Oh, Collin. My dear sweet Collin. Who is standing on the arm of the couch right now and jumping into me…. and driving me crazy. I have told him the stories of the little monkeys falling off the bed…he doesn’t listen very well, like most two-year olds.
There are some days I feel like I am in one of David Shannon’s “No, David!” books, seriously. I know I have said it before, but it is like a rerun I live every day.
“No, Collin! You can not sit on your sisters!”
“No, Collin! You can not touch people’s eyeballs!”
“No, Collin! You can not drink out of puddles!”
And the list goes on and on… I try to be a “yes” mom, a positive reinforcement mom, a mom who lets her kid experience things…I try to give alternatives…
But sometimes you just have to say, “NO!” And quite honestly, I don’t feel bad about it. I believe in teaching in many ways, and one of them is “No” and “Stop.”
I don’t freak out…wait, slash that…I try not to freak out about the little things. Sure, take out all the clothes out of your dresser drawers (which keeps him busy for hours). You can help me fold them back up and put them away (which he loves). You dumped out the whole tote of crayons AGAIN? Really?! Oh, well…
He is my lil’ man and my shadow. If I stop too quick, he runs into the back of me. But unlike shadows, I often trip over him.
But seriously, who can refuse help like this. Sweet blue eyes and a cute little smile with his little fang teeth coming in, those are sharp! I know, lil’ stinker. But that’s another story.
He loves to be held and will try to scoot any other baby off of mommy’s lap. He is also really into mocking my “mommy look” that I give him…which I do my best not to crack up laughing. It usually looks like his eyes are going to roll back into his head. He giggles and runs when he gets into trouble, which he is usually looking for. He also has a very helpful 5-year-old brother who helps him out by whispering in his ear. He can also be such a little stinker, stealing the babies’ pacifiers and running as fast as he can outta there, sisters screaming and immobile behind him. Just wait until they start moving…Oh, my!
BUT…when he is sweet…he is very sweet. Check out my super helper in the video below. So precious.
***Note: this does not happen all of the time. Most of the time he is rolling on them or squeezing their poor little toes. Good thing I got it on video.***
There are times when I can’t see straight or complete a sentence because I am constantly redirecting him while balancing one baby on my hip and entertaining the other with my foot. But it’s okay, because I know that way too soon, he will be “a big boy” and wanting to do everything himself. So I get as many kisses as I can and cuddle my sweet little baby, who barely had any time to just be a baby himself (poor baby brother of twins, even though I’m sure they will have their own lil’ gang soon enough).
Oh, all the things he does…like in the example below.I turned around for a second, and this is what I found. lol.
Collin & Mallie
You just never know.
xxx
p.s. I put Collin to bed about a half hour ago. He usually just goes to sleep, except for tonight for some reason. I went up to the bathroom and he was just sitting on the steps, staring at me like some child from a scary movie who should be walking out of a cornfield or something. Scared the crap out of me.
You just never know. haha
Amanda St.Clair 