No Worries and Other Random Tales of Toddlerdom

Funny things I don't want to forget . . .
 
This morning James brought me a handheld mirror, so I turned it toward him and said "Who is that? Is that my sweet Jamers who I love so much?" And he replied, "Nope, that's the boy who you wish would just stay nice and clean."

*****

 

The other day I gave James a bath and was sitting on the edge of the tub washing his hair. I was particularly tired that day, pretty sure I hadn't showered, and any make-up I'd mustered the energy to put on that morning had long since worn off. I felt like crap and any suspicions I had of looking how I felt were only confirmed when I caught James staring at me with a disgusted/confused look on his face, followed by "Mom? What happened to you?" I laughed so hard. I probably would have cried but I was too tired. I went and told Brian afterward, who was probably equally as disgusted but too nice to say anything. I've made more of an effort to shower and fix my hair since. Please no feigning shock comments on this from anyone who has never had a new baby (ahem, sisters).

*****

There's an older couple who live next door to us who are kind of quirky. I was outside with James and Livy the other day and the older guy came over to see the new baby. We chatted for awhile and then as he was turning to leave he paused for a second as if searching for the right word and then just kept repeating over and over "She sure is a cuter--yep, sure is a cuter!" A cuter, huh? Nope, didn't make sense to me either. I think the word he was searching for was "cutie." Close enough, I guess.

 

 (pictures have no relevance to the stories)

James is getting increasingly too smart for his own good. He's been good at communicating almost always but lately it's gone to an entirely new level. (Yeah, I know all people think their kids are stinking smart, so just roll with it. Mine is also a horrible listener, whines too much, and potty training has dragged on longer than I care to recall, so it all evens out.)
 
Background: Yesterday James and I went to the backyard to play and I told him he could choose ONE toy from the toy bin to play with. Of course, being two, he immediately disobeyed me and continued to throw every single toy from the bin on the deck straight onto the lawn. About five minutes later it got really windy and dark storm clouds rolled in. Well, James is totally scared of rain storms so of course when I announced to him that a storm was approaching and we needed to clean up the toys, he screamed like the end of the world was near and ran inside as fast as he could. I ran after him and reminded him of our rule "If you make the mess, you have to clean it up" but he was already sobbing hysterically on the couch at this point from fear of the storm (and it hadn't even started raining yet) so I sighed and went back outside to put the toys away. If I recall correctly (yep, clear back to yesterday), it never really did more than sprinkle.

Anyway, early this morning after it started raining for real (gotta love these southern spring storms) James and I had this conversation:

me: "It's a good thing we put those toys away outside yesterday. Actually, let me rephrase that: it's a good thing I put them away. They would be all wet if I hadn't. Do you see why it's important to clean up our toys outside now?"
James: "Yeah. It's a good thing you put them away. I didn't help you at all!"
me: "You sure didn't. That wasn't very nice of you, was it?"
James: "Nope, but it's okay, Mom. Hakuna Matata."

What a stinker.

He's also started really sensing when I'm getting mad at him and tries to preempt it with good, positive vibes to assuage any punishment or verbal anger coming his way. When he knows he has done something wrong he'll usually come up to me (before I discover what he's done) and say something like "Mom? I love you. Can I give you a kiss? OR, my personal favorite "Mom? Umm, I'll sing you a song so that you'll be happy, okay? Will that make you happy?" Which is usually followed by me pleading "James, what did you do? Show mom what you did."

I sure love my boy, sass, mischievious nature, and all.