Hello, 2009! Good-Bye, Bite!

As we welcome a new year, we at the Kutscher household are mourning the loss of a faithful friend. After much contemplation over the best possible timing to rid our lives of the "bite" we dove in with both feet this past Tuesday. We had heard that trimming the tip off a pacifier would help in the process, so we tried it. It worked. In a matter of 2 minutes, Landon had decided that bite was broken and he belonged in the trash. Chad opened the bin, and Landon dropped him in and left the room. Chad and I looked at each other and a comment was made that there would be no turning back. Little did we know what we had gotten ourselves into.

The separation anxiety was mild at first. He asked for bite a couple of times that evening, but there were no tears. He went to bed that night, after quite a bit of rocking, but did fairly well. Wednesday he didn't want to take a nap, but after a battle of the wills, I won and he went down about 4:00. When he woke up, we saw a new side of Landon we had never seen before. There is no other word for it, but sheer ANGER. After about 45 minutes of inconsolable hysteria, I called Chad's mom and was ready to rush him to the ER to have his appendix checked or something. He had never acted like this....ever. When Grandpa and Grandma showed up, what do ya know, he was fine. He wasn't his normal agreeable self, but he was talking and stopped clenching every muscle in his body and screaming at the top of his lungs. It was definite progress. We went about our business, enjoyed New Year's Eve with friends....he was up until 1:30 with all of us without a single whine. The next morning he wakes up and it's the same thing again, just not as bad. I figured getting him DOWN for a nap would be the challenge, and it turns out it's actually the other way. It's the waking up that's the tough part. Now when I hear his first fuss from his bed, I hold my breath, cross my fingers, say a prayer, and hope for the best. You never know who's gonna be in that crib....my sweet boy or Mr. Hyde.

I don't have the techno savy to put together a slide show yet, so I added a few pictures of Landon and bite in the posting this week. The one with Uncle Scott on Christmas day is the last picture we have taken with the bite. The few times Landon has asked for bite, I've tried to get him to take the blankie that we had bite clipped to, but he just looks at me like I'm an idiot, and says, "I don't want it." He also has Yellow Blanket, pictured above with Uncle Scott as well, but it definitely hasn't replaced his faithful friend. When I was younger I had a bear. He's the one with no nose. He didn't have a name, just bear, but he was with me through thick and thin. I vividly remember throwing up all over him once, and it probably happened more than the one time that I remember. He's been washed and loved so much that his nose is missing for crying out loud. Michael had Purple Cow, and Chad had a blanket like the one our beloved friends are posed on. I'm eager to see if Landon will latch onto something else. The mommy in me really hopes he does. I don't want him to be a BIG kid, just not a kid talking around a binky. I'm really pushing for a stuffed duck billed platypus that Michael brought him from Australia. I named him Darwin. He's the perfect size to be lugged everywhere, plus he has a very stylish leather bill. Maybe he'll make a future post. Oh, and thanks to my photographer (Mom) for submitting the picture.

Onto other things....

So it's a new year. 2009.....the year we will celebrate my 30th birthday...ick.....and 5 years of wedded bliss....not ick. I'm not one to make resolutions. I don't know why, I just never do. I think the word "resolutions" has such a negative conotation. You might as well call them "Things I Should Do, But I Know That I Won't." So instead of talking resolutions, Chad and I have talked about some GOALS that we hope to accomplish in 2009.

1. Potty train Landon and get him into a big boy room and bed.

2. Pay off Chad's Bravada....a year early....so we can remodel the kitchen. The kitchen remodel probably won't happen in 09. Maybe we'll buy a real dining room table though. That would be progress.

3. I will FINISH my master's degree. As of August 1st it will be a done deal.

4. Work on the toy room in the basement so it can actually be used as a toy room. That needs to happen quickly. After the last two weeks there are so many toys around this house it's dangerous. :)

5. Win another state championship for the Rockets.

6. Get Chad the head coaching position at UCLA.

7. Move to Hollywood and befriend the Beckhams.

8. Start my own interior design business doing the bedrooms of the children of the stars.

9. Purchase a private jet to fly all of our family and friends out to visit whenever they'd like.

10. Make time stand still so there are 48 hours in one day instead of 24.

I think I may have gotten a little carried away. Let's just shoot for 1 through 5. ;) Happy New Year everybody!

Here we are cleaning up the aftermath of the 2nd birthday celebration. Those balloons literally took a beating before we got rid of them.