Tag: life lessons

All the Feels

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While eating her dinner, watching me make lunches for the next day, Baylor asked

“could you please cut my cheese into a heart shape?”.

WTF? My first response was an incredulous “whose MOTHER is cutting their cheese into heart shapes in your class??”.  Because clearly someone is making all the other moms look bad. It’s not enough that I A. remembered to pack a lunch B. it was something you liked and C. it was reasonably healthy…now I have to cut shit into hearts too?? Gah! I can’t keep up. Why is just making a nice meal not enough? Why does it have to have fireworks and hearts too?

When I found out who the culprit was, I was knocked back down a bit. I actually really like this mom. So if she was taking the time to cut hearts, I could too. And it turns out, I’m pretty good at free handing hearts in dairy substances with a butter knife.

The next day when I picked up Auggie from class, the first thing his teachers said was “he loved that cheese heart so much!”. All smiles, he ran up for a hug. It was a good reminder – the little things count. They get noticed and they are important. Yes, healthy delicious meals are important too, but that little extra thing makes a big difference.

I got all inspired and found a three pack of cutters that were made for sandwich. Dolphins, dinosaurs and of course, hearts. I surprised the kids with dinosaur shaped grilled cheese that night for dinner. Baylor was thrilled. Auggie, not so much. It turns out he’s not such a big fan of eating dinosaur heads. Or dolphin tails for that matter. So back we go to free handed heart shaped cheese. And peanut butter cups. Nothing says love like a peanut butter cup.

Stranger Danger?

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I am a paranoid person – not a tin foil on my head, no Face Book page, off the grid kind of paranoid…but I am convinced that there is danger around every corner. I’ve roped PW into my insanity too and my mom feeds it as she is also convinced of the constant danger around us. Therefore it’s natural and B is picking up on a little of it – I’m not teaching her that the aliens are coming, but I do try to temper being friendly to people with being aware of strangers. More than once I have said that she can’t stay in the car by herself, play out in our front yard alone or talk to adults she doesn’t know without Mommy there because there are people who do steal kids. I’m not trying to freak her out, but I would rather her be overly cautious and come home at night than be concerned with offending someone she doesn’t know and never being heard from again.

That said, these conversations came to a head last week. We were at the grocery store and a little old couple was everywhere I needed to be. They were in front of the onions, blocking the corn and man handling every banana. Every time I turned around, one of them or their cart was in my way. I was hustling so I parked the cart with Baylor in the seat and made a bee-line for the strawberries when I saw an opening. The cart was no more than 4 feet from me, but B’s guard instantly went up and when the lady of the couple asked Baylor “Hi there. What’s your name?” B lowered her chin and looked straight at the woman with a don’t-mess-with-me face and said “Don’t try to steal me”.

I heard the entire transaction and was completely unable to stop myself from laughing out loud. The little old lady did not think it was funny so I quickly countered by letting Bay know it was ok to answer nicely since I was with her. Thankfully the woman and her hubby hurried off and kept their distance from us. Which lead to B and I giggling for the rest of the trip. Two problems solved; old people out of our way and lesson learned that even nice looking old people are potential kidnappers.

I mean really. It doesn’t get more intimidating than this….

What My Toddler Has Taught Me

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There are many lessons that Baylie has taught me. The two latest ones I’m still working on…

First, I’ve learned that I cannot rattle off a list of things we’re going to do anymore. I got into the habit of thinking out loud when Baylie was little. I read somewhere that it was good for their verbal skills or something. Now, it’s just a habit. I tend to list out the next things on our list like “Ok, lets pick up the toys, wash our hands and then we’ll get some dinner”. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal, to a kiddo who loooves to climb the stool to the sink in the bathroom, turn on the water and then splash around, this is music to her ears.  She doesn’t hear the order of the tasks to be completed, all she hears is “TIME TO PLAY IN THE WATER!!!!”. Which results in her running away while my  back is turned and helping herself to a sink full of fun.

Second, I cannot say a negative direction. Meaning, saying “Don’t spit out that carrot!” will result in her spitting out the carrot because I have said the word “spit” (I would like to thank Daddy for teaching her that one. Yes, Peter, it is important for her to spit out the toothpaste, however, she spits out EVERYTHING!!). Instead, I have to say “Please chew and swallow what is in your mouth” in order to avoid a deluge of partially chewed veggies.

Lastly, no matter how many times I try to sound out a word and ask her to repeat it, she will always say “da da”. Duh-uck = da da. Treee = da da. Airplane = air pane. Oddly, that’s the one she knows, can say and identify. Sigh…