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My Profile
Gift from Hil Part 2 - 2014-12-30
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12:40 p.m. - 2002-12-03
Ever more aware that I won�t have Alex the built-in babysitter around next year I am making an effort to include Wolf in my routine. Plus now that Wolf�s in school all day, the intense Mom-Son time we had previously has been cut drastically. The all day together thing was so wearying I got into the habit of handing Wolf off to the first guy who came home. After 10 or 12 hours of play/feed/tend/teach/yell/clean up/play/feed...well, it got old and I was aching for some time to myself. And it dawned on me a few weeks ago that I was STILL foisting Wolf off on his brother or father far too often, even though the time I had been in charge of him was pretty minimal. Can we say HUGE guilt? I�m trying not to thump myself too hard. After all I�d just come off 5 years of being with him almost 24/7. He�s only been going to school for 3 months and maybe this extended break from Momming was necessary. In any case, now I�m trying harder to include my boy when I run errands and such. The Hissy Fit King has mellowed considerably and the idea of making a post office-parts store-video drop off-pharmacy run with Wolf in tow is no longer something to dread. He seldom tantrums any more. He can climb into his car seat by himself and sits quietly waiting for me to snap the straps, instead of my having to hoist him in there kicking and screaming and having to practically sit on him to get the straps fastened. He�s come to understand that sometimes we�re only in a place for a few minutes and that EVERY stop doesn�t HAVE to include a thorough examination of the entire place, a trip to the potty, and candy from a vending machine. He doesn�t run off as much and often follows directions THE FIRST TIME I GIVE THEM! Going places with Wolf has gotten a 1,000% easier. In fact last night he even did me proud. I took him to Shoprite with me. Just the two of us. We had fun. In the produce section Wolf put things in the bags I held out. �Okay Wolf, we need 5 green apples.� He took them from the bin, apples, onions, peppers, melons, counting as he put them in, proud and happy that he was helping and knew his numbers. We visited the lobsters and picked out a name for the biggest one. (I wondered if the person who would eventually buy and cook the lobster would feel guilty if he knew that his dinner was named �Tony�.) I let Wolf choose the juices and the cookies. Wolf had firm opinions about both. �CHERRY and ORANGE juice, Mom. And vanilla wafers, please.� �You got it, kid.� In the seasonal aisle Christmas is in full swing. We talked about what Santa might bring and played with the toys for a couple minutes. Wolf was very excited to see �Dora the Explorer� toys. It�s one of his favorite shows. In a Lady Bountiful mood I let Wolf pick out one to take home and play with right now. Wolf happily clutched his new �Boots the Monkey� musical action figure for the rest of the shopping trip. At the check-out he carefully put Boots on the conveyor and then tried to help me unload the rest of the stuff. I�m kind of anal about the way I unload the cart. I put all the heavy stuff on the conveyor first, then the boxes, the bags, the produce, and last the bread and eggs. So there were a couple skirmishes about which stuff went on next, but again he was damn proud to be �helping� and was more hurt than stubborn and angry when I vetoed something and made a substitution. Once the stuff was unloaded he wandered off. I harrumphed warningly and Wolf sat right down on the old people�s bench by the door. The checker was impressed. She said, �Wow! He�s well trained. He�s sitting there so patiently!� I almost burst into tears. He WAS waiting patiently! A bloody miracle! And one I would have missed if I�d done my usual thing of leaving him at home with Mike or Alex. Maybe it�s dorky to make such a big deal over a trip to the grocery store with my kid, but I don�t care. I had a really good time last night, and even better, I think Wolf did too. LA�s Pick of the Day: �Me and You and A Dog Named Boo� by Lobo (Or maybe, with apologies to Kent Lavoie, it�s �Me and You and A Monkey Named Boots�)
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