Levi and Sharing

Levi is like any almost two year old, only child.  Sharing isn't his favourite thing.  Surprise!  My child isn't perfect, as much as I like to try to convince you that he is :)  When other kids come and take his toys, or the the toy he's playing with, or the toy that he WAS playing with but had previously moved on from, he gets upset.  If I put myself into his shoes, I can relate.  As adults, how much do we actually have to share the things that mean the most to us?  Toys are the only things that kids have that are THEIRS, or at least that they feel some sense of ownership over.  And then we make them hand them over to other kids their age.  Wouldn't you feel threatened or resistant if you had to hand over your loofa or your journal or your kitchen (ladies?) to someone who might mess it up or not give it back?  Think about it.  Handing over the things that are most "yours" can't be easy. That said, sharing is an important life lesson to learn and I'm certainly in agreement that kids need to learn to share. :) 

Yesterday we were watching a football game with some friends.  These friends have kids.  Kids who are Levi's age.  And there were lots of toys to go around.  That said, there were a few favourite toys that everyone wanted.  Levi happens to love tractors with trailers (especially ones that make noise), ride-on cars (especially ones that make noise) and toy guitars (especially ones that make noise).  Every other kid there seemed to like these things especially much as well. At one point in the afternoon, I watched in amusement as Levi noticed that a little girl, who is about a year older than himself, was playing with the coveted toy guitar.  His eyes locked on the guitar and he considered for a moment what he would do.  He glanced up at the girl, then back at the guitar in her hands.  Finally he walked over and took the guitar from the girl. (not my proudest mommy-moment but kids need to sort things out on their own so I sat back and continued to observe)  Then Levi started backing away slowly with the guitar in his hands, keeping eye contact with the girl (I think I may have seen a little uncertainty in his eyes).  He was obviously thinking, "I know I shouldn't be doing this but she's not doing anything about it so...am I actually getting away with this?"  Then he quickly threw out a "thank-you!" and booked it with the guitar.  I was almost peeing myself laughing!  Am I happy that my boy took a toy away from another kid?  No, definitely not.  But am I proud and very amused  that he thought to say thank you?  Absolutely!  What a kid.  "Thank you for letting me steal this toy from you." That is definitely our son...

Pudding Painting

So...I thought it would be fun to shake up our daily routine around here and do some bathtub pudding painting one afternoon.  I made vanilla pudding and coloured it blue and purple (was supposed to be hot pink...oh well).  Then, after Levi's nap and lunch and outdoor adventure (aka. getting the mail and buying groceries), we stripped down - or at least the under 2 year old population in the house stripped down - got to work!  I put Levi in the bathtub, but there were still little puddles of water leftover from morning showers so the whole project started out with a slip in the tub and Levi almost landing on his back (I caught him) in cold, leftover shower-water.  There may or may not have been tears.  Now, I should have just gotten him out right then and saved the colourful pudding for afternoon snack.  But no.  I thought that might be robbing him of the greatest adventure of his lifetime!  So we did some finger painting.  Or at least I did some finger painting.  I'll let the pictures take it from here:

 Levi carefully (index finger and thumb on edge of container so as not to get dirty) put both containers on the edge of the tub.  The mess you see in the picture is compliments of mom, trying to show him how much fun it is to get messy...and did I mention that it tastes good too?!  He wasn't a fan.  He then proceeded to push the blue pudding off the edge and *SPLAT!* onto the floor. 

 "Mom!  Please get me out of here!  It's cold and icky and I just want OUT!"

 "Please, Mom?  Please can I come out now?"

 "Are you done taking pictures yet?  Can I come out?"

"Oh, ok.  You're going to run a nice warm bath for me.  This is good.  I can handle this.  Hey, I've never been in here WHILE the water is running...I'm going to try to catch it!  Annnnnd.....NOW.  Maybeeee....NOW.  Boy, this stuff is hard to catch..."

Ok, you'll have to forgive the cheesy Levi-commentary.  Parents just tend to have a hard time not putting words into their children's mouths.  (Alas, I'll have to work on it so that I do not continue to do this once he can speak for himself.)  It was an adventure and definitely broke up our routine, but I wouldn't say it's something I'll try again anytime soon.  I did discover that our boy prefers not to be dirty.  Face is good, hands is good, but it had better be food-dirtiness, and it's had better be there because I put it there and not there because mom is trying to rub slime all over me.  Haha.  I think what Levi needs is a little brother or sister so get right in there with him and show him how it's done.  Isn't the second sibling often much less worried about getting dirty and trying new things?  Don't worry, I'm not announcing anything.  I'm just saying, the thought crossed my mind as I was getting Levi cleaned up...maybe next time I try this, I'll have two little bodies to scrub clean afterward :)

I laughed today when...

So, today was an insane day in the city, lots of waiting and traffic and not alot of fun.  But that is a different story.  While we were in the city, though, I had some time to kill so I went into Please Mum to see if I could find any cute outfits for Levi.  I finally found my way to the back corner where the newborn stuff is and was scouting out my options - which are very limited, by the way - when the helpful sales lady offered her expertise.

"Looking for a gift?"

I replied that I was just seeing what was there and thinking of getting something for my 7 week old son.

Well, she must have missed the word "son" or something.  I should have clued in because the next thing I knew, she was trying to convince me that a 7 week old probably isn't wearing 3 month clothes anymore and that I must be mistaken.  I said that yes, he is wearing 3 month clothes, despite what your 4 month old nephew is wearing, and that, in fact, he's starting to fit into the 3-6 month size.

I shrugged it off and made a comment about how smart it was that their overalls had snaps on the bottom and how annoying infant pants are that don't have snaps.  She said, "Yes, I bet your mom would find the overalls great because the snaps make changing diapers so easy."  At this point I started to understand that something hadn't gotten through to this lady, but wondered what my mom had to do with it.  I mentioned that I would be the one changing most of the diapers.  The lady was quiet, probably wondering what was going on.  So was I...

Eventually the saleslady walked back to the til, but not before wishing me luck in finding something for my little brother.  Finally it clicked.  She thought I was a helpful older sister, probably with an absent or neglectful mother, who was the primary caregiver for her infant brother.  I laughed inside but failed to correct her.  I also didn't make eye contact with this lady for the remainder of my time in the store, a bit embarrassed for her lack of understanding, especially when Nathan and Levi joined me in the store a few minutes later.  Or did she just think that Nathan was being the helpful older brother?  hahaha.  Lovely.  No longer am I the pregnant teenage delinquent.  Now I'm reduced to being merely a helpful older sister buying clothes for her younger brother.  While it is mildly entertaining when my role is mistaken, I'd rather be recognized as the mother that I am.  Though in a few years, I'll probably not mind being the "older sister".  : D

Oh, and by the way, Please Mum is having a 50% off everything in the store sale...just so you know.