Playing

When you are dealing with a child, keep all your wits about you, and sit on the floor. 
~ Austin O'Malley, 1915

I picked up a book today at the library - Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen - and I came across this quote in one of its early chapters. The book talks about ways to use play to connect with, to repair your relationship with, and to learn about your child at varying ages. The quote above struck me because we are at that stage with Teddy - the it-is-now-time-to-get-on-the-floor-and-play stage.

And also the take-a-deep-breath-and-think-before-you-react stage. Toddlerhood is challenging, as I imagined it would be. But what I'm being reminded of, again and again, is that growing up is challenging. Even for toddlers (or perhaps especially for them?). To be so little, to control so little of your life, to need so much help; it can all be a bit frustrating. And Cohen's book is giving me a new way to think about coping with this stage (and future stages) - to use play to reverse power rolls, to use play to express feelings, to use play to just plain have fun.

My daughter's preschool teacher told me that preschoolers laugh an average of three hundred times a day. What would happen if we all did that?
~ Cohen, Playful Parenting

Weekend Adventure

We ventured upstate (ha) to check out a children's museum that was having a free admission afternoon. I was not so impressed with the "exhibits" (I use that term very loosely), but the great thing about Teddy's age is that he doesn't even know that this was a pretty run-down museum. All he saw was chalkboard! Water table! Rock wall! Bubbles! Sand! Books!

I would like to add this to the list of Things My Child Has Taught Me:
You can have fun anywhere if you see the world through fresh eyes and a grateful spirit.

And then there's this picture. This made the whole trip worth it.

Snip Snip

The first official haircut has been survived! It only took sitting on Dada's lap, one blue car, one grape lollipop, one silver surfer figurine, one animal cracker, Louie, the pacifier, and two tissues.

 The before

 The only "during" picture I could snap 

due to the song and dance I did for 15 minutes.

The after

You look like such a big boy to me now. A big boy with a pacifier and Louie. 

Thankful Thursday

For online banking

For a Brita full of water just before the water main break

For hair ties

For free entertainment

For elevators

The community of other mothers

I found this article linked through another blog I frequently read. It struck many chords. It still amazes me how mothers can all be so different, and yet there is something more universal, more transcendent than I ever imagined about motherhood. Other mothers just get it. They find words that just sit on my tongue. Here is another example:
 
Dear mother of only one child, don’t blame yourself for thinking that your life is hard.  You’re suffering now because you’re turning into a new woman, a woman who is never allowed to be alone.  For what?  Only so that you can become strong enough to be a woman who will be left.

When I had only one child, she was so heavy.  Now I can see that children are as light as air.  They float past you, nudging against you like balloons as they ascend.

~ Simcha Fisher, To the Mother With Only One Child

If you give a toddler a word...

...you best be ready to follow through.

Thankful Thursday

For finding dinosaur stickers in a coat pocket on the way to work

For finding an old granola bar in the desk on a day when clients are scheduled back to back to back to back

For finding the source of the pain

For finding a good book that leads you far away and back again

For finding a dentist open on a Saturday