Jan. 7, 2011: Liar, liar, pants on fire

I know you've all been dying to know how this whole pink eye thing turned out. So, yeah, we're pretty sure Stacy had pink eye but it only lasted for two days and no one else got it. I know. Anti-climactic. But that's the kind of ending you want for a pink eye story.

It's Friday, my only day as full time Mama D now since I work Monday-Thursday. Gavin is in day care only Tuesdays and Thursdays now. Laura watches him on Monday and Wednesdays for a few hours in between when I have to leave for work and Stacy comes home from work. After Wednesday Laura was totally wiped out. I hope she doesn't quit on us. Free live-in care is hard to find. Then again, I did buy her cookies and Vitamin water at the grocery store today. So it's a wash, really.

Gavin is asleep right now. I wish I was asleep, too. I actually fantasized all day yesterday about taking a nap on Friday while Gavin napped. Alas. It's almost 3:00 so chances of him sleeping much longer are slim. Which means chances of a nap for me are zero.

Gavin told his first lie to me today. After detecting a rather foul odor in the air I asked Gavin, "Gavin, did you poop?" And he responded by saying, "Oh," and pointing to his crotch, which is what he always does when you ask him about a wet or otherwise soiled diaper. But then he shook his head no. Skeptical, I said, "Gavin, do you need your diaper changed?" He shook his head no again. But his stench was much stronger than his protestations. And man did he kick up a fit when I was changing him. Screaming and crying and thrashing about. I really don't know what to do when he acts like that, so I just make sure he's restrained enough so that he won't throw himself off the changing pad and I just talk to him very calmly and say things like, "You are okay, Gavin. I'm sorry you don't like this, but we have a 'no poop' policy for the pants in this house. You're going to be fine," etc. It's stressful, don't get me wrong, but staying calm is really the only thing I've got to fight against it. I am, after all, the adult here.

His newest word is "yeah." As in, Me: "Gavin, do you like bananas?" Gavin: "Yeah." He also shakes his head no, as I've said, and he definitely knows the difference between the two though, to be fair, sometimes I think he just says "yeah" because of the tone of my voice. I should, perhaps, correct him and encourage him to say "yes" instead of "yeah" but "yeah" is what I say all of the time, which is no doubt where he got it. I can barely stop saying "fuck" in front of him, let alone avoiding saying "yeah." Plus, it's really, really cute when he says it. He can hear it's a question and hear that I sound happy and positive, But other times he definitely knows what I'm saying. Like on Wednesday, I left him with Laura so I could go to work. He was very clingy that day. Earlier he'd spurned Aunt Laura's offer to pick him up, which I don't think he's done much before and Laura acted all hurt (partly in jest, but partly for real I think. Because it totally sucks to receive social rejection from a 17 month old). So when I scooped him up to give him a hug good bye I asked him, "Gavin, do you like Aunt Laura?" ("Yeah") and then I asked, "Do you want to stay with her and play?" His answer was a whine and a very clear "no" head shake. This might have hurt Laura's feelings a bit, but now she knows how I feel. Granted, Gavin will still choose Stacy over me any day, but I'm told that will eventually change. I'll manage to turn him against her one way or another.