Posts Tagged ‘lessons learned’

Finally..

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Well, after 4.5 years, I think my little boy is completely potty trained. He has had NO accidents in weeks (maybe even months now). It is funny how worried I was for a few years about him pooping in the potty. Now I barely flinch as he yells (as he is running) “mama, I gotta poopy – now!”. This is a good thing since he begins preschool in several weeks!

I think we, as parents, naturally worry. I remember when Brady was 21 months old and barely said 4-5 words. This is hard to believe now – as he talks nonstop, everywhere, to everyone, all the time! But back then, I was convinced he had a speech delay. I even had a local service evaluate him. Turned out that he was ahead in nearly every area, but speech was a bit delayed. But it was nothing that required any special services.

Then there was the worrying a few months later about him having to move into a new house – – again, I underestimated my little man. We had some big changes with the divorce and living with Mamaw and Papa. And even then Brady adjusted fine and I worried for no reason. So it shouldn’t surprise me that I worried about potty training for so long.

I am slowly learning that worrying is a part of parenting. But you can’t allow the worrying to overshadow current victories, activities, and everyday life. So to those parents out there worried about speech delays, late walkers, adjusting from a crib to bed, potty training, night training, whatever challenge you are facing. You are not alone. Worry if you must, but enjoy your day, your “present.”

Play-Doh

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Recently, Jack has taken on another obsession with Play-Doh.  He first played with it a long time ago and didn’t know what to think of it, except eat it.  It was put away in the crafts bin and never looked at until a few weeks ago.  He came across it when I made him a new drawer in our kitchen with all of his art supplies accessible to him.  Now, it’s the only thing he wants to play with indoors.  His choo choo trains are in the picture too, because he runs those through the Play-Doh and pretends it is snow, mud, rain or something spilled all over them.  I am a bit of a neat freak with some things, so of course I gasp when the Play-Doh is all over the rug, lodged in between the trains and other toys on the scene at the time, and especially when I find little tiny pieces all over the rest of the house and car.

This past weekend we were getting ready to go to his friend, Parker’s Birthday party.  He has been talking about this party ever since we received the invitation in the mail.  It was a train themed party so that made it even better.  It was held at a local gymnastics gym so I was actually excited about it myself.  About an hour before the party, Jack was playing with his Play-Doh.  I was getting ready and Jack walked in and told me “Mommy, Play-Doh in my nose”.  I quickly examined his nose seeing if there really was anything in there.  Sure enough there was a small piece lodged pretty far back.  It never fails that things like this happen when daddy is out of town and I’m the only one around to solve the problem.  I tried everything I could to get it out, tweezers, massaged it, I even made him smell the pepper shaker to sneeze.  At this point he started to get scared and cried.  I felt awful, but I knew if he cried and his nose ran that maybe it would force it out.  Luckily, he sneezed a few more times and eventually most, if not all, of it came out.  I think he learned his lesson about putting things up his nose, maybe (fingers crossed).

Jack had a blast at the party and met some new friends.  He was given a party favor bag that had some goodies in it.  The first thing he pulled out was a Tootsie pop and the second thing was another container of Play-Doh.  I had to laugh to myself that this stuff is now just going to be around for awhile and I need to get used to it.  I must say that I loved it as a kid so now it’s his turn to have fun with it!

Two Books

Friday, February 5th, 2010

If you ask Andrew what he did at daycare, his first response is always an enthusiastic “TWO BOOKS!” He’ll very happily tell you that these were Elmo books or Sesame Street books, though I suspect they sneak a few other ones in between. It’s very rare that I can get him to leave the house in the morning without him lugging at least one (if not four) books out the door with him.

We’ve been reading to Andrew since he was born. It seemed a little silly at first, reading to someone who clearly had absolutely no idea what I was saying. But it quickly became routine. At night while we were desperately trying to get our cranky one month old to sleep, I’d read him “Good Night Moon” and sing him two songs before trying to put him down.

Some of my favorite pictures are of Hubby reading to Andrew when he was only a couple months old. They would sit on the couch and read “Harold and the Purple Crayon.” Andrew would try to eat the book. We’d try to keep from laughing.

Every day for the first five months that I was home with him, we’d sit on the floor (well, I’d sit and he’d lay on his play mat) and I would read him nursery rhymes. Somewhere along the line, the little guy really developed a love of books. The pictures. The words. The time we get to spend together.

We enjoy it too – even when we’re reading the same book to Andrew endlessly. We’re both avid readers, when we’re able to look at something other than briefs and case law… So it’s great that our son shares our love of stories. And I’m sure it’s helped with his vocabulary and is probably a better way to spend the night than being glued to the tv…

This week they had the Scholastic book sale at daycare. An entire display case of books was right in front of Andrew’s classroom. He raced for it each morning and happily grabbed stacks of books and bawled when I made him put them back. Wednesday night, I told him to go pick out a book.

He was so excited – like a kid in a candy store. He immediately grabbed a book with dogs on the front cover. Then he looked up at me with his huge eyes and said, “Please, mommy! Two books?” He left daycare with two new books and a huge smile. He spent the ride home flipping through the pages and pointing out all the pictures.

