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No nap again for Kenny today.   That is, no nap until I’d endured an hour of “quite time” (after the half hour he ran wild during the attempted enforced nap) which involved him standing at the top of the stairs the whole time, shouting down, “Mama?   My quiet time all done yet?”   and I finally gave up, strapping him into the stroller and taking him and Dudley for a walk.   He was asleep in ten minutes.   The exact same scenario played out yesterday.     So he obviously still needs a nap, he just doesn’t want to lay down in his bed and take one.

Can you force a kid to nap?   I don’t want to strap him into his bed, but there’s got to be a happy middle, right?   I’m thinking of just walking at naptime for the next three or four days – the way I first started getting him to nap last year – then going back to the normal routine.     Something about almost two-and-a-half year old boys and the word “quiet” don’t seem to gel…

Kenny has started to turn into a little Man of Manners.

Today, as I got ready for church, he looked at me and said, “You look pretty, Mama!”   A few moments later I sneezed, and he said, “Bless you, Mama!”   Then after I fixed his breakfast, he said, “Thanks, Mama!   This is good!”

There is nothing but pure, uninhibited joy in his comments – joy in realizing that he is a part of the larger conversations that are going on around him.   Yesterday while out running solo errands, I picked up some yogurt he’d been asking for at the store.   When I got home, I showed it to him, and he gave a huge grin   and said, “Thanks for buying me my do-durt, Mama!”

My favorite is that as of the last week or so, he will look up at me at random moments and say, “I love you, Mama.”   Sometimes, of course, these “random” moments occur when I’m scolding him for some rascal-like behavior.   But the endearment gets me all the same.   I love you, too, little guy.

For those who have been reading my blog for a long time, you may recall that Kenny did not nap from the time he was about 6 weeks old until he was 16 months old.   That was a long year.   I was  often on the verge of exhausted insanity and insanely jealous of other Mommy friends who would say things like, “Well, Junior gets up from his first nap at 10, then goes down again at 1, so we’ll have to meet you sometime in there,” or, “So, what are your hobbies?”   Oh gracious, my “hobby” was Kenny!   Granted, he did sleep through the night (for the most part) for that time, often from 6 to 6, so he wasn’t completely sleep deprived, just completely uninterested in sleeping during the daytime adventures.

Anyway, he started napping nearly a year ago when we moved for the second time to Arizona for the winter.   I had gotten into the habit of taking Kenny and Dudley for a walk right after lunch instead of first thing in the morning; it was thirty degrees in Scottsdale in the morning and 70 by lunchtime, so why not?   Kenny started very consistently falling asleep in the stroller, I would wheel it into his darkened room, and he would sleep for about an hour.   Then one day, as we finished lunch, he looked at me and said, “Sleepytime!”   So instead of packing him in the stroller, I put on his pajamas, and put him in his crib.   He slept for 2 hours.   And my life as a stay-at-home mom changed forever.

Now we’ve had five days in a row with no nap.   I am scared.   I know that he’s nearly two and a half, and I know that many kids this age start giving up their naps.

But many pregnant women at this stage desperately need them!!   I’m not even stressing over the housework or time to myself, I just want him to sleep so I can!   I need to stockpile sleep while I can!   Please, oh please, Kenny, don’t stop napping yet…

So –  at what age  did your kids give up their naps?   Do you still enforce “quiet time” in their rooms?   (I’ve done this during the no-nap days this week – 45 minutes of Kenny staying in his room, playing quietly.   He hasn’t balked.   Much.   He seems to need a little downtime.)   How long is appropriate?   Suggestions are always appreciated!

Tonight as I kissed Kenny goodnight, I said, “Remember, if you need anything, you call me and I’ll run, run, run and see you!”   It’s what I’ve said every night for as long as he’s been weaned.   He always smiles and says, “Mama will look up, and run, run, run to see me!” or something like that.   But it’s only recently that he’s started the traipse out of bed several times before finally settling in.     Usually he needs water, or has to go potty, or needs me to cover him up.   But tonight he discovered that he really didn’t need a reason…

I left his room and  had just made it downstairs, when I heard his little voice calling.   I went up, and he said, “Mama, I need anything.”   I was perplexed and said, “What do you need?”   He said, “Anything.”   This went on a few times, and then he said, “Mama, you said I need anything you come!   I need anything!”

Sweet, way too smart boy.

I am 17 weeks today, and boy do I look it.   I actually spent the evening trying on a giant box full of maternity clothes that a friend loaned me and, forced to see my basketball in outfit after outfit started thinking, “Hm.   I am really pregnant.”

Though my belly is quite a bit bigger at this stage than it was with Kenny, the rest of me is quite a bit smaller.   I started out at the same weight with both, and by 17 weeks with Kenny I was up about 13 pounds.   With this one, I am only up 10, and my hips and backside haven’t really changed.   With Kenny, I got a “wide load” in the rear and my thighs turned to jelly right away.   Instead of looking pregnant, I merely looked like I’d been spending too much time communing with the Krispie Kreme truck.   So I actually am glad that I’m all belly this time around.   So far.  

