This weekend was a doozy. A few days before he officially turns 18-months old the 'Rad-a-Dude decided to start drinking out of a cup unassisted. He also thought that was the perfect time to start parroting us. Those sweet days of "Eh, he doesn't understand what you're saying anyway" are over. Some significant new words added to his roster: please, night night (thanks, Lolo and Lola!), carpet (he said it once, but we haven't been able to get him to say it correctly since), and duck (sounds like "dot"). He has also added the pouty, tantrum-throwing, yelled "NO!" to his repertoire. Whattaya gonna do?
I'll take it all, though. It's so much easier to take than to give. With 'Rado though, my fear is that I give him too much - too much attention so he'll turn into a little brat; too many kisses and hugs so that he'll feel I'm a needy, crazy mother when he's old enough to figure it out; too many words so that he'll never be able to enjoy moments of silence. Yes, he's not even two years old, but I know he knows a lot. He probably understands more than I do about things because his context is so pure and unmuddied. He is his pure self in a way that years of yoga will never allow me to be. I am hard on myself. But I also expect a lot from myself and with Connor I put an extra heaping of that on my back in hopes that I don't pass that fatal flaw on to the little man. He can probably sense that, though. You can't hide anything from those damn toddlers. Have you ever tried to keep a cell phone away from one? Good luck.
Speaking of phones, everything is a cell phone to Connor. Today he had an in-depth conversation on my iPod. He also had a one-way exchange with Z on the baby monitor. Remote controls are fair game as well. By the time he's old enough to own a cell phone they'll probably be implanted in.
To celebrate 'Rado's big-growth weekend (and since we had some alone time this weekend), he and I headed out on Sunday for some chocolates. The boy is a big fan of malted milk balls, and I'm a big fan of anything, so off we headed to the coffee shop downtown. We spent a great half-hour by the front window. Connor was captivated with the cars stopping and going at the stop light, which provided both of us just enough time to finish our goodies and allowed me a few big swallers of hot tea. I loved it. Simple mother-and-son time with no electronics, no crying or whining, and no clock-watching. I'm trying to savor and swallow up these moments as they, like all others, are so few and uncherished. Why is enjoying the time and moments we're given and the ones we experience so difficult?
Here are a few captured moments from our chocolate outing:
I'll take it all, though. It's so much easier to take than to give. With 'Rado though, my fear is that I give him too much - too much attention so he'll turn into a little brat; too many kisses and hugs so that he'll feel I'm a needy, crazy mother when he's old enough to figure it out; too many words so that he'll never be able to enjoy moments of silence. Yes, he's not even two years old, but I know he knows a lot. He probably understands more than I do about things because his context is so pure and unmuddied. He is his pure self in a way that years of yoga will never allow me to be. I am hard on myself. But I also expect a lot from myself and with Connor I put an extra heaping of that on my back in hopes that I don't pass that fatal flaw on to the little man. He can probably sense that, though. You can't hide anything from those damn toddlers. Have you ever tried to keep a cell phone away from one? Good luck.
Speaking of phones, everything is a cell phone to Connor. Today he had an in-depth conversation on my iPod. He also had a one-way exchange with Z on the baby monitor. Remote controls are fair game as well. By the time he's old enough to own a cell phone they'll probably be implanted in.
To celebrate 'Rado's big-growth weekend (and since we had some alone time this weekend), he and I headed out on Sunday for some chocolates. The boy is a big fan of malted milk balls, and I'm a big fan of anything, so off we headed to the coffee shop downtown. We spent a great half-hour by the front window. Connor was captivated with the cars stopping and going at the stop light, which provided both of us just enough time to finish our goodies and allowed me a few big swallers of hot tea. I loved it. Simple mother-and-son time with no electronics, no crying or whining, and no clock-watching. I'm trying to savor and swallow up these moments as they, like all others, are so few and uncherished. Why is enjoying the time and moments we're given and the ones we experience so difficult?
Here are a few captured moments from our chocolate outing:
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