walking the line

over the past few days, i've realized not only how dealing with toddlers is stressful for adults, but also how hard it must be for the toddler! toddlerhood seems to straddle the fine line between independence and asking for help. every day the toddler wants to show off his independence, and even when you know they're frustrated, they don't want your help. you don't want to see your child frustrated, but you want to encourage the independence.

take for instance keegan's new obsession...getting dressed. it doesn't matter how many layers of clothing he already has on...if he finds a shirt, he must put it on. he generally tries to put it on like a pair of shorts first (which kind of makes sense...i mean there are places for the legs and all!), and then he gets it on his head...generally sideways. the whole time i'm saying "oh look at you! way to go buddy!" and he gets one arm in, and claps. YAY! then the other arm goes through the neck hole, and he can't get it out. but i can't help him because he refuses to let me...it's too early. after 5 minutes though, i don't fcare if he lets me or not, and i don't care how mad he gets! i back his arm out through the neck and tell him to try again. this time there is much more success, and he is very proud of doing it all by himself :) then he finds a pair of shorts and tries to put THOSE on. keep in mind he's now wearing a pair of shorts and 2-3 shirts. but his leg goes through the shorts, then the other leg...through the same leg hole. and he pulls them up as far as he can, and he claps...and depending on the shorts, they might get all the way up to his waist! so now he's walking around the house with 1 pair on the correct way, and with two legs in one hole...but again, he did it himself.

another new feat is getting the juice off the counter. and this is purely my fault. i'm lazy...i fully admit it. when i take the juice out, i pour my glass, and leave the pitcher on the counter. i'm only going back in 15 minutes for another glass anyway, so why bother putting it back in the fridge? i HAVE to get better at this now though, because keegan can reach the counters. and back when he was too short (which i swear was just last month!) he'd come ask for juice. life back then was grand! now he sees the juice on the counter and pulls it down...the top flying off the pitcher, juice spilled all over the floor, keegan covered in juice...and little calls for "hep! mommy! hep! joooo! hep!"

one time he will ask for help immediately though is when he changes the TV channel from what he wanted to watch. up until recently, keegan was a disney kid...watched it in the morning while we had breakfast, played with it on in the background, etc. but within the last week or so he has fallen in love with sesame street. not sure how it happened, but i won't argue with it since i really can't stand disney's special agent oso. now, keegan can fully work the remote. he knows what buttons change the channel, he knows the volume, mute, and last channel. he can also turn the tv on and off. he'll watch sesame street, and sing and dance, and point out elmo and cookie. it's very cute to see it! LOL! and i will go off and make a shopping list, find coupons, take a quick shower...whatever. he'll play with the remote, turn it up and down, on and off, change channels back and forth, and mute/unmute. sometimes though,, he changes the channel to where he can't get it back. and he'll run up with the remote yelling "mommy hep! oh no! elmo!"

ok really? you're blurring the line even more now sweetheart! you'll put clothes on so you can't walk, you'll drag juice off the counter, you'll climb stairs, go on the slide...you don't want help with anything! but elmo disappears and it's the end of the world? geez!

lunch with daddy

well i was supposed to be at an inservice for work this afternoon, but as keegan and i were leaving for the sitter (an hour and a half before the inservice started, just to make sure i got there in time), i couldn't find my keys. we searched the house for nearly half an hour before i called pat to ask him if he had them in his jeep. he called a few minutes later and they weren't there. so keegan and i kept looking. he kept bringing me pat's spare set saying "mommy! keeeeeeeeeeeey!" yes honey, those are keys, but we're looking for mommy's keys! a minute later he would come again with daddy's spare set, so proud that he found the keys! we looked more and more, and then it hit me...they're in my bowling bag...still in the jeep, aren't they? so i called again, and had him run back to the jeep. sure enough! so needless to say, i did not make it to the inservice. and that was a blessing in disguise! the power went out at pat's office, so he got off half a day early, so we all got to go to lunch together!

so we went to perkins...it's close to the house, we hadn't been there i a while, and keegan can be semi-loud and it's ok! we walked in and he again, said hi to everyone he saw. the hostess went to get us a booster seat, but by the time she got back with one (which was less than a minute) keegan had already climbed up and sat on the chair and begun looking at his menu like he just does this all the time! we got him in the booster, and life was grand. he de cided today that he wanted a cheeseburger (this was a first, as it is usually mac and cheese or chicken strips). he also decided that he should be the welcoming AND farewell committee to every person there! he was also the baby detector, whispering "baby!" every time he saw one! talk about multitasking! he colored while we waited for our food, and continues daying hi and bye to everyone as they walked past the table. we were sitting pretty close to the entrance, which meant there was a lot of traffic! and then the flirting began...

a little older lady walked past, and keegan said "bye!" and blew her a kiss. she had to stop and say how cute he was, and talk about what he was going to eat, and say how cute he was again. a few more ladies walked past and he flirted, smiled, giggled, and blew kisses. then a teenaged girl walked by. keegan said hi, smiled, batted those baby blues...and got no response from this girl. he was heartbroken! but the hostess saved the day! she was all too willing to flirt back with him! she couldn't get enough of his oozing cuteness that she kept walking by so he'd talk to her and she could tell him how cute he was! and he smiled every time and said "noooooooooo!" in that coy little voice. i have to admit...he was especially cute! lunch came, we ate, he did great! then the waiter brought him a cookie. it is at this point he started to dance. and when keegan dances, everyone in his presence must also dance. so he'd take a bite of cookie and start bopping in his chair, waving his arms, and giggling. then he says, "mommy!" so mommy must also dance. then "daddy!" and daddy must dance. and God forbid if you stop dancing...he'll call again!

