Mistakes and Lessons

I’ve had a few “duh” moments today, where I’ve just had to take a deep sigh and move on.  First: I removed the bag from the vacuum and tried to replace it but the bags I have don’t fit.  So now we have no vacuum with a bag. 

I spent a good while (40 minutes or so) making the marinade for the shrimp, and left the skins on the shrimp so most of the flavor was conveniently absorbed by the skins. 

 

Walter on the other hand, is learning so many lessons.  It started this morning when I left to go run, he woke up and came into our room and whispered he wanted to go upstairs, you are running and daddy is sleeping, can I stay awake?  Then later this afternoon he climbed up to stool to the counter and turned on the sink.  “too hot” he said, turned it off and turned on the other side to fill his glass with water.  He turned it off and climbed back down.  He also has started to play, by himself, in his room.  It’s bitter sweet.  We  are starting to think about phasing out a “nap” and moving more to a “rest” and he is allowed to be in his room but he has to have the door shut and play quietly.  Finally today after his nap, he got out of bed, opened the door, walked across the hall to the bathroom, pulled down his pants and pooped, all by himself!   This is the first time he has gone to gone to the bathroom 100% by himself with no help from either of us.  Then after dinner he was hot so he took off his shirt, went to his room and got his sleeveless tank top style shirt and put that on by himself.  He can also put on his own shoes, get his own vitamins out of the bottle (only 2 thought!) get himself a snack (not always a good thing), turn on the TV (even more so not a good thing) and take the lid off his sand box and his bubble by himself. 

 

He is so into rocks lately, he has a rock garden and everywhere we go he gets a rock and brings it home.  He had his first bath in months last night with out throwing a fit!  We have been to the beach every night this week so we tell him the bath is like the beach, and he can bring a rock in with him.  He cried before the bath but once he was in it he was not scared, he splashed and played. He noticed his monster was scared so he talked to him about how it was OK the water is only going down, but as long as he stays in the boat he’ll be OK.  He asked if he could stay in the bath when I let the water out and he was very much OK with it!  I’ve very relieved.

 

We also learned tonight kids don’t need expensive toys.  They need an herb garden so they can pick herbs and take them off the stem for dinner.  They need   a couple of tupperware lids to act as tracks for their $1 for 7 race cars they get at garage sales.  They need an old cleaning bucket and a walk around the neighborhood to collect rocks, and they need a fake set of keys and a towel and hose to help wash the cars and turn a 40 minute chore into an hour long chore.  Instead of fancy games they need a laundry basket full of socks to match with one another, boxes of jello and other spices/cooking supplies that look alike to match colors, logos, type, ect. And instead of fancy workbooks you can find numbers and shapes everywhere you look.  We practice numbers at the track; shapes while we drive and letters while we open the mail.  Everyday things turn into a treasure box when shared with a 2 year old! 

 

We were talking tonight about how sad we are most of family didn’t get a chance to share Walters “True colors” when we were home last.  When he’s not out of his element, competing for attention or trying to over come “no don’t do that”  all the time he really is a charming little boy.  He is full of please and thank you when he asks for things.  He says “certainly” when you ask if he’ll help with a chore or put away his toys.  When moving fro one thing to another he does so with ease, but not with out cleaning up and putting away what he was playing with first. My favorite things about him right now are hearing him say “of course” when you ask him to clean up, or flush the toilet, or brush his teeth, or give a hug.  The excitement he shows when he doesn’t something he’s been trying so long to do (blow bubbles, reach his tshirt drawer, or just tonight, get the corn cob “handled” into the corn the right way")  and he says to me “mommy, thanks for helping me” even though we don’t help him at all. 

I’m sure I could say a million more things but my battery is going to die so stew on these great stories and look for more from us this week!