Today I made a terrible mistake that I will never make again. I let Jacoby eat 3 marshmallows when he woke up this morning. He wanted one last night but I told him he had to wait so he did. He didn't even open the bag, he just slept with it all night. It even transferred from his bed to mine when he did early in the morning. So when I opened the bag and he quickly grabbed 3 of them I didn't feel like fighting about it, I just let him enjoy them.
Within an hour he had found my box of paints. Tempra paints that had been sitting in the same place since we moved in the beginning of February, and he had never touched. He had been playing nicely in his room but when it got quiet other than noises I could not distinguish I went to check. A huge blob of red paint on his beautiful little quilt. I calmly sent him out to the table to paint on paper, admonished him soundly to never touch paint without mommy and that we only paint on paper and proceeded to clean up the mess. He then went into my bedroom and locked the door. I panicked. When he let me in there was blue paint on my bed. I put him in the tub to soak and finished cleaning everything. I decided to put the bedding in the wash and asked him to carry the stain remover. 30 seconds later I heard glugging in the hall and found him with a large puddle of stain remover on the floor. He carried the coins after that. 45 minutes later it was all cleaned up, the paint was up and I was exhausted. I called Drew and Jacoby went to play in his room. I assured Drew that there was nothing more that he could get into and heard him playing with legos. As I hung up the phone Jacoby came trotting into the living room, legs coated in red paint and hands all red. I had left the red paint on his toy chest after cleaning up. I put him in the bath and peeked into his room, paint on the wall, on the toy box, on the bed and all over his carpet. I wanted to cry and give up. But as he lay splashing in his pink bath water pretending to be a fishy, I couldn't help thinking how cute and sweet he is.
It's almost all out of the carpet. The sheets are a little stained but they can be replaced and it came off the wall and the child. It was one of the worst days of my parenting but through it all I still felt an overwhelming love for him and marveled at God's design and gift to me as a mother.
People say that twos are terrible and threes are worse but I disagree. Hectic, insane, crazy, overwhelming... yes! 100 times yes! But so so rewarding. I feel so privileged to get to watch this little guy develop to see his mind and body grow. He is so smart and independent and so loving! To get to be the recipient of his "I love you!" and hugs and kisses daily.
I don't feel privileged always at 4 in the morning being woken up and asked for a story or an egg or when I'm cleaning up paint or in the middle of a tantrum. But I know these days won't last forever. In fact in 2 short years I have witnessed how fast they change, how fast they grow up and how quickly he is getting to the point that he will not need me like he does now. And so I will choose to cherish every memory, the good and the bad with him and thank God for blessing me with the incredible joy and gift of being a mom.
Within an hour he had found my box of paints. Tempra paints that had been sitting in the same place since we moved in the beginning of February, and he had never touched. He had been playing nicely in his room but when it got quiet other than noises I could not distinguish I went to check. A huge blob of red paint on his beautiful little quilt. I calmly sent him out to the table to paint on paper, admonished him soundly to never touch paint without mommy and that we only paint on paper and proceeded to clean up the mess. He then went into my bedroom and locked the door. I panicked. When he let me in there was blue paint on my bed. I put him in the tub to soak and finished cleaning everything. I decided to put the bedding in the wash and asked him to carry the stain remover. 30 seconds later I heard glugging in the hall and found him with a large puddle of stain remover on the floor. He carried the coins after that. 45 minutes later it was all cleaned up, the paint was up and I was exhausted. I called Drew and Jacoby went to play in his room. I assured Drew that there was nothing more that he could get into and heard him playing with legos. As I hung up the phone Jacoby came trotting into the living room, legs coated in red paint and hands all red. I had left the red paint on his toy chest after cleaning up. I put him in the bath and peeked into his room, paint on the wall, on the toy box, on the bed and all over his carpet. I wanted to cry and give up. But as he lay splashing in his pink bath water pretending to be a fishy, I couldn't help thinking how cute and sweet he is.
It's almost all out of the carpet. The sheets are a little stained but they can be replaced and it came off the wall and the child. It was one of the worst days of my parenting but through it all I still felt an overwhelming love for him and marveled at God's design and gift to me as a mother.
People say that twos are terrible and threes are worse but I disagree. Hectic, insane, crazy, overwhelming... yes! 100 times yes! But so so rewarding. I feel so privileged to get to watch this little guy develop to see his mind and body grow. He is so smart and independent and so loving! To get to be the recipient of his "I love you!" and hugs and kisses daily.
I don't feel privileged always at 4 in the morning being woken up and asked for a story or an egg or when I'm cleaning up paint or in the middle of a tantrum. But I know these days won't last forever. In fact in 2 short years I have witnessed how fast they change, how fast they grow up and how quickly he is getting to the point that he will not need me like he does now. And so I will choose to cherish every memory, the good and the bad with him and thank God for blessing me with the incredible joy and gift of being a mom.
You're the best!!! And He's a very lucky boy! I can't believe I complained to you about miscommunication and my teen worries when you were cleaning up paint messes and you didn't even talk about it!!
ReplyDeletelol actually mom I was thinking how easy my life is! paint messes are nothing compared to worrying over the safety of someone! I love you!
Delete