He's a wild child.

I used to think I had a pretty good handle on this parenting thing. I knew how I wanted to raise my kids. I wanted them to be well behaved, polite, with just the right amount of silly and fun mixed in. We would do all those things you see in "good parenting" articles (only feed them homemade baby food, no screen time, make meals together, use positive discipline etc). Of course we would never deviate from expert advice.

Then something happened.

I actually became a parent.

Did that ever blow my expectations out of the water. Both the good and the bad.

I guess I never really imagined the possibility that I could have a child who is smarter than both his parents, more stubborn than both his parents, and has an insatiable amount of energy and curiosity to go along with it. The word others typically use to describe him is "intense". And he is.

Raising him so far has been one of my greatest joys, and also one of my greatest challenges. I often get to the end of the day and feel both exhausted and inadequate at giving him the freedom he needs to explore and be himself, but also providing the structure and boundaries he needs to learn values and make him feel safe.

I love him to the ends of the earth. But this boy has me stumped. Good thing both he and I have a Heavenly Father who uses him to teach me every day how to be a better mum to him. Sometimes it gets a little messy and a little scary, but I'm grateful that I can face every new day with hope.

.....and I digress. These thoughts have been at the forefront of my mind the last few weeks, and many many other times in Isaac's 2.5+ years of life. Before I knew it, there they were all typed out.

about this boy of mine over the last two months...

-actually asks to cuddle now and says "I love you" spontaneously including to his toys. Whenever I drop him off at nursery he gives me a big hug and kiss and says "I love you mommy". It's the best. One day at the park, we saw a sign and he says "see that sign? it says 'I love you mommy'". Every time we saw it, he would repeat that and my heart would melt.

-thinks he's an expert negotiator and says things like
 "how about two more candies?"
 me "no"
 "how about one more candy? I can just have one more candy. That will be good right?"
me "no more candy Isaac"
"hmm I can have four candies?"
you gotta give him credit for persistence

-loves to pretend-mostly about fighting aliens and monsters

-I'll tell him he can't do something and he responds with "well daddy said yes"

-he knows the make and even model of tons of cars and calls them all out when we're walking down the street
 "there's a Ford Edge like grampy drives"
 "there's an H for Honda like grampa and grampa's CRV"
 "there's a dodge like we have"
 "there's a nissan like Uncle Alex" (I actually didn't even know what car he drove, but I took Isaac's word for it and sure enough he was right)
etc...

-he likes to take care of his stuffed animals

-he loves to exile me from the bedroom and play with Mia in it. usually leaving a ginormous mess of clothes, books and diapers for me to find after.

-sings all day long: primary songs, ABCs, nursery rhyme songs, songs from movies... We used to hear him singing from bed "Nephi was courraaaaaaaaageous, this was his reply" over and over

Playing the drums

-he can say his own prayers, but usually whispers them so we can barely hear.

-pretends to be the parent "mummy don't drive with one hand. just use two"; "mummy just walk on the sidewalk so you can be safe"; "that's the wrong way sweetheart" (teaching Mia how to use the phone); "Watch out Mia there's big kids there".

-loves Curious George and Peter Pan

-maybe naps once a week

-is fully potty trained including at night

-he loves a good reaction and will often do it more to keep the reaction going, so even if he's doing something dangerous (unless he's in mortal peril), I have to stay completely neutral, and approach him as if I don't care he just grabbed a giant knife on the counter while I turned away and is waving it around. I think of it as approaching a very unpredictable and large animal haha. There are however still consequences, sometimes I manage to keep my poker face during those. Sometimes not.

he makes us laugh. daily.

We had the missionaries and I made a cake for dessert. I gave some to the elders to take home, and a very outraged Isaac says "HEY THOSE ARE MY CUPCAKES! WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH MY CUPCAKES?". fast forward to the next day in sacrament meeting when the elders are passing the sacrament. Isaac sees them and says very loudly "WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH MY CUPCAKES?! WHY ARE YOU DRIVING AWAY WITH MY CUPCAKES?!"

He insists he's 16, because he really wants to drive. One day he told me all about how he was 16 today and could drive. Mia couldn't drive because she was a girl. and girls can't drive, only big boys. I asked him what mummy did in the car and he says "sits in the front". hah.

One day he was insisting he was 16 (although some days I'm pretty sure he is), and I would tell him he was two. He very emphatically repeated he was 16, then to prove his point, went over to Gordon's dresser and put his deodorant on. He left his shirt on to do this of course.

he never passes up a good opportunity
He knows when it's prime time for getting into things (parents napping, showering etc).

Found him eating corn flakes out of the box after a shower

On one such occasion. Isaac insisted Gordon and I have a nap in our room. He closed the door, and I waited a minute before sneaking out and grabbing the video camera. I found him in the kitchen about to climb on the sink. I asked him what he was doing and he quickly sat down on the chair, scrunched up his face in concentration and fixates his gaze on some cereal boxes. he says "I'm just looking at the cereal". Then asks me to go back and have a nap. He was actually trying to get some Easter treats from the window sill.

