As usual, the last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, for both Quinn and me. Most Mondays, or whatever day Philip goes back to work after having a few days off, are typically pretty exhausting. After the long weekend with the Martin Luther King holiday, Quinn was in a terrible mood on that Tuesday. I asked him what was wrong, if he was just sad and he said, “Yeah.” When I asked why he was sad, he said, “I just wanna see Dada.” 🥺🥺🥺 Talk about heart wrenching. I texted Philip to tell him what Quinn said so when he got a minute, he came upstairs and Quinn asked him, “Stay home with me now.” 

Before you get too choked up, you should know that within the week, Quinn was constantly telling both of us to “Go away,” for no apparent reason. By the second day, we were contemplating taking him up on the offer 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. I think he got this from a new show he’s been watching on YouTube, called Steve and Maggie; his favorite episode being one that involves a haunted house, and the man sings a song telling the different monsters to go away. I didn’t think I could dislike a show more than I did Blippi initially (he has grown on me though), but ‘Steve and Maggie’ is up there pretty high on my list. It’s an English man with a pet bird and he repeats himself 4-6 times for every object he comes across—like, “Say it with me: it’s a wooly sock. It’s a wooly sock. It’s a wooly sock. It’s a wooly sock.” I really want to punch him in the throat. Handyman Hal is another I can’t stand. He’s a Blippi rip-off who constantly says everything is “AWESOME!” I want to punch him twice. 

Anyway. You never quite know which Quinn you’re going get when you wake up, and if it’s the emotionally unstable one, prepare to spend the day being told he wants a hug but then refusing it, him randomly running away and crying while playing with him, him making intentional messes and having fights about cleaning up, and possible hitting or pinching when putting him into time out. Once he’s in a mood, he’s committed to it. Two-year-olds are so fun sometimes 🙄. He’s been in time out so much lately, he has started putting his doll, Damon, in time out, too 😂. He says that Damon tries to bite him. He has learned that time out doesn’t just exist at home, even though I’ve never had to put him in it anywhere else yet; he’s just been threatened. He’s usually really well behaved when we’re anywhere but home. We were in the drive thru line at Wendy’s one day and he kept kicking the back of the passenger seat. I told him to stop, and he kept on. I told him again and he asked, “They have time out here?” I told him they did, and he stopped doing it 😂. 

When Damon’s not in trouble, Quinn likes to pretend to nap with him 😄.

It’s amusing to watch him put Damon in time out and reenact some of the situations he lives but sometimes I feel bad for the things he retains and repeats. Like, sometimes, he’ll do something that he knows he isn’t allowed to do and when I tell him I’m upset with him, he’ll exclaim, “You’re done with me!” 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’ll say, “No, I’m not done with you, but I don’t like when you do XYZ,” and then feel badly that I’ve ever said that to him 🙁. 

I honestly haven’t even said that to him too many times, but this kid never forgets anything. He has a small John Deere tractor that he liked to haul around on a trailer. It came up missing several months ago, I had no idea where it was, and I know where everything is around here, apparently 🙄. I kept thinking it would turn up eventually and for like two months, Quinn would periodically ask about it. I finally asked Philip if he had any idea where it might be, and he said he could have possibly thrown it away because Sophie chewed on it. I told Quinn we would get him another one then since it may have not been his fault it got ruined. We went to Tractor Supply one day and got another one and wouldn’t you know it, a few weeks later, the first one turned up in a tote that I had taken out of his room and put in the basement. I showed Quinn when I found it and he said, “I’ll put it in the trash” 🤣. I laughed and told him, no, there wasn’t anything wrong with it, Dada made a mistake, and it was fine. This was at least a month ago and now every time he plays with it, he says that it didn’t get chewed up, Dada thought it did, but it didn’t. So now he has two tractors. 

