stubborn, stubborn, stubborn

My husband jokes that the best way to get me to do something is to ask me not to do it.  That's not really it, but this isn't about me.  My husband also has a way in mind that things should be, and can be inflexible about other approaches.  This isn't about him either, though.

My child will not - WILL NOT - do something he doesn't want to do.  He doesn't care what the crowd's doing, what the group is doing, what the class is doing, what his friends are doing.  If it seems like a good idea to him, then fine, but if not, no go.  I think this will be a great asset when he's maybe a little less susceptible to peer pressure (though I'm not convinced it will be that way), but right now it can be a challenge.

We just spent a week in Mexico going to the pool every day.  One might think that his swimming would improve, especially in the light of recent swim lessons.  Nope.  Not even a little.  The child still won't jump into a pool, float on his back, get his head wet.  We tried everything - encouragement, cajoling, a little bit sterm, making a game of it, bribery and thinly-veiled threats.  That kid just isn't going to do something he doesn't want to do, and if you try to force it, you lose ground; you don't gain any.  Your only hope is to make him think it was his idea, but that's no easy feat either.

'Sgonna be a handful. 

Character study from The Little Mermaid

"Why Ariel's daddy is not nice?"

"He's nice, Aidan. Ariel doesn't follow his rules, and he wants to keep her safe."
"Why he thinks she isn't safe?"
"He thinks it's dangerous out of the water."
"Ariel doesn't think so. He should listen to her words."

"Mommy, why Ursula is not nice?"
"Why do you think, Aidan?"
"Maybe somebody pushed her and she didn't like that."

"Ursula is not nice.  She should say sorry and listen to her mommy.  Maybe she needs to sit on the stairs."

"Why King Triton breaks Ariel's office?
She didn't listen to his rules.  She needs to follow her daddy's rules.
He shouldn't break her things, though, Mommy - that's not nice."

The amount of pondering on The Little Mermaid is pretty impressive.

I don't want to get big

"I don't want to get big.  When I get big, I can't be little anymore."  This was a topic on my boy's mind a lot today; we had to talk about it several times.  I'm not sure what's behind it; all I could think was to reassure him that he'd always be my boy and that Daddy and I would love him whether he was big or little or medium.  He would always be our boy, and he'll be able to do fun things when he gets bigger.  No reassurance.  We finally agreed that he'd stay little, just to keep him from being upset.  Would I love it if he stayed little maybe twice as long as usual.  Sure!  But I won't feed him coffee or anything.  Probably.

So close, and yet so far

The potty:  our friend and foe.

Two days ago a certain little man went potty five times.  Five times in one day.  Five Spidey stickers, five candies, five times.  Five!  Yesterday we went out and got some big-boy underwear that he picked out and is super excited about.  Awesome.  Progress!  He even wore them for awhile with no dipe or pull-up, knowing that meant he couldn't go unless he went in the potty.  He did it.  Dry overnight, again.

Today, not once.  Not one time.  Nada. 

Really?

Swim lessons

We're making headway; he's doing great in swim lessons, and has made lots of progress.  He finished his first set of Red Cross lessons doing most things, but not putting his head in the water yet.  We started his second set of lessons last week (second one was today), and today he put his face in the water repeatedly blowing bubbles. 

His only problem is that he marches so much to the beat of his own drummer that he has trouble listening at times.  If he doesn't want to try something, "I'm not ready."  If he's having fun, no amount of reminds from an instructor (or me) will get him to stop taking off with his noodle across the pool.

However, the reason that I'm going to have to embarrass him as a teenager happened after class:  We were going to visit a friend and her new baby after class, so to hasten our changing after class, instead of taking him to the lockerroom, I had him hold his towel around him while I changed him.  Don't be worried - there were maybe two people in the whole facility, and neither of them was paying a lick of attention to us.  Good thing.  Just as I was about to replace his diaper, he very theatrically (don't know where he gets that) threw his arms (and towel) open, yelling, "Surprise!......Happy Birthday!" at the top of his lungs.  In all his glory.

A poem of yesterday

I like boys.  I like girls.
I like mermaids.  I like vikings.
I kind of like dragons.

yes, I painted his toenails...

"My pink toes will find the Hobgoblin and the Green Goblin and their pumpkins!"

He is, as I type, standing on an exercise bike that I should be riding giving a diatribe about a myriad of subjects.  They are, as you can see, both interesting and varied.  That might be my favorite quote of the whole thing, though.