Trust you tomorrow

Josh and I were having a discussion about how to allocate the big tub of dinosaurs we just bought for him. I told him he can only have one of them tonight, because the rest are his birthday gift. He really wanted all of them right now. I said just one. He said all of them. We went back and forth a few times until I’ve just had enough.

I said, “Josh, you’ll get all the dinosaurs eventually. But tonight, you only get one.”

Josh said, “But I really need all of them.”

I said, “Josh, we’ve already discussed this. They are all yours. You get one tonight, and the rest on your birthday. You’re just going to have to trust me, ok?”

Josh thought for a second and said, “Ok, mommy, I trust you.” He paused, then said, “I’ll trust you tomorrow.”

 

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The Cheakamus River

On our drive back from Whistler on the weekend, Josh pointed to the river and said, “Mommy, look! The ocean!”

I said, “That’s a river, baby. It’s called the Cheakamus River.”

Josh said, “Where are they?”

Confused, I said, “Where are who?”

Josh said, “The chickens.”

I asked, “What chickens?”

Josh said, “You said chicken river.”

I bursted out laughing and said, “No, the Cheakamus River!”

Josh wasn’t amused. He said, “Chicken-mus.”

I said, “No, not chicken. Chea-ka-mus.”

We tried it a few more times, but honestly, I have to admit it does sound a lot like “chicken-mus”.

 

Things my preschooler says to me

Josh (1 of 1)It never really occurred to me that I gave birth to a tape recorder. Josh repeats back to me things I have said to him, with the exact same tone I use. It’s scary.

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While I was working on the computer the other day, Josh came in to the den, closed the door behind him, and said, “I have to make a phone call now. Can you please be quiet for a few minutes, Mommy?”

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Usually he gets to press the elevator buttons in our building. The other day, I got into the elevator with him, and without thinking, I pressed the button for our floor. He looked up at me with his teary eyes, and I realized I forgot to let him push the button. I said sincerely, “I am SO sorry, buddy. I totally forgot. Will you please forgive me?”

He does the index finger waiving thing, and said in a stern tone, “Mommy, please don’t ever do that again. Do you understand what I just said?”

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I was about to step out for a photo shoot, and I asked Josh to come give me a quick kiss. He sat at his art table drawing on his paper pad, looked up at me and said, “Mommy, I’m busy with my photo shoot.”

I said, “Oh yeah? What kind of photo shoot?”

He points to Savanna and said, “I have a photo shoot with Savanna. I don’t have time to give you a kiss.”

So sweet

At the dinner table tonight, we were about to finish up our meal.  There were two fries left on the plate.  Cliff gave them to Joshua, and said, “Here, you can have these.”

Joshua said, “But there are two.”

Cliff said, “Yes. You can have both.”

Joshua said, “But I only want one.”

We almost fell off our chairs.  Joshua can eat fries like a bottomless pit.  He never refuses fries.

Cliff said, “What do you want to do with the other one?”

Joshua said, “Give it to mei-mei.”

Awww.

I said, “Thank you for sharing  your fries with mei-mei.”

Joshua looked at me and said, “I’m so sweet, eh?”

Speak good words

The other night, I said to Savanna, “讓媽咪抱抱”

Joshua said, “Mommy, don’t speak Japanese!”

I said, “Baby, that was Chinese.”

Joshua said, “I don’t want you to speak Chinese.”

I said, “Why not?”

Joshua looked at me like I missed something obvious, and said, “Because you have to speak good words.”

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I came home from snowboarding and said to Cliff, “Either I need to buy bigger pants, or I really need to lose some weight.  I can barely button up my snowboarding pants.”

Joshua said, “How come you need bigger pants, Mommy?”

I said, “Because I put on too much weight.”

Joshua said, “Don’t worry about your weight, Mommy.”

I laughed, and said, “Oh yeah?  Why did you say that?”

Joshua said, “Because your pants don’t worry about it.”

I said, “Ok, thank you, baby. You made me feel so much better.”

Joshua holds out a fry to me and said, “You want some fries?”

 

Melt

This morning, I came out to the living room, all dressed for work.

Joshua said to me with a tone of concern, “Mommy, where are you going?”

