Can I brush my teeth?

A Giveway!
First and very foremost - I am giving away a copy of Sleep is for the Weak. I bought it at the book signing at BlogHer, but unfortunately, due to a variety of distractions, was only able to get autographs from Amalah, Motherhood Uncensored, Not Calm (dot com). Oh sure, I suppose I could sign it, too. However, I fear that may devalue the poor thing. Anyway - this giveaway is open to residents of the US and the rules are simple:
Comment on this post by Thursday, August 21st, Midnight (CDT) and I will draw someone at random.

I have not been doing much mommyblogging lately, I realize. I think I was just worn out from so much of the negativity that has been directed towards those of us who dare to pimp our children's eternal souls, not to mention privacy, in lieu of having nothing better to talk about. So here you go - a post about my kids.

I Am MommyBlogger, Hear Me Brag
Okay.... So the question for today?? I hear this about 4-5 times a day. No kidding, joking, or joshing. Arun has always loved to brush his teeth. At first, I wrote it off to teething. Then, I wrote it off to that he liked the toothpaste. Now? I have to accept that my child is simply odd. He does not even want the Sparkly Fun toothpaste any longer. Hell, no. He wants the Minty Fresh tartar control stuff. One must have dental standards. Is my kid the only kid in the universe who likes to brush his teeth? Come on - 'fess up. You only hear about the kids who hate brushing their teeth.

Now. New Topic. What I am about to write, I have not really written about this before. I was fearful of coming across as an unrealistic braggart. Even more so, I was afraid of jinxing myself. So, here goes......Arun is an easy kid. Really, really easy. *gulp* You know those public tantrums that you always hear about where kids flail and kick and create general mayhem and the parents are mortified? We rarely get those. No, make that "never get those". Once in awhile, if he wakes up from a nap too early, he will cry uncontrollably and stomp his feet a bit. But rarely do we ever get full on, Category 5 tantrums. Yes, I do get embarrassing episodes at Target from his screaming, but those are happy screams. Which is almost worse. What the hell do you do about Happy Screams to make them stop? Make the kid UNhappy? And no, he is not perfect, he does push my buttons All the Damned Time. But overall? He is easily mollified when he does not get his way.

Why do I mention this now? Well, the only reason I am comfortable admitting that my kid has been easy thus far is because in the past month or so, he has increasingly become UNeasier. I am beginning to experience Defiance and Attitude from him. Which is quite shocking to us. Who is this kid and who the hell does he think is with all these Instructions, Directions and Demands? So yes. The Twos were not so Terrible for us, but I am bracing for the Threes, which seem to barreling at us like a freight train.

And to add to all this, Anjali is already shaping up to be a stronger personality than Arun ever was. So, she will be hitting the 18 month mark (when the Terrible Twos actually begin) just as Arun is in the throes of the exerting his plan for world domination. Sadly, his current regime is monocratic and does not appear to need a running partner, so I expect lots of fun times to be had as Anjali attempts to get in the mix. The most difficult part about Arun right now is that his language skills have exploded lately, which is really cool except that these new skills also include some twisted, bizarre logic that only a pre-schooler could dream up. Arun is getting really good with pitching out "reasons" for a variety of situations that range from "reasons" for why he cannot help me pick up toys to "reasons" why he needs a milkshake today. Fortunately, most of this activity from him is still firmly camped in Too Cute for Words territory, so X and I are having quite a few laughs over Arun's antics. I do not look forward to when these antics turn more serious.

The main side benefit in this recent turn in Arun's personality is that his imagination is going gangbusters. Giving him some construction paper and scissors is just as much fun for me, as it is for him. Playing pretend makes me giggle just as much as he does. My favorite is when he lists a whole string of activities that we are going to do today "We going to eat breakfast, go to the beach, go to the zoo, go see trains. Yay! That's what we going to do today! Yay!" Within reason, I sometimes go along with his plans, if we can. One day, he wanted to go to the moon and obviously, that one did not really work for me. And while he always retains a firm affection for all things Spider and Trains, he has recently been particularly obsessed with rockets, robots and monsters and the PBS show WordWorld.

He has been off from school for the month of August. While I know he is excited to go back to school (he keeps talking about his friends and how he is changing classrooms and how excited he is to have Miss J as his new teacher), it has been nice having him every day. However, pre-school has been so wonderful for him - it is just 2 days a week, but he loves it . He has definitely been getting more antsy this past week, so I know he will be ready when September rolls around.

And Anjali? She is an utter delight these days. Walking and talking, she is all over the house, commenting on everything as she toddles by. The talking is the part that amazes us. Of course, it is perfectly normal for a 13 month old to have so many words already, but Arun was such a late talker, this is new stuff for us. I am grateful that she is taking to The Talking so readily - she is already showing such a strong personality and gets so easily frustrated when she wants something that I am hoping her being able to communicate will help her.

Music is still her Thing and that stupid ABC song is shaping out to be her favorite song. Argh. I guess it is worth watching her try to sing it, but still, that song is not very fun to sing........ I will be taking her to our library's rhyme time next month. It seems just last year I was taking Arun to that. Oh wait - I was taking Arun to that last year. Anyway, I really love this particular library's rhyme time - the songs are better and the group is smaller than another rhyme time I had gone to.

I was telling my doctor yesterday that I wish I could bottle up this time right now to save for later (well, except for this damned chest cold I am fighting.) We are in a nice little lull with both kids - they are both still relatively easy-going and are so much damned fun. The past few weeks have been so sweet - I just feel that I cannot soak up enough of them. I love doing things with them, lounging on the floor reading books, playing with toys, rolling around on the bed under the blanket playing hide n' seek. The time with them seems so fleeting and I am afraid of missing something or not appreciating it enough.

Speaking of which, I need to turn off the television and get these little creeps to the Deanna Rose farm.