Tic, tic, tic, tic...the time is drawing nearer. Melanie is well into her 37th week , which is considered full term. She has been having some pretty strong but irregular contractions. Ian and Aden will be gone to scout camp all next week, so it is almost certain that the baby will come while they are gone as we will have to scramble to find someone to take Apollo.
Apollo is very enjoyable these days. The personality is really coming out, along with the attitude. One of the fun developments this month, is Apollo relating his dreams to us. I owe Melanie the credit for this discovery. During an early morning bath, Apollo was talking about some fantastical events, involving family members. It finally dawned on Melanie that Apollo was talking about a dream. She quizzed him about what he saw and he told her all the details. The cool part for me, was that I was able to ask Apollo about his dream and listen to him tell it in his own words:
"Apollo, did you have a dream last night?"
"A dream?" he replied.
"Yes. When you are asleep and you see a story, it is called a 'dream'."
"Oooooh! When I sleep, I see something." Apollo answered.
"What did you see?", I asked.
"I see Apollo and dada and the moon, and we fall off the cloud," he started.
"Did we fall to the ground?"
"Nope!", he snapped back. "We flyed away."
"Well, how did we fly away?"
"We have wings!" he exclaimed.
"Wow!", I said, with excitement, "Where did we fly too?"
"We just fly around the clouds." Apollo responded, very 'matter of fact' like.
"Who else was in your dream?"
"I see De-duh and the mean brother" (that is Ian and Aden respectively...we will get into the 'mean brother' name later), "They fly to the ground."
"They didn't fly around in the clouds with Apollo, Dada, and the moon?", I interjected.
"Nope. I think brothers were too (s)cared, but we see momma and she was flying around the clouds too! It was really fun!"
I am certain that Apollo inherited the skydiver gene. There are few things more precious to me than conversations such as this. I loved watching Apollo's face light up when he told me about his dream, and the realization in his eyes that there was a "word" for his sleep stories.
Apollo is obsessed with cars. His all time favorite movie to date is the animated, Disney/Pixar; Cars. We bribed Apollo last summer, with toy cars from the movie Cars, in a very successful attempt at potty training. He has nearly all the character cars from the first movie. This past month, we took Apollo to see Cars 2. We (by we, I mean "I") made the mistake of buying him a new character car from the new movie. Actually, the car was not the problem; the problem is the pictures on the back of the box with several other cars on it. Once Apollo noticed these pictures, he had to have the cars that he did not yet have. He insisted that we go to the store "RIGHT NOW!" and buy him a car. The power struggle was on. There are three ways you can deal with a toddler; give in, distract, or go to battle. Distraction does not work very well with Apollo, especially if he has his mind set on something, and as much as we wanted to give in, we seized upon the opportunity to teach Apollo some new life skills. We explained to him that, he needed money to buy the cars, and the only way to get money, was to do chores, and earn it. Then it would take him a few days of chores and saving all his money until he had the $3.50 he needed to buy a car.
This strategy borderlines on going to battle. There were fits and tears, demands and protests, and once Melanie was done, Apollo started in. That was a little joke...the drama was all Apollo...at least this time. Melanie provided Apollo with an empty plastic spice jar and some coins to get his savings started. He then proceeded to pick up his toys, help water the plants, feed the dogs, etc. After completing each task, he would ask, "Can I have some money now? Can we go to the store now?" It took a couple days of walking around with his money jar, asking for money, throwing more fits, and the help of a couple over zealous parents, and Apollo had enough money to make his first purchase. We made our way to Walmart, where Apollo discovered there were bigger Cars toys that he wanted, and was completely appalled that they cost more money than he had.
All said and done, Apollo bought himself a new car, and learned the value of goal setting, working, earning, saving, and being a consumer. Not that we want him to be a consumer, but all the other lessons he learned are valuable.
Mel had her 37 week visit with the OB/GYN today. Things are looking good. The baby's head is nice and low, his heart beat is strong, Melanie is dilated to 2 cm, and is 50% effaced. We are mostly ready for the baby. The bags are packed, everything is in order, paperwork is done...If only my dreams were filled with flights amongst the clouds, I might rest easier. Instead, my sleep stories are filled with all things baby. It is exhausting. Still, I look forward to what dreams may come...
No comments:
Post a Comment