. The other day we were webchatting with Big Brother who lives in the U.S. "Give him a bisou!" I said, and tried to convince him to blow a kiss to the camera. Instead he went up to the computer screen and gave it a big smackeroo - it was hilarious.
  

Wintertime is a dirty cold rival

As I get older, I sometimes feel like the joy gets a little more sucked out of Christmas... instead of being about giving and joy it's about negotiating with in-laws over where you should have dinner and buying tons of crap.

I am trying to think of ways to change that - to bring back the joy a little bit. Little Man is a little older this year and I think he will enjoy the festivities, but the significance of the holiday will still be lost on him, so I can't look to him for all my changes. One idea I've implemented is adopting a family in need and buying presents for them; we signed up for that last week and I am so excited to shop for them and give a little joy to someone who needs it more than I do. I'm also keen to do something soup kitchen-y, but I'm not sure where to fit that in between all the events we will likely be obliged to attend.

So what are your ideas? How do you reclaim the joy?

Also, real Christmas tree - is next weekend too early to put it up? Will it be overly crispy on Christmas Day? I usually aim for two weeks before Christmas, but if I put it up next weekend it will be almost three weeks. On the other hand if I wait, it will only be up 10 days... dilemmas!