Thursday was the last day of the book fair. He ran around the school again trying to grab every book he could get his little hands on. Ones with horses. Fire trucks. And, of course, Sponge Bob. (I’m not sure where he learned about Sponge Bob, but he was very excited by that one…)

I told Andrew that if he wanted a book, he had to pick out one for all his friends in class. He had as much fun picking out the book to give away as he did finding ones for himself. After we had paid, he proudly marched back into his classroom and gave the book to his teacher.

As we walked out the door, with Andrew clutching his new purchases, he smiled up at me and said, “Two books!”

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

As this year comes to an end, I am reflecting on the good times we shared as a family.  We visited numerous different cities, towns and national parks.  Jack and I spent the summer  in Pennsylvania with family and friends. We moved across country to establish our new life here in Mississippi.  We saw interesting things along the way. We saw some not so interesting things, too.   This year has been more good than bad, and for that I am thankful.

Jack’s development has been amazing to watch over the last year. Like any two year old, it is a year of firsts. I don’t focus quite as much on the small stuff anymore, but I am always aware of language skills, motor skills and social skills. If anything, this year has helped him along the way. I don’t want to wish away these tender years, but I am excited for what 2010 has in store for our son and  family. I hope this year is as interesting as the last two (and a half).

Happy New Year!

Edible Embarrassment!

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Have I ever mentioned that I have the “gift of gab?” Well, apparently so does Brady. He also has the blessings of innocence and not knowing what is OK to say. We are entering the embarrassing stage now. Most of the time I can come up with a simple explanation about why grandma needs a wheelchair and can’t talk (Parkinson’s), or why another child might be screaming, or his numerous other questions and statements.

Well, last week at our local grocery store, Brady shocked me. We were rushing through the store just grabbing a few items on our way home. Mammaw (my mom) was with us, which probably made things worse. Brady was in the cart and we ran into one of my sister’s friends. We hadn’t seen him in about ten years and he had obviously gained a lot of weight. In Brady’s defense, he was also a very tall man. I said hello and introduced Brady to Steve. Immediately Brady bursts out “boy mama, he is BIG – REALLY BIG, that is ONE BIG MAN.”

What does a mother do when your child blurts out something embarrassing (even if it is the truth)? So at this point I explain to Brady that this man was a friend of Uncle Keith’s. I quickly say goodbye and RUN, trying to ignore the statement and quickly get to the check-out line. I hope the man didn’t hear my son’s comments, but we will never know.

My mom later informed me that I used to tell people with freckles that they had polka dots all over their skin and they scared me. So I guess apples don’t fall far from their trees.

Tomato Troubles!

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Have you ever had one of those “learning experiences” as a mother that you didn’t realize WAS a learning experience until way after the event? Well, let me tell you about a “tomato event” recently at our home. My “sweet” 3 year old son (Brady) was carrying around tomatoes. He was telling me how he would like to throw them. I told him that probably was not a good idea.

Fast forward about 20 minutes, I am working at putting dishes away in the kitchen. Brady comes out to the kitchen and says “um, mama, you need to come with me to the bedroom, something tewwible (his pronunciation) has happened.” I think, “oh no.” I had completely forgotten about the tomato at this point. I was quickly reminded of the tomato when I arrived in the room. There was THE tomato, with spots of juice all around the shelf, spots on his clothing neatly piled on the shelf, spots on the floor, spots on the wall…. You get the point.

I immediately picked Brady up and sat him down in a “time-out chair.” I didn’t say much except, “stay here, I am going to clean up the mess you made, we will talk about it later.” He sucked his two fingers (his way of coping with stress) and didn’t move. I could tell that he was stunned at the reaction of that tomato. I cleaned it up in 2-3 minutes maximum and came out to talk to him.

I asked him why he would do that. He explained that he just wanted to stick his finger inside the tomato and feel what it felt like. He apologized (several times), hugged me, ran and apologized to mammaw and papa, and the event was done.

My mom told me at the time that he really hadn’t known what he was doing. I immediately told her that he needed a time out because I had told him not to play with the tomato. Now understand, my mother isn’t a “pushover” grandma. In hindsight she was right, but so was I.

How many times in life do we act or speak without really knowing what or whom we might hurt. We often go in with our eyes wide shut. How many words have been said to loved ones or even strangers (maybe during road rage) that later you regret? How many times have we yelled or maybe over-reacted to something small our children have done? However, “tomato troubles” are a part of life. Learning to think about the mistake (in this case, an undeserved timeout) afterwards is an important process for children and adults alike. We all need to learn that no one is perfect; we all squish some tomatoes sometimes, and the important thing is HOW we handle ourselves after the tomatoes have already been ruined.

So this day, my son learned an important lesson (well, a few). First, obviously he learned not to squeeze a tomato. Second and most importantly, he learned that he will make mistakes (as we all do), and the best way to handle it is to think about it for a few minutes (or longer, if needed) and ask forgiveness or do whatever else is necessary to keep the tomatoes fresh in our lives.