John has decided to be two. He is asserting his indepent status in a variety of ways.
1) He swore off socks some time ago, so we had resigned ourselves to just leaving him barefoot. For leaving the house, it was actually kind of handy, because there would always be a pile of socks under his carseat in the van, where he will promptly deposit them if we try to shod him before arriving at a destination.
2) Now, he also refuses to wear clothing, much of the time. PJs - a big No. He appears in diaper only within minutes of being changed into nightclothes. (Which is better than the rare times when he takes the diaper off, too.) I wouldn't mind this so much, except that he then wakes in the middle of the night, frozen solid, and climbs into bed next to ME to get warm.
He won't wear a shirt. Really. Not at all. I put it over the head, turn around, and it is coming right back off. Doesn't matter that the rest of us are in two layers - he is bare-chested. It is odd - he seems a bit odd to be so vain about showing off his physique.
3) When he is getting dressed (which is still just an exercise in putting on clothes to entertain us all so that he can promptly take them off) - he must choose the clothing now. If it is our idea, it is going to be stuffed right back in the drawer. He has an uncanny knack for finding my least favorite clothing items, paired in the worst possible way.
4) He likes to get his own cup of water to drink. Now that he has figured out the water dispenser on the fridge door, in fact, we may have to disconnect it. Today, during the time it took me to fix and serve his dinner, he filled 4 separate cups of water for himself, with one sip taken from each. Which is better than yesterday, when he filled a cup to the brim, then dumped it in the "drain" under the dispenser. Except it isn't a drain - just a very shallow reservoir. Much smaller than a full cup of water, it turns out.
5) He has liked to get his own snack for months. We have one lower cupboard that we have always kept stocked for the kids - plastic dishes, crackers, raisins, etc., so that they can help themselves sometimes. Worked great for James and Maggie. John, on the other hand, has been trouble with that from day 1. First, we had to move the raisins out of there (found the whole carton spread about the kitchen). Then, we discoved him eating a whole BOX of crackers, right before dinner. Today, I walked into the kitchen to see him putting something in the trash.
"What are you doing, John?"
"I'm having popcorn!"
"Oh. [I notice he is putting the empty popcorn cardboard box in the trash.] Well, may I take that box and put it in the recycling instead of the trash? "
"OK!"
In the 5 seconds it takes me to cross the kitchen to do this, he doesn't wait patiently for me. He doesn't ask for me to cook it. He just goes about his business. He pushes a chair over to the stove, climbs up, opens the microwave, and tosses in his bag of popcorn. I just managed to stop him from pushing "go" - with the plastic wrapper still on the bag. Not sure, but I think that might have left the kitchen smelling even worse than usual for microwave popcorn.
1) He swore off socks some time ago, so we had resigned ourselves to just leaving him barefoot. For leaving the house, it was actually kind of handy, because there would always be a pile of socks under his carseat in the van, where he will promptly deposit them if we try to shod him before arriving at a destination.
2) Now, he also refuses to wear clothing, much of the time. PJs - a big No. He appears in diaper only within minutes of being changed into nightclothes. (Which is better than the rare times when he takes the diaper off, too.) I wouldn't mind this so much, except that he then wakes in the middle of the night, frozen solid, and climbs into bed next to ME to get warm.
He won't wear a shirt. Really. Not at all. I put it over the head, turn around, and it is coming right back off. Doesn't matter that the rest of us are in two layers - he is bare-chested. It is odd - he seems a bit odd to be so vain about showing off his physique.
3) When he is getting dressed (which is still just an exercise in putting on clothes to entertain us all so that he can promptly take them off) - he must choose the clothing now. If it is our idea, it is going to be stuffed right back in the drawer. He has an uncanny knack for finding my least favorite clothing items, paired in the worst possible way.
4) He likes to get his own cup of water to drink. Now that he has figured out the water dispenser on the fridge door, in fact, we may have to disconnect it. Today, during the time it took me to fix and serve his dinner, he filled 4 separate cups of water for himself, with one sip taken from each. Which is better than yesterday, when he filled a cup to the brim, then dumped it in the "drain" under the dispenser. Except it isn't a drain - just a very shallow reservoir. Much smaller than a full cup of water, it turns out.
5) He has liked to get his own snack for months. We have one lower cupboard that we have always kept stocked for the kids - plastic dishes, crackers, raisins, etc., so that they can help themselves sometimes. Worked great for James and Maggie. John, on the other hand, has been trouble with that from day 1. First, we had to move the raisins out of there (found the whole carton spread about the kitchen). Then, we discoved him eating a whole BOX of crackers, right before dinner. Today, I walked into the kitchen to see him putting something in the trash.
"What are you doing, John?"
"I'm having popcorn!"
"Oh. [I notice he is putting the empty popcorn cardboard box in the trash.] Well, may I take that box and put it in the recycling instead of the trash? "
"OK!"
In the 5 seconds it takes me to cross the kitchen to do this, he doesn't wait patiently for me. He doesn't ask for me to cook it. He just goes about his business. He pushes a chair over to the stove, climbs up, opens the microwave, and tosses in his bag of popcorn. I just managed to stop him from pushing "go" - with the plastic wrapper still on the bag. Not sure, but I think that might have left the kitchen smelling even worse than usual for microwave popcorn.
Sounds like John is either keeping you young or adding some gray hairs. I do love the tales of John!
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