something tells me that my child is very food motivated. a few months back he started dancing around the house when i made him french toast. last week he wrote a song about grapes...and today he rocks out because he has a cookie!

anyway...these are the moments that make me wish i could stay home with him all day...to see the excitement in everything he does! sure, being home in the summer gets to me because he's not always that cute, and he's not always dancing. he hits, he throws tantrums, he cries. but i look past those because the great moments are so much better to remember! makes me wish we could do lunch with daddy more often! i know that as much as i miss, daddy misses more because he doesn't get the summers with him. i bet daddy wishes he could do lunch more often too!

birthdays

i've come to the conclusion that i never need to wrap another present for my son. he has no desire to open them! we had a small gathering at my parents' house the weekend of his birthday about a week ago. mom and dad got him a toddler trampoline. he LOVES it! so when he had no desire to open anything else, i put it off as mom and dad rock with a great gift, so he just has no interest now. but that's not the case! we had another gathering this past weekend...and he had LESS THAN no desire to open a thing! he sat on my lap and i opened the first gift with him. and by "with him" i mean he sat on my lap while i tore the paper, trying to make it as exciting and appealing to him as i could. nothing! he got up and got something to drink. i called him back several times to see his presents, and he still wanted nothing to do with it! so i began just opening each card, reading who it was from, and in my best (or lamest, whichever you prefer!) toddler voice, i shouted "thank you!" then i proceeded to open the gifts and say "oh it's what i always wanted!" everyone laughed, and we had fun. so the next day when there was no audience, i thought we'd "open" his presents again to see his reaction. every present was "oooooooooooh!" and "woahhhhhh!" so it's not that he has no interest in stuff...he just doesn't want to work for it! why unwrap it when someone will undoubtedly unwrap it for you, and then you can play with it till your heart's content? but i'm ok with that. it means that at christmas, i can just get one of those giant bike bags and put everything in it and not stress out over getting all the wrapping done in time! i'm looking forward to that now! LOL!

shopping adventures

we ran some errands this morning, and the adventures and silliness started right away! our neighbor has landscapers fixing some work, and as we were getting in the car, k spotted one of them. "hi...hi...hi...hi...hi..." until this poor guy noticed him and said hi back. well we can't just leave it at that now, can we? i get him in the car, all strapped in, and i close the door. as i'm walking around the car to get to my door, i hear this high pitched squeal, followed by laughter, followed by that coy "nnnooooooo!" that he jokes with all the time now. i turn to see the guy playing with him through the window. it was great! i get in the car, k blows the guy a kiss, says bye bye, and we're off!

we get to the first store for a quick return, so i didn't even bother with a cart. this is a mistake. we got to the counter, and k threw himself on the floor and started crawling around. by all rights, i probably needed both hands to carry in the storage bins i was returning, but sacrificed one so i could hold his hand. i had to let go so i could get the bins on the counter though. i quickly pick him up, sign the return slip, and we leave. on the way to the car, i give the, "remember how we talked about being a big boy?" speech. he smiles, gives me a hug, and we're off to the next stop.

we get to the grocery store, and enter through the produce section. i have never been in this store before, so i stop to figure out where the heck i am going. as i'm looking at the signs, i hear k yelling, "mama! ball! ball! please? ball!" i look around, and there are no balls to be found. there IS, however, a crate of watermelons that he's pointing to. poor baby! i don't think he's ever eaten from a whole one, so he doesn't know what it looks like! we walk past quickly. we get our shopping done, as he says, "hi...hi....hi" to everyone he sees, and only stops when someone answers him. he decided (with some encouragement) that instead of the ball (watermelon) he wanted grapes. so before we left, we went back and got some grapes. he carried them all the way to the checkout, and even put them on the belt. in the checkout lane, he takes his shoes off. i only know this because an employee walked past to let me know that one of his shoes was on the grate under the cart, and she didn't want me to miss it. i am in front of the cart at this time...when i quickly push him through so he doesn't push the buttons on the credit card thingy again and they have to start over (yes, this has happened!). he takes off the other shoe and immediately puts it in his mouth. ugh! part of me wants to keep his shoes off when we go to the store now so he doesn't eat them, but i might be turned away because he's not wearing shoes (heard this morning that a mother and 6 month old were asked to leave a burger king in missouri because the baby wasn't wearing shoes). we pay, we get to the door, and we are on our way to the car...where no less than 3 people walk past and pinch k's cheeks or pat his hair and tell him how cute he is. really people? is it just ok for you to touch strangers' children? i don't know you, i've never seen you, and i probably never will again. do you think i want you and your germs on my kid? the answer is no! but i grit my teeth and smile, simply because at 9 AM, it's all elderly ladies...and i know that's just how they are.

on the way home, i am feeding him grapes. i keep a small dish in the car for these occasions. i give him a bowl of grapes, he eats, life is good! then i hear, "oh no! ma! uh oh! hep! hep! hep! (that's help). than God for the red light just then because i think something is terribly wrong. i turn around, and he's handing me a grape...it had a piece of stem on it, so there was something wrong with it. i remove the stem, he thanks me, pops it in his mouth, and smiles. he then starts singing a song. "doops, doops, yay doops, la la la!" it took me a minute in the store, but came to the conclusion that that's how he says grapes. do you remember what it was like to be so excited about something so small that you had to make a song out of it? life doesn't get better than that!