33,000 things

Maternity brings some rather grand annoyances, for me, the most pesky is the insomnia. All the books tell you to sleep as much as you are able during this time, and yet it is rather impossible between frequent potty stops and whatever hormones are keeping your brain reeling while you body aches. The past couple of nights I just wish I could shut my brain off, but 33,000 things (give or take) clouded my thoughts.

Enter my 33 month year old who knows that my bed is much more awesome than his own. At 3 a.m. today Hudson attempted to join us and was taken back to bed, but to no avail. He was awake. It is 6:30 now and we are still partying like rock stars. (Read: dry cereal and discussing what "summer" means)

So, here are three random thoughts of what I want to remember about this 33rd month with Little Man and 8th month with Littler Man:

1. I hope I can remember how almost comically impossible it is for me to roll my large pregnant belly out of Hudson's low profile race car bed.  Although it is kind of all worth it to hear Little Man say his standard, "Just stay for only one more minute, Mama," which means "until I fall asleep." And if I do attempt to crawl out of bed, that thing is the noisiest thing ever. It is solid wood, so how is that possible? Then I go to my own super awesome bed to get kicked around by Cletus the Fetus for the next hour or so.



Every night, a gasp! and then a smile of genuine excitement
when he realizes Dada is home.



2. Some thing else I have been noticing with Hudson is that while he does have a very large vocabulary, I have to remember he does not understand every word I say. Idioms and slang are obvious, but I still forget that he doesn't understand that when I say, "Knock it off" I don't mean literally knock it off (your tray, the table, whatever). We learned that one the hard way! Actually, I pick up on this mostly when he is talking to others and I can take in both sides of a conversation. Like recently Josh asked him what is the title of a particular book and Hudson looked at him completely confused. I asked him what was this book called and he knew the answer. Well, he called (my PERSONAL FAVORITE!) The Monster at the End of this Book "Lovable, Cuddly Grover" instead. But it does say that on the cover.  By the way, it took him 33 months to like this book and I am so happy that he now laughs all the way through it at all the right places.



3. Finally, I am amused that Hudson has learned it is necessary to treat different people in distinct ways. Obviously he is aware that he can get away with different behaviors with Josh than he can me. But I have noticed even with his friends he acts particular to their personality. He does not treat Austin like he treats Vivian. And he has other attitudes towards smaller friends than older ones. Seems like a good life skill to develop at 33 months. We will just have to see what attitude he takes towards the littlest Harris who will be here before we know it.