Sometimes he just says things that we’ve haven’t talked about in while, out of nowhere. For example, he has been very excited about the snow and talks about it often. However, he was pronouncing it without the S sound and just saying, “no,” which was slightly confusing. I hear, “No,” often enough so I tried to get him to say the S, to differentiate. I explained how to make the S, like a snake hiss, and then add no. He practiced that day, but he didn’t really pick it up. About a week later, I was busy doing something so Quinn asked Philip, “Dada, please get me some sssssss-no? That would be awesome” 😂. Philip was impressed with his enunciation, and I was impressed that he retained it since it had been several days since we discussed it. 

He loves this snow but it isn’t keeping him from his mowing duties 😄. I asked how he was going to mow with all the snow everywhere and he said, “Right there.” Duh, Mom 🤪

We’ve had so many snow experiments. I got him a small snow baller and put dinosaurs in it. 

Quinn really liked melting the snow to find the dinosaurs. 

We also froze his snow ducks in the bottom of a container so he could use warm water to rescue them. 

We like using new tools so I showed him how to manipulate a syringe. I was helping by holding it for him at first but he got the hang of it and started doing it by himself 🙂.

His Nana had the same idea and sent him a pack of snow baller tools! He loved that hers made a duck shape. 

We got outside in that snow a few times, too 😉

Even at 37 degrees, he still has a smile on his face. 

Someone else loves the snow, too.

Her sister—not so much 🤪. “Please don’t make me go outside, Mom.”

The three of us were sitting on the couch the other night and I was telling Philip about how Quinn was laughing when we were laying down for a nap that day and I couldn’t remember what he was saying. I said something that wasn’t right, and Quinn piped up and said, “I said Sansa smell like poop, and I laugh so hard” 😂😂😂. I remembered then that that is what he was saying. He cracks himself up. Another day he told me, “I knocked Dada’s pirate sword down and I laughed so loud” 😆. 

He’s so funny 😊.

He’s been really amused lately by Philip using a bunch of alternatives to expletives. He particularly likes, “Darn it,” “Fiddlesticks,” and “Drats.” He’ll be playing pirates with Philip and knock the “sword” out of Philip’s hand and tell him, “Say darn it, Dada” 😆. Pretend play is his favorite way to play, especially with his dad. He likes to make Philip “disappear” by throwing a blanket over his head. Quinn will tell me, “Oh no, I don’t have my dad anymore!” He’ll then pick up a tv remote and hold it to his ear like a phone, pretending to call Philip, and say, “Dada, you can come help me? I’ll be right there! Beep,” before ripping the blanket off his head 😆. Another scenario he likes to play is where Philip holds a blanket up over a doorway and Quinn crawls through his legs, into the room, and asks, “What is this place?” They’ve visited lots of people’s houses, but everyone inside is usually napping, according to Quinn. He sure has a good imagination. Probably his very favorite is a game called, “You Go This Way, I’ll Go That Way” 😂. Our house goes around in a circle, so he always wants Philip to run the opposite way and then meet him back where they started. I’m glad this is a game he plays with Dad and not me 😉. 

I didn’t escape the disappearing blanket game though. He kept putting it on my head and pulling it off to make my hair full of static 😄. 

While he loves his play time with Dad, Quinn will sometimes get upset about something and come tell on him to me 😂🤦🏻‍♀️. Really makes me excited for when he has a brother to tattle on 🙄. While I was in the bathroom the other night, Quinn told Philip he was finished with his snack and handed it to him to put on the sofa table behind the couch. Quinn then ran into the bathroom and told me, “Dada took my snack!” He was legit upset about it. We had to explain to him that he gave it to Dada, and that’s not the same thing as him taking it from him, and that he could have it back if he wasn’t finished 🤦🏻‍♀️. Sometimes he will get upset when he’s tired, but he doesn’t know how to accurately express what he means. If I ask him why he is upset, he’ll say something like “I no wanna see Dada.” I was trying to convince him that a nap sounded nice one day and said we could go snuggle in the bed with the soft blanket. He told me, “I no wanna snuggle with you. I no like the soft blanket.” This is not true, he loves the soft the blanket, he just didn’t want to take a nap 🙄. 

