Pinterest Win
A Pool of Noodles
An Explosion of Sensory Play
Pinterest win. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Sometimes you find that unicorn in a gold mine, and it comes out perfect. Well today was just one of those winning days. Sometimes papa travels for work, and mama and wild cherub get to stay home to reconnect. What's even better is that I'm on summer break before summer semester starts. It takes at least a week to start feeling some tiny portionĀ of sane after finals. At least whatever you're gonna get with a toddler. š
So this is my time to shine. I've been wanting to make wild cherub a noodle bin for so long. He loved the one at reading. So we hopped in the car. It's already 100 trillion degrees at 10am cause of where we live. He was a trooper though. Then we headed to the glorious cult Target. Our Target was especially busy because there was a shooting at the other one. How terrible!
He handled the crowd fantastically. He even stayed strapped in the cart which if you know him is a HUGE accomplishment. There we got the loot for the weekend. NOODLES WERE ON SALE!
It was some pretty great loot. On our way home we gabbed about how fun his surprise is going to be. It was mostly toddler babble. He was in the back, blabbing away when I turned the corner to our street. Papa had told me about how he always falls asleep right as we pull up. He wasn't kidding! I laughed. I guess the noodle bin will have to wait. He had a pretty solid nap, too.
The first thing we did when he woke was have some lunch. Fun needs fuel, ya know. Then we pulled out the bin. Guess how long it took him to dump his first bit of noodles all over the floor? Go ahead. Do the math... I'll wait here. Three, it was 3 seconds, and I know because I was taking a video. Most of the time in new experiences I try not to be a control freak. He learns best if I'm near, but not hovering over his shoulder. Don't we all?
He was having the time of his life. Slipping into deep concentration. Fulling his measuring cups, and sippie cups, oh and my shoe of course. Intense concentration play is like gold to a mom with a toddler. Then it happened. It happened so quickly. Kinda like when you go in for one slice of your super special secret cake that you save for when your kids go to bed. All of the sudden you are filled with regret because you ate half the cake. Oh, just me? Okay.
As I was saying, there we were. He had that impulse... He. Dumped. The. Entire. Bin. Just breathe, mama. It's okay. It can be cleaned up. Then he proceeds to swim in it.
I promise you. That's exactly how it happened, and he proceeded to be filled with euphoric joy that began to over flow. I snickered, and that was the worst thing I could do. It hit a switch in him, and all of the sudden in his drunk euphoric joyed glory, he began to run through it. I mean full forced, back and forth noodles flying like a pack of pigeons running. All the while giggling. My snicker turned into horror as I scrambled to pick up the noodles, and he just laughed at me. Then he took the bin of the noodles I had picked up, and threw it! Holy lord... This is what $5 at Target buys you.
You know what solves problems like these? Boobs. These things are magic I swear. Forget a calm down jar. It's nowhere near as effective. Clearly he was on sensory tornado overload. After a little milk we headed back out, and cleaned up the mess. Onto activity two which was a calm enjoyable playing with the flash cards which he loved.
Once he got bored we switched to giving his new crayons a test run. We rolled out the paper. I forgot how dang good scented stuff smells when you draw. It was like a childhood flashback, and Giddy loved it. Between all three of the activities we had soaked up several hours. It was time to put the new crayons away. I had rolled up his art, put all the capsĀ back on, and clasped the lid shut. I left him on the bed couch trying to figure out how to open the crayons. I figured I was safe because he needed me to open they crayons when we started. So in the office and out. Literally 10 seconds. I come back to crayon ALL. OVER. MY. WHITE. BLANKET. Now this blanket is as old as my marriage. 10 years old, and so far it had survived with minimal damage. Well... Let's see if this washes out. I looked on the box, and I didn't notice any word of washable. Surely they were too excited about adding scented, and just forgot.
Okay son, I get it. You've got boundless energy and creativity. It's time for the park. So we went. He had a blast. He makes friends so easily, and I just trail behind him like some awkward penguin making sure he doesn't kill himself. All the while trying to make conversation with other parents, but failing because we're all awkward. We're only here cause we have to be. HAH! So then we headed home, and had dinner.
Now you might wonder how on earth this was a Pinterest Win because it's sounding like a flop. I'll have you know that with all our adventures, this kid who normally takes an hour of boobin', rocking, and singing to go to sleep, knocked himself out right after dinner. I had to brush his teeth on his journey of slipping into nod. That, my friends, was worth every penny spent at Target. We didn't even use the water colors! Still something to do tomorrow. I'm pretty sure an easy bed time routine counts as a Pinterest win. I'll have to tell you, though. I don't have then energy to do THAT every day.
This is so well written and so funny!! I love it!