Earning the Title

I'm a little bit behind on writing (obviously).

Salam is doing well. With some things he is driving me nuts, and with others, he's so much fun to be around. On the dark side, because he has step-siblings who call me Beth, he thinks it's great fun to imitate and also address me by my first name. I've gotten control of my reactions now, but after the initial heartbreak I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I called my husband crying about it. Like, sobbing. Yes, my period is here and I'm emotional. However, it just felt really horrible; like, I've gone through this much and gone this far just to lose the title of Mommy? I really love being a Mommy and would probably have a mess of kids if our situation was different.

I also found out that my little guy is quite sensitive for a 16.5 month old. The morning I called my husband sobbing, he apparently spend his time at daycare depressed! The woman in charge of his little group said that he wasn't really interested in playing that day and was just really quiet. THAT broke my heart even more than him referring to me as 'Beth,' so I decided to just suck it up. I need to be more sensitive to him. Though he's still an adorable tiny little guy, he is sad when Mommy is sad. God--I feel bad for not catching on sooner. What is it about parenthood where you are always one step behind the curve on their development? Anyways, I'm going to have my stepkids start calling me Umm Salam at least (it's considered impolite here anyway to address me by my first name) and hopefully Salam will drop the first name usage. In the meantime, I just don't respond if he says Beth, or I gently ask him, "can you say Mommy?" And he is happy to oblige.

On happier fronts, he loves to dance and has a variety of moves. For language, instead of 'bye bye' he says 'butt.' He can say 'water' both in English and Arabic (though they are both slightly wrong--'wa-duh' and 'mun,' respectively. He can count to 4 in English perfectly (and sometimes further) and up to 3 in Arabic, though they both require different kinds of promptings. When he sees an older male, he calls them 'bah-bo' instead of 'am-moh' (uncle). It's awesome because it's so close to 'bobo,' meaning "baby." The confused looks of the older men are so worth it. He is also really stepping up his game with the alphabet. We have read Dr. Seuss's alphabet book countless times, so now he points to many of the pages and can say the letters without prompting. He recently mastered saying the letters L, M, N, O, and S, in addition to B, D, E, and G. The letter P is coming, because he says the word "people" perfectly.

We love to cuddle. Almost every night, he falls asleep in my lap. Every morning, he wakes me up with a big hug. Either that, or hitting the headboard repeatedly to get my attention. Having a mostly absent husband sucks, but having Salam around is excellent compensation.