What’d you just say?
July 9, 2009 by Lisa Beth
A few short stories about my hilarious three year old and his mouth.
The other night I took the kids to a friend’s house for dinner. Wyatt was being his usual wild-self, and could barely sit still in his chair for dinner. In the process of his wiggling he managed to fall off the dining room chair. He fell backwards and bonked his head pretty good on the hard wood floors. I immediately screamed, “Oh my gosh! He hit his head really hard!” (Flashbacks of June 2008 – ambulances. . . CT Scans . . . concussions . . . OH MY!) I quickly put Brooklyn down and went over to him still lying on the floor. I asked him if he was okay, to which he replied, “I almost dead.”
We were riding in the boat late last month with both the kids. A flock of seagulls flew over the boat and Wyatt exclaimed, “LOOK! BIRDS! WHERE’S MY GUN?!”
On the way home from school one day just prior to the fourth of July, we drove by an area where they were setting up a large tent to sell fireworks in. Wyatt sees the tent and proclaims, “Look mom, a big tent! You make that FOR ME?” I love that in his own little world, everything is for and about him. The best part – he thinks it’s from his mom.
Wyatt sees the cleaning lady the other morning (we are usually gone before she arrives). He says to me, “Who’s that?” then to her, “You cleaning my house?”
Wyatt and I were napping at my parent’s house last weekend, in my aunt and uncle’s room they were staying in. My aunt had breast cancer and had her wig sitting on the night stand. I see Wyatt peering at the wig through slit eyes. He says to me, “Mom, what’s that?” I reply, “Um, it’s a wig.” He says back, “I touch it?” “Uh…..no. Go to sleep,” was my reply.
Wyatt loves having his arms and legs and back “scratched” before going to sleep. “Lightly tickling” is a better description. Apparently at daycare, when he is having a hard time settling down for nap time, one of the girls sits with him and scratches his back to help put him to sleep. So when we have our snuggle time at night, he usually requests “scratch my back”, or “scratch my arms.” I started scratching his back the other day and he scolds me for doing it over his shirt (“No. Under the shirt, mommy“) Geez, OKAY. When I obey his request, he demands, “Use your nails.” Then looks over his shoulder at me, “You got nails, mommy?” Sadly, no.
Pretty much everyone he meets, he will ask, “What’s your name?” They will tell him and ask what his name is. He ALWAYS responds proudly, “I Wyatt H.”
Wyatt is an extremely picky eater, has been for about 1 1/2 years now. We are making some breakthroughs, like the other night he ate an entire grilled pork chop. I was so pleased, a week later I made THE EXACT SAME MEAL. He took one look at the pork chop and declared, “That’s disgusting!” I talked him into trying a bite, reminding him that he really liked the pork chop last week. He did, but gagged through the whole thing. Drama. Usually when he doesn’t want to eat something, he will declare, “I sick.” then I will tell him that if he is sick, he needs to go to bed and rest. Some days he will choose to eat, others he will go and lay in his bed. This reminds me of a story from Chris’s childhood. Apparently he hated some type of vegetable, and his dad told him that he had to eat the vegetable or go straight to bed for the night. Chris looked his dad straight in the eye, and marched up to his bedroom at 5pm, where he spent the rest of the evening in bed. Like father, like son, I guess. (Stubborn, Stubborn, STUBBORN!)
Wyatt has become quite the bargainer. When I say, “Five minutes until bedtime!” He responds, “No, ten minutes?” When I am trying to get him to eat his dinner, I will say something like, “Four more bites and you can be done.” (Even though I told myself I would never do this to my child, but when you have a 30 pound 3-and-a-half year old . . .) Wyatt will respond, “One bite.” Then I’ll come back with “Okay, three bites,” to which he will suggest, “two bites.” Then I remember that I am bargaining with a three year old, and go back to my original “four bites.” BECAUSE I AM THE MOM AND I SAID SO. Told myself I’d never use that one either, but it totally comes in handy. Another line I’ve used….“Because it’s the rules. I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.” I know, I am a total cliche parent. Whatever works, I guess.
Patty on Thu, 9th Jul 2009 5:28 pm
I love love love my grandson!!
Dorothy Hustad on Sat, 18th Jul 2009 12:25 pm
Lisa, you are so talented. I liked to knit and sew and did a lot of that. I made Mike s short set and he wore it to school
and one of the kids asked him if it was his pajamas and he
never wore it again and I didn’t sew for him again. That dress
for Brook is just adorable. Everything you do is great. I still
laugh at trying to take my picture with my 5 Great Grandchildren and two just didn’t want to cooperate. Guess Iexpected to much from the little ones. Love you all.
G.G.