One day after church, Gordon, Isaac and i were lying down on the couch closing our eyes. Isaac got up but told me to keep my eyes closed. I knew he was going for some leftover cake on the counter. I could hear him pushing the flour bucket over to the counter but every 5-10 sec he would stop and run back to the couch to make sure I was still closing my eyes, then go back and proceed with "sneaking".
Before he made it to the cake he told me he had to go to the bathroom, so while he was in the bathroom, I hid the cake, and put an empty cookie sheet with a small piece of chocolate on it in its place. after the bathroom, he resumed his "you go have a nap mommy and close your eyes". he would turn around every 5 seconds and stare me down suspiciously, and I just burst out laughing. he got so mad and said "YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES! MOMMY YOU'RE BEING A SILLY GIRL!".  then he looks at the empty cookie sheet and says "hey, what's this piece of chocolate doing here?". i asked him where the cake was. he says "i ate it all. even the plastic" (it had seran wrap on it).

 Another day Gordon was having a nap and I was going for a run. It was a 2hr run (when I was training for my half marathon), so I couldn't wait until he woke up to leave and he knew that. Mia was napping and we put Toy Story on for Isaac. He said to me "I'm going to eat all daddy's gum". It was pretty high up so I just said "uh huh", and left. When I came home I heard all about how Gordon woke up and found Isaac hiding under a blanket finishing off a whole pack of bubblegum. Luckily we didn't find any sticky remnants. Rookie mama of the year.

this boy lives and breathes for the outdoors.
park. every day. several hours a day.

Rides his stryder like a boss (and normally with a helmet!)

He is truly the life and energy of our family. Without him things are way too quiet. We love you kiddo!

She is the sweetest!

It seems like the months fly by with two busy toddlers, Gordon finishing his masters, and me working 6 shifts a month to keep my license up.

We are counting down the Sundays until Mia is in nursery (only 3!), but since that means she's gonna be 18 months in less than a month, it's a little bittersweet. Where the heck did the time go?

In the last two months she has sprouted only one new tooth, giving her 8, although several are visible and lying in wait to make our girl-and by extension her parents- miserable yet again. She has also sprouted upwards and is now getting too tall for some of her 12-18 month pants. And when you have a bean that can fit into 3 month clothes width wise, it gets a little comical. Luckily it's summer and we can pass lots of her pants off as capris or crops, or she just wears dresses!

Throughout the months, I jot down notes of things she does so I don't forget when it comes time to post. The last two months I've basically written down a list of verbs, and looking at it now-I think it sums her up pretty perfectly.

Mia
-loves: she gives hugs and kisses freely, even to her big brother who is crying because he's in timeout for not being nice to her. she'll go up to him and pat his head and rub his back. sometimes she'll go back and forth between Gordon and I giving out kisses and cuddles. she is definitely a daddy's girl, and sometimes can only be settled by cuddling with Gordon.

-climbs: everything and anything regardless of height. includes swinging from bars at the park, and flipping herself upside down furniture. almost nothing makes her happier than being outside playing at the park.

                               
-screams:  loud and piercing when she doesn't get her way, or when she needs to get the point across to her big brother.

-copies: pretty much anyone doing anything. we've noticed her doing it during movies, when I'm exercising, at the park, and basically whenever Isaac does something.

-nurtures: she's pretty in tune with others' emotions and can recognize when someone needs a smile or hug. she likes to hug, kiss and cuddle her doll and stuffed animals, and even gets Woody and Jessie to have conversations with each other-in her totally made up language- and kiss and hug.

-concentrates: can sit quietly and play, look at books, or other activities (see picture below-BRAND NEW ROLL) for up to 10 minutes. it may not seem like much, but big brother can sit for about 2 minutes on a good day, so 10 is an eternity in this house. she has perfected a very intense concentration look where her nose is about 2 inches from whatever she is looking at or doing.

-sasses: she knows when she's in trouble and either chooses attitude or appear-as-cute-as-can-be to face it.  also includes a fair deal of screaming, and occasionally throwing things.

-provokes:  her older brother. takes his toys...like his most favourite-do-not-touch-ever toys and runs away. doesn't usually end well for her.

-befriends: everyone. she'll go up to a kid or group of kids at the park playing in the sand and plop down next to them, and start playing with them like they're best buds.

-chatters: like everything else Mia does including entering this world, and with the exception of crawling, she's taking her time with talking. she can say (English) words, just prefers to say things like "ducka ducka" "buhdoo buhdoo" which I'm sure is very advanced vocab in Mia-nese. her hesitance to use real words doesn't stop her from chattering away all day long. I'm sure once she decides she's ready, we won't be able to stop the talking.

-escapes: mostly at church. she can somehow slip away unnoticed (the Isaac distraction technique) or charm her away across the pew, even if we're sandwiched between other families, and has managed to make it to the stand a couple times. once Gordon almost had to chase her around the entire perimeter of the chapel during sacrament, but luckily her little pigtails bobbing up and down across the front told us which way she was going. when she has made it to the top (usually during relief society), she likes to stand on the stool, look out over the stand and deliver a monologue into the mic while wearing an enormously cheesy grin.

For your amusement, enjoy the next few pictures portraying Mia's obsession with this cowboy hat (all are separate occasions where I have found her walking around the house with it on)

 

 

The most important word that comes to mind when I think of Mia is sweet. She is the biggest sweetheart, and she balances her big brother's intense personality out, so we get the best of both worlds. Even though completely unexpected, we could not be happier she came to our family as soon as she did!