Owtside

Often you are the picture of sweetness like when you are curled up in your comforter singing the alphabet song in your still-sleepy morning voice, asking for more “kicken” at dinnertime, wanting to try on every sock that comes back from the laundry, and your hearty toddler laughter bouncing off the walls of our home. Then of course there are your classic two year old moments which are certainly not so sweet.

The weather is warm and sunny, a perfect morning to play outside. “Matty love, do you want to go play outside?” I ask.

“Yeah owtside!” you answer excitedly. Then you dump out a bucket of play food all over the kitchen floor. Again.

I read somewhere that toddlers making a mess is supposed to be educational, that it your way of discovering the world around you. I wonder what you are learning at this moment as you walk out of the kitchen, stepping on plastic potato chips and felt tomatoes.

“Matthew, please pick up your play food and then we can go outside to play."

“No!” you shout, making a mockery of your own two year oldness, and then climb on top of your art table and start taking down the drawing hung above it and throwing them on the floor.

“Clean up, clean Up, everybody everywhere, clean up, clean up, everybody do your share,” I warble. You start playing with a couple of matchbox trucks.

“Owtside,” you remind me after I have finished serenading the prince of mess making.

“Not until you clean up your toys,” I stand my ground and then snatch your trucks away, “You can have these back once you have cleaned up your mess.”

You pull out all the stops and exaggerate a frowny face before dissolving into tears. So I start tossing the play food into the bucket, mad at you. After watching me for a couple seconds you start pitching in and even smile when I catch your eye. There is never a dull mood around here with you.
“Thank you,” I give you the trucks back, “Now do you want to go outside and play?"

“No!” you answer, plopping down on the floor to play with your trucks.

Peek A Boo Guess Who's Two?

 








“Sit down,” Matthew is always telling me these days, “Sit down pease.” He will say this when he simply wants me play with him, or wants me to watch him play, or if I’m off taking pictures  when we are supposed to be having a picnic together. There is always something else I could be doing, writing a thank you note, checking my email, or reading a magazine, but most of the time I obligingly comply if only for a couple minutes to let him know that I’m always listening.

Matthew turned two years old! If you ask him his age he might tell you that he is two or five or nine. For his birthday this year we did a Curious George theme. We celebrated with red, blue, and yellow decorations, homemade Play-Doh, and served lunch, monkey munch and two types of cake to house full of family and friends. It was a lot of fun.

Two seems like a wonderful age.  I find the messiness and curiosity inspiring. One evening this week I took Matt outside with me to throw out a trash bag and he began collecting fallen tree buds that look like caterpillars. When he was finished he dumped them on our outside table to examine them. When it was time to go inside he followed me but his mind seemed to be lost in his own thoughts of his new discovery.

“Truck! Bus!” Driving in the car with a two year old is a joy. Matt likes to point out every single truck or bus that we pass. His voice is high pitched with excitement at the more trucks or buses he sees. I now find my eyes being drawn to trucks and buses even when he is not in the car.

“It’s dirty! Yuuuckk,” Matthew over exaggerates in reference to his mud splattered t-ball stand after a rain storm, “Ohhhh noooo,” he wails when the ball falls off the tee before he can hit it then a moment later after hitting the ball, “I did it!” with a modest shrug of the shoulders and big grin on his face.

Happy Birthday Matthew!