He tells me he doesn’t want to nap most days but then falls asleep within 5-10 minutes of laying down, sleeping anywhere from 2-3 hours. He’s the funniest when he’s sleepy; he suddenly needs to profess his love for everyone and everything. He always tells me he loves me, Dada, Sansa, and Sophie but one day he told me he loves my tall hair 😂. He asks silly questions, too, like: 

Q: where’s Sansa? 

M: on the floor 

Q: where’s Sansa’s face? 

M: …...on her head?

Q: When we wake up in the morning, we can see her face. 

M: Yep 

You know what sucks to hear when you’re hugely pregnant, lying in bed with a toddler who you’ve just gotten to fall asleep, and you’ve carefully extricated yourself from their grasp? When you’re just about to take a step away from the bed to your nighttime freedom from the demands of a 2-year-old? A sleepy little voice saying, “Where you going, Mama?” *sigh* “Nowhere, baby.” Now you have to climb back in bed, a task not nearly as easy as the first time since he has splayed himself out and encroached into your spot, something that would usually involve my signature spatula/ forklift maneuver, but that’s too risky now. You can’t chance waking him further, so you just lie uncomfortably, waiting for the telltale drop of the bink out of his mouth to signal he’s asleep again.

Speaking of his bink, there are 3 left in this house, only 2 of which we know where they are. Quinn bit holes in the ends of those 2, forcing the need for me to cut them off, as they were a choking hazard. I’ve been telling him for months not to bite them because we can’t get anymore. He seems to have accepted this and still wants them at bedtime, although he tells me every night that they have holes in them. I tell him that I know but I can’t do anything about it. I’m hoping this is our last stop to being weaned from them but I’m sure the third one will make an appearance just as soon as he’s over them. 

Maybe I should try bribing him with an entire bag of gummies. He loves gummies and I don’t let him have them often or many at a time. We had some that were shaped like letters, and he loved asking me who’s name started with each letter as he ate them. In an effort to reinforce the concept of understanding the quantity of 3, since he has mastered 2, I only allow him to eat 3 gummies at a time. We also have a talk about how we’ll have to brush his teeth really well before bedtime since he ate gummies. Now he tells me this when I give them to him, and when I tell him it’s time to brush his teeth, he’ll ask what he has on them. I made a game for him to practice with a dinosaur mouth, where we draw on the teeth with different colored markers, saying something like, red is ketchup, yellow is a banana, etc. and he rubs the marker off with an old toothbrush. He loves this game. We used to really struggle with getting him to brush his teeth, but ever since he went to the dentist and I got him an electric spin brush, he complies without issue. I try to take good care of his teeth and want to try to prevent him from having many cavities, if I can. I had a ton as a kid so it’s just an issue that I’d like to avoid. 

It started off as a letter activity but evolved into a hygiene lesson when he wanted put different colored “foods” on the teeth 🙂. 



He even wanted to brush the teeth on the new dinosaurs he got from Kiki. He told me they had big mouths and that there were gummies in their teeth 😂.

I feel so boring lately, there’s nothing going on and I’m sick of all the same old shit on FB. For this reason, I’ve dove back into reading, a hobby that gets neglected for long periods of time but always comes back. I’ve always been a reader, even when I was little. Some of my favorite memories of grade school include bringing home the Schoolastic book order form, circling everything I wanted, and giving to my mom, who somehow, usually managed to get it for me. That couldn’t have been easy as a single mom making minimum wage. I appreciate her supporting such an enriching passion of mine. Reading is definitely my learning style. Philip loves to watch videos and I look for the transcript 😆. I read 6 books last months, not having started until almost halfway through the month. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you stop caring what everyone else is bitching about on social media and just do something else with your nightly freedom 🤪. 

