You learn something new every day. Some days you learn more than a few things. Apologies world, today I learned it is possible I’ve been using this made-up word for an indeterminate part of my adult life: ‘assertation’ I now know this because spell-check told me so. Apparently assertion is a word, and ascertain is a word and ‘assertation’ is something that is NOT a word. At least one not recognized by spell check. It makes me wonder if this was a one-time mistake I made today or if I have been using this word in polite conversation for years. I guess we’ll never know (unless somebody out there has been really bothered by it, and has never told me). On to real-life important things now.
Let’s start with the little one. Christopher is a sweetheart. I’m convinced he could make even the least baby-friendly person tolerate babies. Such a mellow sweet little soul. He is enjoying tummy time these 
days and has become quite the little scooter. He will go in a full circle but still isn’t much of rolling from front to back–although I did witness him do it last night so it is possible. He sure arches up and digs in with those little toes! He’s taken one tumble off the couch reminding me again that I don’t have a sedentary newborn any longer. He babbles and talks to himself and SMILES for everyone. Unlike William who lived and died by his nap times Christopher’s schedule is pretty free-form, though he seems to be trending towards one morning nap, and one afternoon nap on the days he’s not at daycare. In general he is getting better and better at sleeping at night, with a 7:30 bedtime he will usually eat once during the next 12 hours. Way to go buddy! He recently shared a cold with his brother so his sleep has been less than perfect. He’s been eating like a little monster so it could be any combination of his cold, a growth spurt, and/or teething that’s keeping me on my toes during the night. I hope his angelic sleep habits return sooner than later! We recently started solid foods with him and he’s picked up on it quite well. I don’t think he was as eager to start as William, but I think he’s not as much of a restless eater, which makes things easier. He’s starting to grab the spoon so my floor will no longer stay clean as he drops it off the side of the high chair. We’re back to the days of messy faces and bibs with oatmeal spread from ear to ear. The only messier thing will be when he starts to feed himself!
Then there’s the William. Oh man some days are terrible twos! Sunday morning for example, he was upset because the pancakes were being served at the table instead of on the couch, 
he tried to use the potty but couldn’t poop, we had to put on real clothes, his diaper was picky, AND we looked at him–repeatedly. Each of these items produced wailing and whining as if we were removing his toenails slowly. I was thankful he was headed to grandma’s house that day or I may just have killed him. (On his behalf he did come down with a cold on Tuesday, so maybe he wasn’t feeling well already Sunday). Since his cold showed up he’s actually been much more pleasant. He wants NOTHING to do with potty training, HATES having his hair cut, and doesn’t much care for brushing his teeth either. He is NOT especially patient. “Excuse me mommy” is a phrase I hear about 300 times an hour. When he’s not being terribly two he is quite happy and funny. He told grandma Marion that Christopher likes it when he pets his head, and proceeded to show her how it was done. This morning I told him I was going to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned and in a somewhat concerned tone he informed me that we had toothbrushes for that…he was even ready to show me where they were. Silly bear. His imagination is really starting to blossom. We are now asked to play pretend games all the time, and if we’re not playing them correctly he is quick to inform us. He’s really good about taking off his shoes and putting them on the rug, explaining to me that we can’t leave them on the floor because someone would trip and fall over them. He is good at remembering to say please and thank-you. We’re teaching him to say “See you later alligator” and “After while crocodile”. When Christopher sneezed and I said “Gesundheit” he corrected me, “No Mama, we say Bless You”. He is a good big brother. He brings Christopher toys to play with and tries to help him when he’s sad. They play peek-a-boo, he laughs when Christopher baby-talks, and likes when he grins at him. They have opposite personalities but are still quite the pair!
The same cold that hit William also sidelined Jason and I for a few days. I got the worst of it, and spent several days dreaming of all the cold medications I would like to take but shouldn’t because I’m still nursing.
The worst days of my cold happened to hit on the same weekend we needed to get the yard cleaned up for winter. I say “needed” because the city does curbside pick-up 2x per year and our pile needed to be out on the curb by Monday morning. So Saturday morning with the help of decongestant and coffee Jason and I set out to trim the rose hedge, pull out the garden, trim the front trees, and take down some shrubs. Thankfully William watched cartoons and Christopher napped through most of our morning adventure. Just as my energy was completely depleted Lee and Marion showed up in the nick of time to help finish off the project. I was SO THANKFUL. Sunday morning it rained and I found it very satisfying to look out the window at our curbside pile. 🙂 I paid a bit of a price for over-doing it Saturday however–Sunday I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. As with most weekend colds, the bit of a fever I had broke Sunday night just in time for me to live up for work Monday morning.
More from this month… we fixed the broken air conditioning unit at our current house and finally sold our old house. Although we lost money on the deal, I am so thankful to not be raking those leaves, shoveling that snow, or generally wondering “what if” all the time. Also this month there was that time I had a root canal. About a year ago I had a filling replaced which led to a cracked tooth. With the help of Valium I survived a crown (which did not fix the problem) so I earned myself a trip in for a root canal. Again thanks to Valium, I survived and found it to be a rather interesting procedure. For the first week I still experienced some pain (I was going to be really pissed if $650 later we ended up pulling the tooth!) but then it came around. Amazing how great it is to be able to chew pain free after a year…one of the little things we take for granted I guess. The cars still need new tires and the cat still needs dental work, but at least things are looking up!
In the next month we are looking forward to Halloween, more yard cleanup, canning, cooking, raking tons of leaves, and enjoying fall. I hope you are all doing the same!