In Our Bedroom

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Our bedroom is an extension of Roman's room - and incidentally so is our living room. It's his dumping ground for toys, the bed is his bouncy castle and if I happen to be in there at the same time as him I'm the children's entertainer.

Please also note the Mr Potato Head sitting on our bedside drawer. I rest my case.

Chookit/Chocolate.

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Cameras are so common place around here that I rarely get him to look at me but today was all about awareness, about pulling silly faces and even a picture of Mr. Potato Head facing the camera for some 'cheese' (I've no idea where Roman has picked up the cheese thing, I certainly did not teach him it.)

Getting Mr Potato Head to say 'cheese.'

Today was 'chookit' rolls with a side order of spicy soya sausage, pineapples, Cheezly and chewed up olives. Today was this 'yes I'm beautiful, what of it?' look. All. Day. Long. I love it. I love him. He makes me want to have a thousand more toddlers and a thousand more babies. 

I remember a time when he was a newborn and I thought to myself; 'will Bryan and I ever have another conversation?'. Today we sat on our bed; letting our thoughts get away with us, going on tangent after tangent getting so caught up in conversation. About half way through our discussion I realised we were back to that moment - a moment where we had a spare few hours together with no distractions. It was daytime. No one had work, a baby to change, feed or otherwise satisfy...but yet here we are three years and more into our marriage talking like we're dating, excited to feed off one another, accepting and open to the other's thoughts. 

And it's because of who Roman is that we were able to be in that moment. Because he is content, relaxed and so much fun - and falls asleep at night - we're also content, relaxed and so much fun. Happy child + happy parents = happy family. People are always asking us what we 'do' with Roman but the answer is that, quite frankly, we're just us. I get annoyed, I get frustrated and sometimes I even shout (working so hard on not shouting, though) but mostly these are good times. Mostly it's like the picture - messy, fun, relaxed. And a good dose of chookit/chocolate to get us through it if it's not going quite to plan* ;).

*Although it's worth mentioning I 'gave up' chocolate in March 2011 and I have restricted amounts otherwise I'd drown myself in a pool of chocolate.

Squishy.

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I was excited to learn that my parents were planning a trip from their far north of Scotland location to visit us. Okay, my dad had other stuff to attend to all day but my mum was able to spend a good chunk of the day with us. 


There was nothing eventful about the things we did today; caught a train in the rain, headed into Stirling, shopped and headed home. But it's in those non-eventful moments that memories and good times are formed - that my empty cup is filled with love from my parents, who I miss so much, and I like to think that Roman's memory and cup gets filled, too. With them living so far away from us it's hard. We don't get time to be the two of us - I know that's nothing to complain about, but still. I love Roman but sometimes I think it would be nice to catch a film or eat a dinner together and know that my mum would have no problem in helping us out with that every so often if she lived nearer.


But, they don't live nearer and this is how it is. So every time they visit and Roman gets 'squishies' like he's getting in the picture above it's a special memory I cherish, it's a moment I am excited about and it makes the time spent together all the more precious.

Life View.

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This is what this little project is all about. Our life, Roman's toddler life and everything in between. Things aren't always rosy, moods aren't always on an even keel and today was no exception on that.

He woke up tired and emotional from his nap and constantly wanted me to draw a door and windows on his drawing board - so he could 'knock' the door. When I got tired of doing this - and was busy tidying up - he got pretty frustrated and indignant about the whole thing. I think this look is saying "Mama, how dare you tear yourself away from the duty of drawing on my board!"

Big Boy.

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Walking back from the shops I decided to let Roman out of his buggy so he could tire himself out a little before bed - still battling with getting his sleeping pattern sorted, seems to be settling back down over these past few days, thank goodness.

More on today: it was one of those warm, sunny but not overwhelming days. A toddler and me sharing an afternoon bath; taking turns to dump water on each other's heads. Getting ready to leave. Our afternoon stroll together. Taking a different route to the shops to spice things up a notch - I like to live dangerously ;). I love this little friend of mine; the boy I can communicate with, the one who talks back to me about everything around him, parrots what I say and makes me smile every moment I'm with him. And just today I was reminded what a mirror reflection of Bryan he really is, they're both gorgeous to me.

And here is my little friend looking up at me from the vantage point of his buggy. Comfy in there, son?

Recycling.

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Teaching Roman about the importance of doing chores is a priority for me as his mother. I don't want him to grow into an adult who doesn't know where to begin with chores and granted we all dislike doing chores but they have to be done, right? Right. So while he's young I feel it's appropriate to teach him this stuff sooner rather than later.


How do you feel about chores?

Roman's Cat.

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Roman is a little into cats. Well, really, he's into all animals but cats seem to be his favourite type of animal for the meantime. With this in mind one of his favourite toys to cuddle into while he's up and about is his toy cat. He loves it.

While he's in bed it's his beloved 'Deacon' - a blue dog he's had since he was a newborn but while he's in the living room, separated from Deacon, 'cat' is his go-to toy. His cuddle toy.

And today in general? Less than great. He was tired. I was tired - and very achy. I've been finding that we're both just so worn down and wracked with pure exhaustion lately but that bedtimes seem to be getting later. Sometimes Roman won't get to sleep by 9pm, despite being putting down to bed at 7pm! This is after his naps have been cut. Today I gave up on the 7pm bedtime at 8.30pm, brought him into the living room when Bryan's parents came round and he snuggled into his gran.

Today he had a short nap and I think this really threw him off by the time bedtime came...but seriously. Even after the nap he was exhausted. He just put himself down on the floor (picture below) with a cushion, blanket and his cat. Totally wiped out. I know the feeling, wee man. I know the feeling.