Wednesday, June 27, 2012

It's Hard to be Two

I've been selling a lot of out old stuff online lately, and the Lord has been blessing us with the process.  It's like having a garage sale that never ends - except you don't have to mess with actually having a garage sale.  Nice!

The tricky part has been having the items that we are selling out in view of the kids as we are selling.  Items that have not been thought of in months - in some cases years - are suddenly considered their FAVORITE THING IN THE WORLD AND HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK OF SELLING IT?!

Still, Mom usually prevails, and this past week we found ourselves selling Matthew's infant car seat.  Now, Matthew has been in a five-point harness for over a year.  He has not used this car seat since then.  He has barely seen it.  He has played with it a little off-and-on in the past few weeks because it's been out in the living room awaiting its new owner, but he certainly has not shown any particular attachment to it.

That is, until he saw me hand it over to someone else.

At which point, he threw a complete and total fit.

We are not talking about a temper tantrum.  We are not talking about I-am-not-getting-my-own-way screams.  We are talking about big, fat tears rolling down his tiny cheeks as he screamed "I WANT MY CAR SEAT!  I WANT MY CAR SEAT!"  This was not indignation, this was true sadness.  He was honestly distressed about the departure of "his" car seat.  I was shocked.  I mean, he hasn't even seen this thing in a year, not until recently.  Why the distress?

Two things:

1) Matthew is two.
2) Matthew is a third child. 

Third children have very little to call their own - especially third children who are the second or third of their gender.  When we had Joshua, EVERYTHING was new.  When we had Anna, she got all the girly stuff.  Matthew has very little to call his own.  This may not mean much at his age, but I think it means at least a little.

In addition, he's two years old.  It is very hard to be two.  You are beginning to understand there is a world around you, and you want to be a part of it - and yet everyone tells you where to go, what to wear, when to eat, what to eat, when to sleep, etc.  No wonder they throw so many tantrums!  Absolutely nothing is in their control, and they are starting to feel it. 

So poor Matthew - Mommy sold his car seat without even conferring with him.  How unfair.

However, there is a third factor at play, and that is the incredibly short attention span of a two-year boy.  By the time we got home, he had been distracted by something, and all was well in the world again.

And it should remain that way for a while.

At least until I sell his bouncer seat...

Friday, June 15, 2012

Absurd Mommy Moments

Any mother knows that this gig comes with an enormous number of moments that are so absurd, you never would have imagined yourself in such situations under "normal" circumstances.  Whatever "normal" is.  This morning, I found myself kissing Buzz Lightyear four or five times at Matthew's request in order to make Buzz's owies feel better.  This is absurd enough in itself.  However, it becomes MORE absurd when you know how it got started...because I myself suggested it.  Matthew was very concerned about Buzz in his state of injury, so to soothe him, I suggested I kiss Buzz to make it better. He liked the idea so much he brought Buzz to me about four more times throughout the morning for the same treatment.  I supposed I got myself into that one.

This event got me thinking - what other absurd mommy moments have I experienced lately?

Such as...

- Running out of time to eat breakfast in the morning so grabbing a Pop-Tart from the emergency stash in your glove box and a Capri Sun off the lunch supplies shelf to eat in the van on the way to school.

- Standing in the store trying desperately to figure out how to make a 10-unit case of juice boxes work for an 11-student preschool class, realizing you are never going to get there, and winding up buying 20 boxes in order to provide for all 11 students.

- Doing all that shopping at 11:30 at night because that's when you realized you had forgotten your child has preschool snacks in the morning.

- Having to explain to your lively 6-year old that, despite how he feels, the doctor says he has bronchitis and his oxygen levels are low, so he needs to STOP RUNNING IN THE HOUSE AND SIT AND WATCH A MOVIE.

- Simultaneously talking up the yucky medicine to your 6-year old has to take while talking it down to your 4-year old who is feeling left out because she doesn't get any medicine to take.

- Making rules for when and how your daughter is allowed to sing the song she created that involves her swinging her little tushie and belting out "itsy-bitsy itsy-bitsy BOTTOM!"

- Climbing into your bed at night, stretching your arm out under your pillow, and coming up with a handful of Polly Pockets.

- Pulling out the checkbook at the grocery store and watching two Candy Land cards fall out.  (And why are you using a checkbook instead of a debit card?  Because the children have been in your purse and you no longer know where the debit card IS, of course.)

- Rescuing Polly Pockets from a glass of milk your two-year-old saw fit to drown them in.

- Taking a four-hour drive with your husband for the sole purpose of having time to talk to him alone and uninterrupted...mostly.

- Planning to get up at 6:00 am to go grocery shopping without the kids...only to have your 2-year-old wake up at 5:30, so you have to take him with you.

It is never, ever boring around here.