daddyville

What exactly is the fascination of kids with sticking foreign material up their nose or in their ears?? What is that? Self Dicovery?..No doubt. :) There's nothing wrong with that..,right? You just hope that these pioneering adventures don't land you and your beloved child in the ER. As a parent one comes across horror stories of that nature. Hell,some of our contemporaries are themselves owners of these stories. Like the kid who stuck a marble in his ear and kept pushing to see how far he could get it to go in an attempt to get the attention of Guinness forgetting,in the heat of the moment,that he was going to need to retrieve it. The only ones he got the attention of however,were his parents,the ER staff,and the family psychologist aside from a few of his friends that were very amazed at his prowess.
 Back to Life with a 2yr. old....
 EXPERIMENTATION is what happens when a given task is accomplished,eg. dinner,bath,etc. and the tools of said task are still at the ready. Beware of idle time,inventiveness,and 'radio silence' in the house. These are not bad things in and of themselves yet coupled together in the environment and head of an Awake and Active 2 yr. old child can signify a Surprise in the Making,for You AND your Child as well. Also,something I've discovered is that Once is not enough. No. Children seem to have somekind of unspoken quota when it comes to these things.: "Well...it did kind of surprise me when I stuck mommy's hairpin in that hole in the wall. I don't remember what happened after that. ...Did it hurt? I don't remember,let's try again and see. That way we'll know for sure." I mean really! What's going on in there?!
So...what got me started on this? Well,many things,but the most recent was last night when my beloved one was finished 'eating' her meal. Eating it is only step one of the ritualistic process. Step two is playing with it,but these steps are of course interchangeable and can change without notice as any parent can attest. Anyway,amid step 2 I look over to see her pointing distressedly at her nose and saying in her cute childspeak,"nuse,nuse...nuse". So I realize that she's trying to blow her nose,but needs to be reminded how that works. I go over and instruct,"Close your mouth.... Now pinch your left nostril shut with your finger. Now blow." She does and out pops two kernels of yellow corn! I explain that corn is Only for eating and she looks at me as if I sound like one of the adult voices on Charlie Brown. Oh well, I can only act as if,right? I continue with pre-bedtime ministrations and no sooner do I come back to her just moments later to find that she has done it again.
 At this very moment something Strikes me--I don't have to Understand this....just be here to Remedy the situation.
 ..You know,I have a feeling that this may well become one of my favs in my library of mantras over the years ahead.

 Love...it uses fewer muscles and has a better Return.

She actually posed for the last one in the series...can you tell? It looks like it could be an Olan Mills pose. Haha :)

I can't say that our Beatiful baby girl was a conscious decision on our part,no,I can't.The sex however, that it takes was very conscious! We were willing participants with our tongues hanging out playing the part of the lustful homosapiens that we are...and what a beautiful miracle came of that!! Just for the record,we did take steps to 'protect' ourselves,but as they say,'it only takes one strong swimmer to win the race and enter the cellular 'Holy of Holies'. So here we are with a beautiful,sweet,onery,strong,healthy 2yr. old baby girl.
 So.....looking at this...objectively...I think,'Could I have done this when I was 20? Produced it? Sure! Survived it?...That,I don't know'!! Actually I kind of doubt that I would have because there's too much longsuffering,patience,and Real maturity that are Required. I mean REQUIRED. No exceptions! So that's one mark in our favor for waiting---a Big one--to grow up a little before taking on the task of being responsible for and raising a little human being,that...will Not stay little for long!
 The other thought that occurs to me is: 'Will I grow old with my child?' I'm almost 42 and my baby girl is 2. We'll see. I hope so,but of that I have limited control,so I must flow with life as it comes. What other choice is there? I must add something else here. Little kids love activity! So my daughter does her best to keep me active,from following her around with a wet washcloth to bike rides on the back of my bike in her child's seat to being her human jungle gym and standing amusement park! It doesn't end I tell you! So she's doing her part to make SURE that daddy stays as active as she can make him be. Hallelujah to that!
I am glad I waited this long to be a parent and would change nothing about it for the world.

  
Love...it uses fewer muscles and has a better Return.

Once Upon A Time I used to think that if parents allowed their children to watch TV they were failing in their parenting. Not anymore. My child is at the age--maybe she will always be this way--of needing constant interaction. This is problematic if you need to accomplish tasks around the house,such as chores,etc. I include her in as much as possible but sometimes time or the hazard index of the activity prevents her involvement. Of course she doesn't understand this so proceeds to whine or throw a hissy. No Bueno for the ears or the nervous system, most importantly. Thank God for Childrens' programing!
 That's All I'm Sayin'.

 Love...it uses fewer muscles and has a better Return.