Cody Bear's Latest Doings, or, Taking a Break from Sibling Rivalry

Yes, Mom, it's been awhile. I'm pretty sure I have a good excuse though -- major infection, not a lot of sleep, freelance work, and oh yeah -- I have two kids! One of whom has been particularly challenging. Cody has been having some trouble adjusting, to put it mildly. There's been all sorts of acting out, jealousy, anxiety, and the normal pushing of boundaries that comes with being two.

I'll sum it all up with this one representative anecdote from two nights ago, when I was giving him his bath. Cordelia was across the hall in her room. Literally across the hall. I said to Cody, "I will be back in 5 seconds -- I need to check on Cordelia." I stepped across the hallway, peeked in to make sure she was still snoozing, and stepped back in...to a giant puddle on the bathroom floor. The entire bathroom floor. I'll say it again: the entire bathroom floor. I just looked at Cody, who met my gaze evenly and said simply, "I used the bucket." It was pretty much the toddler equivalent of walking in the door to find your cat had peed all over the rug just to get back at you for taking a vacation. And so it goes.

Since I cannot choose vodka, and don't usually choose Chakha Khan anyway, I choose to focus on the sweet moments, of which there truly are many...sandwiched between the very, very unpleasant ones.

Cody outside with the neighbors (there is a special place in Heaven for that mother of six!), meeting their cats, examining a caterpillar, and getting a head start on high school wet t-shirt contests.





Showing off his buff bod.


Reading the Weekly Standard in the car.


And here he is, watering the "Berber Daisies, Mommy!" that he brought home from Lowe's for me yesterday, and planted with JVL in my garden.