I think we all wonder and worry if we are doing a good job raising our kids. Since Sidekick only has one parent, I am especially cognizant of the pressure I sometimes feel to teach him how to make the right choices, to demonstrate the right ways to behave, to raise him to be a happy, polite, and successful man, to feed him the right foods, to expose him to the amazing things in the world, to make sure he is getting enough of my undivided attention, to make sure I love him enough each day, etc. The other night after I laid him in his crib and was closing his bedroom door, out of the blue he said, "Momma, you doing a good job." Wow! I don't know how I got so lucky, but damn, this little boy just melts my heart. Even at 2 1/2, our kids know that we are doing our best and trying our hardest to make every day a good one for them. It's nice that someone acknowledges this. : )
I haven't wanted to "rush" fun and special things with Sidekick so that he can be old enough to appreciate them. We have yet to go to a movie, bowling, Build a Bear, etc. because I want him to appreciate these things, spread them out, and make the excitement of things last longer. If I do it all one after the other, what will be left for him to do? I see so many friends just doing one fun, exciting thing after the next with their young kids, and I wonder if their kids even remember that they did something. Plus, I don't want Sidekick to think that these "special" things are a regular part of our lives.
But I digress... Last weekend we went to Lego Kids Fest and Sidekick had so much fun! He was so excited because it was different from our "normal" things like the park, children's museum, soccer, etc. He had so much fun building things, and I discovered that he liked to take things that other kids made and left and claim them as his own (while taking credit for the work). Smart little dude. What I realized is that as he kept doing this from "station to station", his creativity got better and he began to build things on his own. Pretty intriguing. It's like he needed a little inspiration to get the juices flowing. All of a sudden, he became a great builder!
At the same time as Lego Kids Fest, the convention center also had a trade show for Halloween. The people that attended it are people who put on the big haunted houses. Sidekick was so interested and wanted to see the scary things, so he poked his head into the exhibit hall to take a peek. Imagine all of the massive displays, people dressed in scary costumes walking around, etc., and my child so excited to see it all and squeal with delight! The crabby old lady "manning" the door didn't seem very entertained by Sidekick's enthusiasm, and I'm sure she thought I was a horrible mom for letting him see that stuff. However, people were laughing at him because I think most kids would have been terrified by it all. Not my kid! I think he may have had more fun there than Lego Kids Fest! Four days later, he still likes to talk about the "scary monsters" he saw.
On a side note that crosses my mind every single morning... Sidekick will be three in July. He's been potty trained since December and has been dry every morning since before he turned two. I still put a diaper on him at night. Is it safe to assume he doesn't need one anymore? The kid is a camel and can go 12+ hours at night (even though he drinks quite a lot of water before going to bed) without needing to go potty. Why am I such a freak about NOT putting a diaper on him? Should I continue with the diapers or just stop using them?
Such fun times, and what a sweet boy!
ReplyDeleteFinn sounds a lot like Sidekick - he can go ages without peeing, too. I kept him in nighttime diapers until he said he didn't want them anymore, even though he had dry ones for ages. I think we stopped using them and pullups sometime before he turned 3. I asked him a few times if he wanted to stop wearing them, and he said no. Until one day he just said he didn't want them. And that was that. :)