Watching my tone...

Something really interesting happened today. We had just gotten in the car and Orion was asking to listen to some music. The CD he wanted was in a case... somewhere in the car, but things have gotten so piled up in there this winter that I couldn't even see it. I tried moving a few things around, but still couldn't find it, so I said something about how messy the car is and that is why I have said before we need to clean it out so we can find things. I didn't think I had said it in a mean tone or anything, but Orion said, "Moooom, say it nice." !!!!! So I said, "Oh, did you not like my tone?" because we talk about that sometimes, and then said, "Hey, we need to clean the car out," in a really cheerful way. He said, "I like that tone much better!" LOL It was funny, but really thought provoking at the same time.

My first thought was that I must not realize how I sound sometimes. I have been really tired and achy this pregnancy, and I know it is affecting my mood, so I am trying to find a way to be more upbeat. My second thought was that he might have felt blamed. I didn't think my words or tone conveyed that, but the fact he spoke up makes me wonder.... My final thought was a bit more positive. :) I am happy that I am raising a son who *will* speak up. I have heard him say several things I say to him when he doesn't like what I am doing. Once when I lost my temper, he yelled back at me, "Don't yell at me!" Good for him. I try to be a good model for him, and things like this remind me that it works and that I need to think about the more subtle things that may be affecting him as well.

Only in Portland

There could be oh, so many posts that start like this. I can't believe I have been in Portland for 2 years and have never heard about Dignity Village. What an amazing idea, and I can't imagine it happening any place else.

My Boy Knows His Numbers!

So this unschooling stuff works after all! I have never done anything much to teach Orion numbers. I mean, we have read some books with numbers in them and such, but nothing really intentional. The other day, when we were going to a friend's house, he remembered her address. I thought he just had a great memory, but then he started reading off all the addresses in their row of townhomes. I didn't think he knew any numbers, let alone all of them! It seems like it just came out of the blue. I am sure there will be many more moments like this to come. Fun, fun, I can't wait. :)

Could it be...?!

...that my boy is starting to develop some self control?!!!

I feel like we really had a landmark moment at Fred Meyers this afternoon. We had dropped something off at Jessica's and were on our way back home. I thought I would stop at the FM on TV Hwy since I needed a couple things and Orion likes their playroom. Well... it was closed. Grrr. This has happened several times to us during posted open hours and is really annoying. He was disappointed of course, but I told him we would go to a different one, and he seemed OK with that.

On the way out, I figured we would stop at the crap toy machines to perk up the lame visit, and the thing ate my quarter! Why today?!!! I could have gone into the store I suppose, but figured that was going to take forever and then they would probably just give us another quarter and not fix the machine anyway. Orion was crying at that point, so I empathized but said we were going on to the next store. After only about 30 seconds, he took a deep breath and said, "That's OK, we can get something from the machine at the other Fred Meyers." Wow! I had not suggested that, and he just came up with it on his own! My boy is growing up!

"I'm Proud!"

I had an interesting moment with Orion today that deserves its own post. Ron and I had a big discussion about saying "I'm proud" awhile back, and then it came up in a funny way tonight. Orion was jumping over my legs on the bed. When he totally cleared them with both feet together, he said, "Aren't you proud of me?!" I simply said, "No," with no explanation. It was hilarious how he stopped and seemed totally shocked. He said, "Why not?" I said, "I am not the one jumping, so why should I be proud?" And he said, "Oh, well I am proud!" It was pretty cute and funny. After that, he kept jumping and saying, "I'm proud! I'm proud!"

Beautiful Shots

So we had a couple pukies during the night, but in the morning Orion said he felt fine. I was a bit worried about what would happen after he ate, but he seemed fine. We had another fairly quiet day, and I gave him bland food. He really didn't have much of an appetite, but his spirits were fine, and he even did alot of his regular jumping around.

Then tonight, Sarah sent me an email with some pictures Katie and she took for an assignment on backlighting. I was really impressed! I thought for sure there must have been some kind of filter on them, but when I talked to her later on the phone, she said this is just what they got with regular shooting. Totally cool!


This one is Sarah, taken by Katie.
And this one is Katie, taken by Sarah. Maybe I am just a biased moms, but I thought Sarah's were way better. :) There were my two favorites though.

Crazy Couple Days

My friend Jessica is "due" on March 14, but she has been starting to dilate for awhile and thought she would be early. Sure enough, on the night of 2/29, she seemed to be going into labor. I went to hang out the next day and had Orion play with Olivia through what we thought was early labor time. Pam, the midwife, had come by to check things out and decided to go home as Jess wasn't very far along yet, so I headed home in the evening as well to wait for a possible phone call later.

I decided to go to sleep with Orion and was glad I did as Dane called around 1am. He said they were filling up the tub and thought this was it! So I rushed right over and hoped Orion would stay asleep. Jessica was doing great working through her contractions although she was clearly in alot of pain. She was totally ready for Pam to check her and get some encouragement. When Pam and Lennon got there, Jess found out she was at 4cm. She seemed to be in better spirits after that and totally got into labor land. I was really impressed with the way she was working through her contractions in such a focused way.

She labored the night away, but for some reason, things started to mellow out this morning. Pam thought it might have been because she took castor oil, so that might have made the labor seem more intense than it was ready to be. Luckily, being Sunday, Ron's work load was light enough that I could stick around for awhile while he hung out with Orion. In the afternoon, Pam said she thought things wouldn't start moving again until at least evening, so I went home to spend some time with my boy.

Well... later on Orion started vomiting. :( I am worried since there has been a horrible stomach bug going around that can last as much as 5 days. Jessica's whole family has had it, so I might be OK going back, but if what if this is a different bug that he picked up in CA? She doesn't need that with a new baby coming! He vomited 3 times fairly close together, so we will see what happens later tonight and tomorrow....