I said, “I’m going to work, baby.”

Joshua said, “I don’t want you to go to work.”

I sat down beside him on the couch, held his hand, and said, “Sorry buddy, it’s a work day, so I have to go to work.”

Joshua asked, “How come you have to go to work?”

I said, “Because I have to make money, so we can live here and have food to eat.”

Joshua looked at me, climbed onto my lap, put his cheek on my chest, and said, “Mommy, I give you my heart.”

Excuse me while I melt into a puddle.

Money

Hearing a toddler’s perspective on money is always so interesting.  Here’s the conversation Joshua and I had this afternoon.

Joshua: I don’t want you to go outside.

Me: I thought you wanted to go to the park.

Joshua: I don’t want you to go to photo shoots, and I don’t want daddy to go to work.

Me: Awww, baby, but we need to work to make money to live here.

Joshua (with a big smile): I have money!

Me (a little surprised): Really?  Where?

Joshua (runs towards me, rattling his piggy bank): Here, I have lots of money!

Me: Oh, thank you, baby!  That’s not quite enough money.

Joshua (still sounds hopeful): It’s ok, Mommy, we can buy more money at the bank!

 

Try harder

We were about to head out the door today, so I held out a pair of shorts ready for Joshua to get into them.  He kept goofing around and wouldn’t come put his shorts on, after I’ve made repeated requests.  I had Savanna strapped to me in the Ergo, and I was trying to stay balanced while squatting and holding out the shorts.  I was getting impatient.

I said, “Joshua, I’m trying really hard to be patient.  Can you please help me out, and just listen to me?  Come put your shorts on.”

Joshua took one look at me, obviously heard what I said, happily came towards me, and got into his shorts as requested.

I said, “Thank you, buddy.  Thanks for listening so I didn’t lose my patience.  Now let’s go to the park.”

Joshua looked up at me and asked, “Mommy, you tried to be patient?”

I said, “Yes, I really tried.”

He put on this stern voice and said, “Mommy, you need to try harder.”

I got owned by my 2-year-old.

Happy long weekend!

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last blogged?

I have a confession to make.  I’ve been watching Season 7 and 8 of Law & Order SVU every night until very late.  Don’t worry, I only have 4 more episodes left, then I’m all done…until Cliff downloads Season 9 for me.

So since I last blogged, Savanna has started crawling.  I almost cried when she first started crawling last week.  All I could think of is that she’s growing too fast.  I know, I know.  I’m totally hormonal.  I have the I-don’t-want-my-baby-to-grow-too-fast syndrome. Savanna is also sprouting a third tooth.  She’s also eating pieces of cooked carrots, chicken, pork, and plums.

Joshua’s growth doesn’t seem as obvious on the physical front, but his language development constantly amazes me.  He’s now properly using the word “instead”.  He also said to me the other day, “Don’t be such a bitch.”  Yup, you read that right.  He said that.  I have no idea where he learned it from.  I knew this day would come that he would say something that is not acceptable.  To his credit, he used in the right context (after I told him “no” to something he really wanted).  I kept my voice calm and gentle, and nonchalantly asked him where he heard that from.  He didn’t tell me.  He looked a little guilty.  I think he knew I didn’t like it.  I didn’t tell him not to use the B word again.  I don’t want to make a big deal of it, since I doubt he knows what the word even means.  We’ll see if he uses it again.

It’s a long weekend here in BC.  Happy long weekend, everyone!  I do have a couple of exciting things to blog about after the weekend.

You are sorry

I took Joshua and Savanna to the nearby park the other day before dinner.  Some kids were playing with spray bottles and water guns.  While I was standing there chatting with another mom, a kid came up and starting spraying water at me.  To avoid getting soaked, I jumped back quickly.  I didn’t realize Joshua was standing right behind me, so when I jumped back, I knocked him over and he fell back on his butt and started to cry.

I felt terrible.  I crouched down and tried to console him.  I said, “Joshua, I am so sorry.  I didn’t see you behind me.  I jumped back and knocked you over.  I am really sorry!”

For the next 3 days, he kept reminding me, “Mommy, you didn’t see me, and you jumped, and you hurt me, and you’re sorry.”