Toddler victories

Last night I wasn’t feeling well. I had a horrible headache, but didn’t want to take anything for it since I’m in my first trimester. Hubby had to go to a Bible study that he is now leading, so Bug-a-Boo and I were on our own. Before Hubby left, he told Bug-a-Boo how proud he was of him for being such a big boy at dinner, then gave him a big-boy (non-sippy) cup with a little bit of water in it. He then told him that I wasn’t feeling well, and asked my 19 month old to “take good care of mommy.” My son held that tiny blue plastic cup like it was the greatest treasure, taking careful sips out of it. When he spilled a little, his heart just about broke. I got him a small refill and encouraged him to try again. That time he held tight. He didn’t drink more than another sip or two, but he clung to that cup until bedtime. My baby is becoming a big-boy and loves every outward sign of the transformation. 

Since I wasn’t feeling good, but it was too early to put my son to bed, I did something that I rarely do. I put Bug-a-Boo on the sofa next to me, and turned on the t.v. Family Fued was the show of choice. The whole half hour, Bug-a-Boo just snuggled next to me, holding tight to his tiny blue cup and cheering for correct answers. It was almost as if he was taking his daddy’s instruction to heart to “take good care of mommy.” Too precious! When the show was over, he willingly cooperated while I got him ready for bed, and went down quickly and quietly. What a blessing, especially with my headache!

This morning I saw another victory in my baby’s transformation into a big boy. Bug-a-Boo loves our dog, Angel. He loves to play with her, and he loves to be like her. I really wonder if that’s not one of the reasons he walked a little later than his friends. His dog walks on all fours, so why shouldn’t he? Anyway, lately the dog’s food and water dish which we keep downstairs, have been a major point of difficulty in our family. Bug-a-Boo who is normally quite somewhat learning to be mostly obedient, just couldn’t seem to resist eating the dog’s food or playing in her water-dish or worse yet, getting down on all fours and trying to lap water out of her dish just like Angel. YUCK!!! We tried to train him to not touch the dishes, but it seemed like rather a loosing battle. We tried to re-direct him by teaching him to scoop out the dog’s food, then leave it alone, but those efforts seemed to fail as well. Often I would move the dishes to the garage just to get them out of the way. Well this morning I was downstairs riding the stationary bike and Bug-a-Boo was playing when he headed for the dog’s dish. “Oh no. Here we go again,” I thought. Only this time, he looked at the dish, then bypassed it and headed instead for where the dog food is kept. I followed thinking surely this couldn’t be good, but wanting to see what he was up to. Bug-a-Boo very carefully picked up the scoop that we use to measure out the dog’s food and tried to dip it down in the bag and fill it. The bag is getting low, so he wasn’t able to do this successfully. He then held the scoop in one hand and reached into the bag with the other, brought up a handful of food and put it in the scoop, then emptied the scoop into the dog’s bowl. He went back to the bag of food and started picking up every piece of food on the floor around the bag (from the other day when he had last tried to feed the dog, gotten frustrated, and scattered some food). He put all the food from the floor into the dog’s dish as well. When he had finished, he looked at me with such a proud look, put the scoop back in the bag, then ran off to play again. Yeah! He’s starting to get it! And he never once tried to eat the dog’s food or play in or drink her water. Yeah!

Okay, these events may not sound like a big deal to you, but they made this mommy’s heart glad as my son is learning to obey and follow directions.