Neighbor Man to the Rescue

After two days of not seeing my cat, Loki, I had just about given up hope. When my mom came home from work she had a weird look on her face and said, "I think I hear a cat crying somewhere outside." I flew out of my seat and ran to the garage door and called out to Loki. Sure enough, I heard a faint cry in response that was most definitely Loki's meow. Emily in my arms, and Elijah at my heel, I frantically started to slip on shoes ready to bounce out into the night in search for my dear feline. Mom stopped me, reminded me that I needed a jacket and more than just my crocs on my feet. She started looking for the keys for the rooms under the house but I didn't think it sounded like Loki was under the house. It sounded like he was outside somewhere.

Mom took Emily from me and I grabbed a flash light, clicked it on and the most pathetic stream of light shined out. Getting rather flustered at this point, I threw down the flash light in search of another. The next flash light sucked as much as the first one! I let out an irritated groan and decided to find some batteries.

Once equipped with an adequate flashlight, I'm outside playing Marco Polo with Loki. His cries bring me to three huge trees that are tangled together with huge branches. Pointing my flash light into the trees, I'm searching for the only indicator that will allow me to know where he is in the trees: his eyes. Loki is completely black. I heaved a gigantic sigh of relief when I saw a pair of eyes reflecting back at me, bright as headlights.

Now the questions was: how in the world was I going to get him down?

A phone call was made to our neighbors and Mr. Neighbor came to the rescue! I had to wait for him to finish driving home. But as soon as he came home, he changed his clothes and was out with a 24 foot ladder climbing up into this massive tree. Once he was at the top of the ladder, he ventured another eight feet into the tree. Loki was near the end of a branch, unwilling to cooperate his rescuing, so Mr. Neighbor scooted out on a branch (in the dark! mind you) and grabbed hold of Loki.

I thanked Mr. Neighbor about 40,000 times, but I still don't feel that was enough. I've been thinking about what I can do for him to let him know just how much I appreciated his heroism.

Fast forward to today. It was actually nice enough outside to play with bubbles! Elijah has loved playing with bubbles since he was about 18 months old or so. I love to play with the bubbles with him, but I couldn't really play with him this time. Emily was awake and apparently didn't want to miss anything because whenever I put her down, she cried. And while it was nice enough to go outside, it wasn't all that warm. I made sure she was properly bundled before going out and attempting to interact with Elijah one handed. It's so cute, he pronounces bubbles, "bubbies." He used to say it another way when he was first starting to talk, but I can't remember how it sounded now! Time goes by too fast. Well, sometimes it seems that way.

Another activity I was able to partake in with Elijah today, was to sit down and read a copy of Toddler Highlights with him. Emily was sleeping at this point, which made it all the more possible. I want to give all of myself to Emily, and all of myself to Elijah. At the same time. If there is a possible way to do this, I don't know what it is. Finding a balance in sharing my attention is extremely difficult right now. I want to be able to interact with Emily in the ways I did with Elijah when he was a newborn. I just don't think that can happen. I've got Elijah who needs attention, too. Back to topic, to be able to do something that was just me and Elijah felt really nice. We snuggled and read the short stories, found the hidden pictures, and talked about the shapes and animals.

I believe the attention and efforts that go into Emily's diaper changes has reverted Elijah back a few paces. He has lost interest in using the potty. He was on such a roll, too! I've heard that this is to be expect, not at all uncommon. It's frustrating, nonetheless. Since I'm doing cloth diapers, it ups the diaper laundry load and is all around a challenge to be changing two children during the day. Plus knowing he can pee in the potty but chooses not to is, well, annoying, to be honest. Classic two year old behavior I suppose. I try to remind myself to embrace the "two year old-ness", otherwise I just might go crazy. And also, who really wants to argue with a two year old? I don't.

Elijah is sleeping with me tonight, which is not how it's been the past few nights. He has been sleeping with my mom and sometimes it's just easier that way. But in all honesty, I don't sleep as well when Elijah isn't with me. He has his own bed in my room, but still chooses to sleep with me. I'm okay with this because I know he will sleep in his bed when he wants to. He was a few months ago, but with all of the changes going on he has decided his bed isn't for sleeping, but for jumping.

So now, as I bring this post to a close, I've got Emily sleeping on my belly, Elijah snuggled against my side, and Loki next to my head. The only person I need now is my husband home from Afghanistan and my circle of love will be complete.