My husband gently kisses me on the cheek goodbye, so not to wake me, not knowing that I’ve been awake (for the second time) since his alarm went off. The first time was earlier in the night when my son wanted out of his toddler bed and into “mommy and daddy’s bed.” These days, I don’t need an alarm. I have a 2 year old…who just happens to be sleeping peacefully next to me. But that won’t last long. As soon as I think I’m falling asleep, I hear “Mommy, Mommy….What are you doing?” Yes…he speaks in complete sentences these days. I unsuccessfully try to coax him back to sleep. My day has begun and it’s not even 7 am.
The days when my husband goes into work before the sun rises, I find myself struggling to figure out how to do basic things…like take a shower. There is no “safe” place these days, since my 2 year old has figured out how to climb over the gate we put up in his room. And I don’t like closed doors. Or crying toddlers. So this morning, like most, I close my bedroom door (he knows how to turn the knob to get out, but hopefully it’s early enough that he isn’t that brave…yet). I scan the room looking for anything dangerous. Medications…check…anything that uses electricity…check…anything that can be spilled or otherwise cause a gigantic mess…check. Ok…I look at my toddler in the eye and say “Mommy needs to go take a quick shower. Can you sit here and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for a few minutes?” (Yes…I just said that!) He looks at me with those big brown eyes and says, “Ok mommy.” I scan the room one more time, from the perspective of a toddler (meaning on the floor) to make sure there isn’t anything he can get into in the less than five minutes it will take me to feel normal (i.e. odor-free).
I jump in the shower, checking on him one last time. What once was a relaxing activity is a race against time to get clean and odor free. I can mostly see him from the mirror in our bathroom. My hair needs to be washed…don’t even ask about my legs…it’s been over a week (but who’s counting?) but I don’t dare…one more day isn’t going to hurt anyone. I shut the water off in a record 3 minutes and peer out from behind the curtain. Silence. I’ve learned that silence means trouble…mischief. Something inside me intuitively knows he’s not in the same place….he’s not sitting watching Mickey do his Hot Dog Dance. It takes only a second for a curious toddler to find something interesting to get into. I look at him and he looks at me, knowing he’s been caught in the act. Fortunately I decided not to wash my hair…or our brand new carpet would be a lovely shade of red. I managed to catch him right as he was about to smear lipstick either all over himself or all over the carpet. I’m not certain which would have been worse (although I know exactly what my husband would have said). How in the world did he find my lipstick? No matter…crisis averted…this time.
Last week we weren’t as fortunate. And there were two of us. Why is it that my 2 year old waits until I’m on the phone…with my doctor…to decide that he’d like to color the carpet a lovely shade of black. Yes…there were two of us in the room with him and he still managed to find a pen (um…where did it come from?) and mark all over the carpet.
And then there is the moment I pulled away from the grocery store parking lot, wondering why it suddenly smelled like an apple orchard? It was timed perfectly with my son’s outcry of “That’s yuck!” In the time it took me to pull out of a parking space, my toddler managed to pull a bag up (with his feet, might I add), pull out a bottle of kid’s shampoo, and pour it all over himself and the seat next to him.
Just when you think that there is no possible way your child would ever do ____________ (fill in the blank), they manage to prove otherwise.
This is just the happenings of one week. Oh the joys!
What has your child done that surprised you lately? How do you manage to fit in simple things like cooking, cleaning and showering with little ones?
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I can totally identify with you girl! I think it’s that age – lol. Sam is almost 18 months and is into everything – literally!
Thank goodness you caught him before he started decorating your carpet. Hang in there!
I totally LOVE reading your mommy posts! I always feel so much better knowing that I’m not the only one!
I have completely given up taking showers in the morning because of mischief! I’ll either wait until my oldest is home from school, or until my hubby is home! Kids are just too sneaky!
He he! Your showers sound a lot like mine. Isn’t it amazing what they can get into? Monday night is pizza night at our home and while I was running to the laundry room to change a load, my two year old, grabbed the pizza box and gave it to the dog.
very true. The problem is that they grow so fast that they’re always one step ahead of us. Right when we have a routine that works and a method that keeps everyone clean and safe, they learn to bypass said routine, and we are forced to start re planning. That is the trial of a parent which too many people don’t recognize. They think it’s a static experience — oh, but no 🙂
I guess I am lucky since my other son is 12. He watches my 2 year old for me when I need to do things. But, I know what you mean about being into everything. I don’t know how he finds half the stuff he does. He can make my computer and phone do things I didn’t even know they could do. He’s very talented and sneaky, lol! Quiet is definitely bad!
I remember those days (and really, they weren’t that long ago) – it was not.fun. My boys were big fans of powder and water messes and it was miserable. I was always amazed at how good they were at finding stuff to make a mess with – even when I had “hidden” everything.
I started taking showers at night after the boys went to bed so I could shave my legs and wash my hair LOL It’s worked out fairly well. Which is good, because I cannot live without a shower!
You are so elegant with your words, and yet you make me smile because I can relate. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 18 month old son. They will sometimes do okay in front of cartoons, but I have to put up the gate to the kitchen. I have a second gate to stack on top if I ever get to that point. Yeah the ongoing learning we must do to even kind of feel on top of the game. Good luck! Enjoy what you can of the craziness!
i know how it is when they get into everything. I have a four year old, sometimes I feel like that he has done everything in the book to get into trouble and then he does something else new.
Thanks for your post.