It’s amazing, too, the other things about this pregnancy that are different.   I’ve been having “round ligament” pain for the last week, which is new.   Ouch!   Headaches galore.   I’m so tired I could sleep all day… what happened to the second trimester energy burst?!?!  

We still haven’t decided whether or not to find out the sex.   I loved the comments and emails on it, though!   We had so much fun not knowing with Kenny… but we still have a few more weeks to make up our minds.

Kenny and I often begin the pre-dawn hours curled up in our big chair looking over the water, sipping our chocolate milk and coffee.   Dudley will wind himself into an impossibly small ball on the ottoman and we will read books until the sun comes up.   Yesterday, Dudley was a little late coming to the Big Chair, and instead of hopping right up, he put his front paws up and gave his back a good stretch before climbing in to settle.

Kenny looked up at him and said in a hushed voice, “Mama, Dudley has a willy.”  

“That’s right, honey.   Dudley has a willy, just like you.”

“Mama,” he said, now in a conspiratorial whisper, “Dudley has a hiney, too.”

“Yes, Dudley has a hiney, too,” I said, echoing his tone.

“Mama… Dudley goes poop with his hiney.”

“That’s right, Kenny.   And he goes pee-pee with his willy, right?”

“He pee-pees outside, Mama.   I pee-pee in the potty,” now solemnly and quite serious.   Then, “Do you have a willy, Mama?”

I tried to explain that only boy’s have “willies” and then gently moved the subject to other matters, like, Kenny and Dudley both have ears, eyes, noses, teeth, etc.   But he didn’t forget the conversation as later that morning, when he followed me t the bathroom, he urgently said, “Mama!   You’re supposed to stand up to pee-pee!”

We got home to Maryland on Tuesday, and though the jet-lag has been manageable, the general fatigue and unending list of things to do is drowning me.   Not only did we walk into a house that was still decorated to the nines for Christmas, but our awesome Dudley-sitter is a bachelor, and while his Dudley-love skills are beyond compare, his housekeeping skills scream, “Need Wife Now!”   (Fortunately, he is getting married to a terrific gal in May.)

Laundry, dust bunnies, unpack, pay bills… how can I chose between such a dazzling array of what to attack first?   I’d normally have gotten mostly through it by now with gusto, but my round ligament and sciatic nerves started wrenching me apart on the flight home, and now it’s all  I can do to get through the day wrangling Kenny, before collapsing after dinner.  

Casey has been amazing – he took down the whole Christmas tree the night we got home, has pitched in on laundry, and spent three hours last night putting together one of Kenny’s Christmas presents that Kenny has been dying to play with.   All that, and he’s worked full days yesterday and today, and managed to jet over to meet me at  my 16 week  OB appointment today.   What did I do to deserve this guy?!?

Tomorrow I schedule my 20 week ultrasound – for the week of Valentine’s Day!    We are still undecided as to whether or not we want to find out the sex.   Kenny was a surprise – and it was so much fun!   I kind-of want to know to help prepare Kenny… as in, being able to tell him the baby’s name and what to expect (little brother or sister).   Not to mention that it would be nice to really decorate a nursery this time.   But another part of me wants to hold out and be surprised again.  

Any opinions out there?   When you were pregnant, did you find out or not, and why?

I think that Kenny is definitely getting the hang of chilling at the pool and spending his days in the sun.   He’s even found a girlfriend…

For my part, if there is anyone back home who doesn’t know I’m expecting, there is definitely no hiding it… the belly has popped.   Last night after dinner, Casey looked down at my belly and said, “So, um, you still have five months to grow?”   Ha ha… oh baby…

One of the things we’ve done frequently when we’re not on the beach here is go to art galleries.   There are at least 20 different galleries in Lahaina alone, and last night we drove back to that side of the island for dinner.  

As we strolled through one particular gallery, Kenny looked up from his stroller and shouted, “There’s a naked lady up there, Mama!!”

For our last week in Hawaii, we moved from our oceanfront bungalow in Lahaina to a fancy resort condo in Wailea, which we are sharing with both sets of our parents.   Can I  say how much easier it is watching a fearless two-year-old wave jumper with  six adults instead of two?

We took our folks out to our favorite restaurant (Sarento’s on the Beach) for a fancy dinner a few nights ago, and it was a wonderful evening  – gourmet food, sunset over the ocean and lots of laughs:

Casey and I sitting without a highchair between us…

Big guy Kenny charming the Grandmas…

Tired, but unwilling to skip the ice cream sundae…

Only three more days to go before our return to the chilly winter days  of Maryland.   It seem nearly imposible to imagine  putting on a coat…