Learning to enjoy the ride

Parenting truly is a roller coaster.  One minute you're jumping up and down, clapping like a buffoon as your toddler successfully goes down the playground slide by himself, the next minute you're tearing up because you can't believe how big he's gotten, and the next minute you're watching as his head practically spins around in anger because some other toddler had the nerve to get in HIS swing, that he clearly wasn't even using. 

It's the in-between gaps on the roller coaster though that I have the hardest time slowing down and enjoying.  The level spots, where the track is even and we're not doing anything spectacular, but nobody is having a meltdown, either.  The waiting in line for the next ride, so to speak.  That's the most difficult part for me to figure out how to parent correctly.

When we go out to restaurants, it's inevitable that Nick is going to get cranky or antsy quickly.  For starters, he's related to my mom - meaning he's bound to have a little a.d.d., and can't ever sit still.  Throw in the sheer fact that he's just two years old, and we're guaranteed to need distractions in order to enjoy a public meal as a family.  Sometimes that means reading books to him through the entire meal.  Other times it means letting him go to town on making his plate an actual work of art - mushing it all into one giant lump.

Or how about when we go shopping.  Nick has officially declared that he hates riding in the shopping cart (unless it's in the big part where most of your purchases need to go, and even then, it's only so he can stand up and attempt to cart surf, promising a panicked mommy and a cracked skull.)  We've tried the "you take the cart, I'll push the kid in the stroller" routine a few times, but he's also decided the stroller is lame and tires of it far too quickly.  Usually one of us ends up pushing the cart or stroller while the other one attempts to corral Nick by either holding him as long as he'll let us, or chasing him frantically through the aisles as other store patrons look on sympathetically and the store clerks glare at us in hopes that we'll be leaving soon.  Occasionally an empathetic shopper will smile wistfully at our toddler running rampant and pat us on the shoulder saying "they grow up all too quickly...*sigh*".

And it's so cliche, but it's so true.  They really do grow up all too quickly. 

It's those times that Nick is making a mess at a restaurant or giggling as he runs up and down the store aisles, that I have to stop myself in my tracks and realize - the only person he's bothering by doing this, is me.  Why?  Why am I letting it bother me?  He's not throwing a tantrum.  He's not screaming, or pushing, or touching something he shouldn't.  He's just enjoying life.  Enjoying being little.  Why don't I just join in...chase him down an aisle...giggle as I grab him and throw him in the air with a tickle, instead of worrying that we're disturbing someone or making a scene. 

And it's those times that we're playing in the basement and he jumps into a giant pile of clean laundry that I'd just dumped out to fold.  The times when he whines as I put on his coat to go outside, because he's just plain sick of wearing layers.  It's the times that he sees me laying on the floor and runs over to jump on my back for a horsey ride. 

Who cares if he wants to mix all the food on his plate together at Guapo's.  Who cares if he wants to sit on the tractor at Lowe's one more time.  It's these small, rather uneventful moments, that truly make up the overall whole of his memories as a toddler, and my memories as a mommy of little boy.

So I'm working on myself - to enjoy the plateau's.  Just as I'll cheer for each milestone that he hits, or learn to take a deep breath, calmly correct his behavior, and generally just wait out a tantrum, I'll pause to enjoy the moments that are less obvious...and more simple.  Because every moment is a memory waiting to be made.  And the next time he starts to dump his Cheerios's in the cup holders of his car seat, just because it's keeping him entertained in the backseat - I won't get upset and tell him to stop making a mess -- but instead, I'll giggle quietly, let him continue, and remind myself that someday I'm going to miss how silly he was when he was 2.