Today we had tacos. Being the incredibly good mother that I am, I pulled Asher’s into bite size pieces. Then he cried and stared at me and banged his hands on his high chair while I tried to enjoy my regular-sized taco. He hates it when someone is eating something bigger than he is.
Finally I handed him a full-sized taco, being the wonderful mother that I am. Just to see what would happen. And to stop the screaming. And whatayaknow, he just chomped away, taking bites while giggling and smiling. He didn’t even come close to choking. He knew what the heck he was doing. “Hmmm,” I thought. “Sometimes my boys know better than I do what they might be ready for. “
(No worries, I’m not going to hand him a whole hot dog or an apple straight off the tree, no worries…)
Oh! And by the way Asher is currently beginning his form of crawling. I can’t even describe it. It’s that weird, but it works! Slowly.
Then there’s brother Miles. Maybe he knows better than I do what he’s NOT ready for. Even if I tell him he’s entirely ready to be completely potty trained, he just can’t. Literally. He proved it today. It wasn’t a power struggle, he wasn’t refusing to go, and he seemed pretty positive about it. And yet…nothing. We read books while learning how to “keep it in the potty.” We laughed and talked. Nothing. So I said that he must not need to go, no big deal. We pulled up the Buzz Lightyear undies and off he went. Literally. All over his legs and the living room floor.
I think it might be totally freaking him out to pee straight out into the air instead of into a diaper. (Sorry if this is too much bathroom talk, but it’s pretty much a huge topic around here these days- I knew this would happen, but I didn’t know exactly how it would be this hard, just like everything else in parenting). Miles just can’t just let ‘it’ go.
So for now we’ll just have to keep paying five million dollars a month for diapers and filling more landfills than I like to think about. He maybe really isn’t quite ready no matter how much I’ve thought (and said) that he is. When it clicks it will click. I hope. It’s not like he’s going to wet his pants at his graduation or on prom night. Well, I guess that’s a whole other topic….
And naps! I am so afraid of Miles giving up his nap. It’s getting close but I’m in denial. He’s totally not in denial though. He had Buzz (toy from movie Toy Story) in bed with him and was pushing buttons that make laser sounds, so I came in to put Buzz up on the dresser. Miles found this to be the meanest mommy move I have ever pulled on him. Until I said, “LOOK, he’s sitting on the edge and watching out for you.” Then he giggled. I left the room and realized my strategy may not have helped because all I could hear was a really loud conversation between Miles and Buzz, “HI, IT’S MEEEE, ha ha ha ha….” (I promise I couldn’t hear Buzz’s end of the conversation). I guess Miles might not be all that tired…
So anyway, my very long point is that sometimes these boys know themselves pretty well. I have to trust them and their judgement even when they’re so little. I guess it’s part of respecting them as people. I’m just not so good at it. I’ll try though because I want them to see me trusting them and learn to trust themselves. Now don’t go thinking I’m going to let them make all their decisions. If I did that, Asher would be pulling open the fridge and drinking a brewskie, while Miles runs out in the street to catch a squirrel. I’m not taking it that far….
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