I know I should be savoring this “boring” time, because in about 4 weeks, things are going to be anything but. Quinn keeps telling me to take his brother out 😂. I tell him I can’t because he’s not done growing yet and he usually confirms with, “It takes a long time.” Don’t I know it 🤦🏻‍♀️. Even though I’m more than ready to have my body free from this invader (I’m kidding. Kind of 😉), I’m a little bit sad about my time alone with Quinn coming to an end. I’ve enjoyed learning and growing with him immensely. Interestingly, I never thought being a stay at home would be something I would ever want to do. After spending 8 years doing home visiting, I feel like this is the most important job I could ever be doing. That doesn’t mean I think it’s for everyone. I totally get that there are many different scenarios that are right for each family. I’m just so grateful that Philip is able and willing to help support this choice I’ve made. I’m thankful that he’s such a great Dad and picks up right where I fall short. We make a good team that way. I’m thankful he wears clothes that are bigger than mine and he shares them, too (not that I give him a choice 😉🤷🏻‍♀️). Although winter is damaging to my mental health, the upside is I can stay home and wear my husband’s clothes and try to be comfortable in this huge body I currently have. 

My big belly doesn’t stop our cuddles. I love this kid so much 🥰. 

Sophie doesn’t mind it either 😉. 

I think about all the ways my life is about to change again but can’t help but be reminded of how they already have. Like, I have a favorite dinosaur now. I mean, not really, but Quinn has a favorite dinosaur, so I like that one the best, too 😉. I can name like, so many, big trucks and machines 😂. I used to get really excited about hearing a new Taylor Swift song and now I only ever hear music in the children’s genre. My daily routine revolves around nap time, an essential for us both. I fuel my creativity by making activities for Quinn instead of creating yoga routines, art, or crafts. My morning alarm has even changed: instead of an annoying buzzing sound, I hear, “Mama, time to wake up,” whether or not it actually is time to wake up 🤦🏻‍♀️. Some days though, Quinn tells me, “Mama, I’m so happy to see you today,” and who wouldn’t love waking up to that? 🥰

We found numbers in rainbow rice. I gotta tell ya though, he isn’t allowed to play with rice again for awhile. After 3 instances of him intentionally dumping it all over the floor, it is now put away. I’ve said several times, I don’t mind messes from playing; I don’t tolerate intentional messes. Quinn loves cleaning it up with my handheld vacuum though, and I think that played a big part in his mess making 🙄. 

Now, if he would just clean the rest of his room 🤪. 

I made him 5 sensory spices—cotton balls with cinnamon, lemon essential oil, orange essential oil, butter extract, and peppermint oil. I might make him one with vinegar because he used to like to tease us while pretending to make food by saying it had vinegar on it right when we would pretend to take a bite. 

Making pancakes with his new spices. 

Making elephant toothpaste. He said, “it’s like a volcano!” 😊

Playing letter matching with the cards I made for him. 

I used pictures of people we know and household items, along with old scrabble letters that I bought for a craft several years ago. 

We painted with colored ice cubes. 

We made a makeshift ice skating rink by taping a clear garbage bag to the floor. Although, I think the actually floor was more slippery than the plastic 🤷🏻‍♀️. Quinn just liked wearing my socks and running across it anyway 🤪.

We found pipe cleaner snowflakes hidden in baking soda/shaving cream “snow” with colored vinegar. I asked Quinn if vinegar tastes good and he said no. Believe me, he would know 🤪. I lost count of how many times he has tried it. 

We laid the snowflakes on card stock and sprayed them with the vinegar to make a pretty picture. 



I put those empty bottle from his Christmas gift bath set to use by refilling them with colored water so Quinn could paint a cotton ball snowflake I had glued to cardboard. 

I made a days of the week chart and we sing a little song. Quinn knows Monday means the trash goes out and Saturday and Sunday mean Dad stays home all day with him 🙂

We have a weather chart too but haven’t used it consistently yet. 

I made some baking soda infused ice cubes so he could melt them with colored vinegar. I thought this was pretty cool but he didn’t love it 🤷🏻‍♀️  Sometimes activities only last for a few minutes, and I’m ok with that. Everything we do is led by his interest. 

I’ve got a whole month full of activities planned for February. Can’t wait to show him (and you) them all! 😉