During the last few weeks I’ve collected a few memories and quirks of the Jakester that need to be recorded for posterity. My mind turns to sludge with the amount of detail that life requires, so the little fun remembrances seem to just poof like so much dust if I don’t write them down.
When we were nudist camping last month, Jake fell in love with the place all over again. He has been there twice before, however, in the land of three-year olds a year is a really long time. The evolution of his reaction to all things naked has been interesting. He was a naked baby, crawling around our friends RV one very rainy weekend, a couple years ago. He didn't seem to notice any difference at that age.
When he was a naked two-year old, he peed on every bush in sight. “Mommy, we get to pee on bushes when we’re camping right?” Ah, every male child’s dream. The first time we went to our community pool after that trip, he shucked off his swim trunks without a thought. “No, Jake, you need to keep your clothes on when we’re at home.” Getting that point across took several talks. You never know what you’re in for when you decide to change the routine.
Now, this year, he was old enough to understand that the nudist camp is a special place. He had so much fun, he coined a new phrase. “Mom and Dad, we have so much fun being naker. I love Naker World!” After our trip, we returned to the real world and Jake has handled the transition back to clothes without any hiccups.
His jaw is healing well, he was given the okay to eat solid foods again and they have finally taken off the ‘grill.’ Everything he eats is surveyed and if it happens to be something crunchy, he looks up at me proudly and says, “I can crunch now Momma!” It’s amazing how we can appreciate something so mundane after we’ve lost the ability for a while.
His teeth are now crooked, his bite is off, we have to see the oral surgeon for re-checks, an orthopedic dentist to discuss how the wires pushed around all his teeth and finally his regular dentist to wrap up the whole picture; but all-in-all, we are blessed to have a healthy boy with such a renewed gusto for food. He had lost a couple pounds during the initial accident and liquid diet phase, but now I’m sure he’s put on that weight….the kid is heavy! Soon, I will have to stop offering to carry him to bed. Boo hoo hoo, my little man is growing up….again. Funny, how we welcome every milestone and grieve the loss of every outgoing stage of babyness at the same time.
And the 'why' stage is still ramping up to full throttle, I try my hardest to give full and concise, understandable answers but several nights a week I hit the wall. “I’m done Jake, no more ‘why’ questions.” “Why, Mommy?” Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Jake has a new daycare provider. Ms. Betty is the bomb; she has been taking care of children for decades and is completely hardwired for kids. As soon as we arrive she starts with a letter of the day. “What is our letter? P is for purple and potatoes and popping bubbles! Let’s sing the P song.” Off she goes, I no longer exist. I’m so thankful. I was at my wits end trying to find one more family member who was willing to take care of my boy each day. I have the most awesome family and they really came through for us. I just kept saying, this too shall pass….and it has finally. Ms Betty will take care of the boy until he starts Montessori school in July.
Three year olds are a world unto themselves. Jake and I walked in to Ms. Betty’s the other day and another three year old came running. “Hello Jayden, how are you today?”
Jayden is a very active three year old, quite exuberant and still learning good pronunciation. “What’s my name?” He says, with a serious look on his face.
“Jayden,” I respond, always wanting to be the helpful parent figure.
“What?” He says, as if I just called for him, completely forgetting that a moment ago he asked what his name was. At this point I’m thinking, “Hm, not the brightest apple in the bunch.”
Then, once again we do our little dance. “What’s my name?”
“Jayden.”
“What?”
Now, I'm doubting my own intelligence for playing along with this event. You just never know where those little growing minds are going to lead you.
Parenting takes a whole heaping truckload of patience. You just have to laugh and find the amusement in all the silliness or you’ll just end up pulling out your own hair.
Jake and I went shopping the other day. I needed a dress for a wedding we were soon to attend. Jake sees every trip to any store as a possible toy buying excursion. Sometimes I give in, most times not. On this day, he was being a pistol so there was a very slim chance that a toy purchase would be in the offing; however bribery can be a very useful tool when you’ve just got to get a toddler through a store. So, I gave in and we found a small toy. I told him we’d buy it if he made it through the store without a hitch.
After several questions along the lines of, "Can I open my toy Mom?" He finally seemed content to just hold the plastic wrapped prize...or so I thought. I tried on some shoes and finally returned my attention to my child, sitting in the cart and doing his damnedest to slowly peel the backing from the plastic encasing his prize. "What are you doing Jake? Didn't I say you had to wait until we bought it?"
"Well, yes Mommy, but I was talking to myself real quiet and I said 'I am just going to open it a VERY leetle bit.' Yeap, that's what I said."
How can you argue with reasoning like that?
