If you're happy and you know it-throw a chair!

So you know the little girls and boys who sit and clap their hands and smile and sing along and dance and listen to directions? I didn't get one of those, either time. I don't know why this bothers me but I just wish for once I could be one of the moms just sitting there next to their kid singing along and smiling and enjoying seeing their child have fun and learn new things and take everything in. I'm ALWAYS the mom who never gets to sit down in the circle because my kid is running away, taking things off the shelves, and yes, knocking over chairs (and they are really heavy and loud when they fall to the ground). No this is not that abnormal of a behavior for an almost 2 year old but it always seems like my child is the only one doing those things while all the other kids are mooing and clapping and stomping. I guess I thought that Mallory was going to be different because she was so easy and she did really like music class and circle time when she was a baby. Once she could walk away, she did so. Just like her big brother. And here we go with the 2 year old birthday parties where my kid is the one who's playing with the door or somehow getting into a closet they aren't supposed to be in or breaking a computer behind the desk while the other kids are singing along. I swear I was a very cooperative child who wanted to please everyone. What happened??

Ok that's all my complaining. They are cute and sweet and I love them, defiance and all...




And like I've said before, this is all temporary and I try to remind myself of that. I assume at some point Mallory is not going to walk around the table and grab all the food off of other kid's napkins at snack time and stick her hands in the bowl of glue and try to eat it while the other little girls are happily gluing tissue paper on their Seder cups, but I guess you never know...we might need to send this one to finishing school.

Speaking of finishing school, I think maybe I should have gone because this is what is swept off of my wood floor every single night...at the very least

That is after one meal. I could do a sweep and get a huge pile at any given time of day. I can only imagine what is hidden in the carpet because the kids walk around eating in there too and I vacuum much less often than I sweep the kitchen (much less often = really never). There are some things I have just learned to let go. Like Max eating a box of Special K with Strawberries (right out of the box) for dinner for the last 3 nights or a bag of popcorn or a bag of chocolate chips (not really a whole bag). At least he is eating. Same thing with offering Mallory 3 or 4 different things for dinner and her throwing it all on the floor and then getting out of her high chair and eating what she threw on the floor. See that one chocolate chip in the pile above? I had to fight her to not eat it out of that pile. I get the whole eating as a family thing and just serving them all the same dinner and enforcing healthy eating habits and the family value of dinner time. I had it growing up and I'm still holding out hope that it will happen for us. But it's just not feasible at this point in our lives. Just not gonna happen. Not with these kids at these ages.

A little side note...Max took this picture of me.
So yes, toddlers who don't sit for circle time can turn into 3 year olds who can focus long enough to take a picture of their mommy.

Ok that felt good to get that all out there :) Congrats to all you mommies who get to sit during circle time. And here's to cleaner floors and healthier eaters! Good night!