A Night At the Movies

We decided to be daring last night. My husband and I took Logan to see a movie in a movie theatre. On our way I tried discussing with my husband the what if's. What if he doesn't sit still and wants to terrorize the place? What if he starts screaming and yelling like he does when he gets excited? Or when he doesn't want to sit there unmobile? And after all of these what if's; the question. Which one of us is going to leave the theatre with him?

These were not the only questions rambling from my mind. There were also positive notes such as, "a theatre is quite different from tv at home, maybe he'll be awed and entranced by it all!"

So, after we purchased $20 worth of tickets and $15.50 worth of drinks and snacks (in the hopes that if he does start yelling and screaming a raisinet might keep him quiet for as long as the treat will last) we headed into our theatre room. Logan curled up on my lap, checked out the others in the theatre with us, and wide eyed watched the previews...

And that's as far as he got. The squirming started, followed by fussing and yelling because I wouldn't let him down to run and invade the others. With some staring eyes, and a few knowing looks from the older crowd, I left the theatre with Logan.

While my husband sat blissfully in his seat with the diaper bag, my purse, and all the snacks; I chased Logan up and down the halls of the theatre, through the bathrooms (even the men's), around the lobby where he tried climbing on those giant 3-D poster boards advertising new movies, away from tearing up everyone's doantion "stars", and away from the plants.

Luckily, the staff at this particular theatre was very understanding. In fact, with little going on with all the movies playing, they all found my little monster quite entertaining. They laughed as Logan walked up to the concession stand and looked at the candy, then after seeing one of them walk through the employees side door, laughed as Logan quickly followed. While one of the staffers was sweeping up the fallen popcorn from people's bags, Logan followed her around, picking up pieces he found and disposing of them in his mouth. I told him no, that's yucky; but hey at least he was helping right?

After an hour and a half of this the manager of the theatre walked over to us, knelt down and told Logan, "I hear you don't like my movie." The manager laughed as he stood back up and handed me a free movie ticket and told me "to come back and see us." I thanked him as another staff member walked up to me and smiling said, "First movie huh?"

Two and a half hours after Logan and I walked out of our movie, I saw my husband come out of the theatre. He quickly began to tell me how wonderful it was and how I "have to see it!" After he finished explaining the story line and what character clashed with who and why, he asked me how things went with Logan. I told him how patient everyone was and what the manager said and did.

My husband exclaimed, "Wow, that's great! You deserve to watch a movie while I take care of Logan after tonight."

You bet I do.

Accumulated Stuff

I have been in the process of (finally) cleaning out Logan's closet. A rather large task I have been putting off for quite some time. He has so much stuff in there. Mainly clothes as that is the one thing a little guy goes through the most.

With a stack of rubber maid containers and boxes I go through the piles, which I had presorted as he outgrew in an attempt to stay a little organized until I had the time to clean it out. A box of premie diapers and clothing; was he really this small?

It's so easy to forget how tiny they were in the beginning. All I remember of those hazy, sleep deprived days was the fear of breaking this tiny person as I clothed and bathed him.

As I keep on packing these outgrown articles of clothing and shoes I see how much my baby has turned into a little boy.

Temper Tantrums

It has already started; the crying and screaming, throwing himself on the floor, even the pounding of the fists and kicking of the legs. The first thought in my mind was, "Already!"

Leave it to a new mom to think that temper tantrums did not start until the terrible twos. Isn't that why they call it the terrible twos in the first place? (Okay, I know that is not the only reason why two year olds have received this rap.)

We do know not to give Logan any attention at these times; to not talk or even look at him. So, we walk away into another room. However, I have been contemplating on how to resolve these in public (we have not encountered one in public as of yet; knock on wood.) When I go over tantrum scenarios in my mind, I continue on doing whatever it is I am doing regardless of the looks I receive from others. The looks and comments from others is what I need to get my mind around; the "he's my child and I am dealing with this my way regardless of what others have to say or think" mentality.

In the meantime, I continue on yet another journey in motherhood and pray that this phase will soon end.

One Drawer Higher....

You know that song "Mr. Mom" by Rascal Flats? There is a line in there that I keep playing over and over in my head; "Crayons go up one drawer higher." Before I always thought that it was just a cute song. Now I realize how true that song actually is.

The other day as I was cooking dinner I heard a slight noise. I turned around to find Logan had climbed up on our pantry shelves, found the bag of marshmellows, and was shoving little handfuls of the white gooey treats in his mouth as fast as he could before I came and took them away. He then laughed as I was explaining to him why he can not have the marshmellows before we eat dinner and ran off to find other trouble to get into. Needless to say, the marshmellows have been moved to a new location.

Another instance; I was folding laundry in the back room when I heard my husband yell at me, "Did you give him this?"

"What." I yelled back.

"Come here!"

I walked in the computer room where my husband was in the process of taking a bag of cereal away from Logan. Apparently, on this occasion, Logan decided to climb to the cabinet where the cereal is kept, open the box, take the bag out and proceeded to walk into the computer room to visit his dad while munching on little round sugary goodness. Cereal has been moved.

As I was telling Logan's pediatrician about these incidents she laughed and said that she has another patient who's mom was telling her how she finds her 18 month old son sitting on top of the refrigerator. Oh man.

While I am learning to be on the alert for items reachable by little hands, not everybody has grasped this concept yet. In the office the manager left his cup of coffee sitting on his desk right where a little boy could stand on his tiptoes and grab. Keyboards, pens, phones, nothing is safe.

Logan being my first child, it amazes me how quickly little kids grasp and figure things out. At 15 months, he already knows if he can not reach on tiptoes, just move the chair and climb. So as more and more items get moved a little higher, I continue to keep my sanity and savor these moments with the rest.

Lack of Motivation

It's Friday; the weather outside is sunny and eighty degrees. I am sitting at my desk in the office looking out the window and longing to be out there playing rather than in here.

I find (as does many) that on these days I have no motivation. Let's rephrase that. I have no motivation to work. I have the motivation to go for a hike, work out in my garden, maybe a nice little jog on one of my many running routes. But as for working, zero.

The day is lagging on. Now that the whirlwind of the sale is over and I have everything pretty much caught up, I find myself staring out the window more and more. Dreaming of everything that I would rather be doing.