All DAHY, son!

This week I had a Mexican stand off (is that a thing?) (wait…is it a racist thing? hold on, let me check the internets…)
(My research points to yes, it is a thing,

a googled thing,

and its not really racist cause no one knows where it came from)

Carrying on…I was in a Mexican stand off with my 3 year old over taking his antibiotic. It looked like this

and this

and this.

At around 35 min into our 1 hour and 12 minute stalemate, (he was on timeout til he took his medicine) I remembered THIS scene from New Girl. (the word THIS is a hyper link, FYI. Well, not that THIS, the first THIS. My husband tried to tell me I could imbed the video, since it’s not clear you click on it to watch the clip, but I reminded him that I write blogs from my phone. I don’t know how to do fancy imbedding.)
Anyway, Schmidt is the best. The beeeeeeeest.
“I can do this. I am not afraid. I can do this all DAHY!”
I may have said that out loud to my very confused 3 year old. “All DAHY, son!”
He eventually relented and took his medicine.
That was until medicine round two came. Mid-Mexican Standoff Part Dos, this happened:

Apparently, he too could do this all DAHY.

Kids Say The Very Best Things (Miles-isms Part 3)

{Miles: A Self Portrait}

Yesterday, Miles’ cousins JD and Taylor came over in the afternoon to play.  Two weeks ago, new neighbors moved in next door to us with a little girl Taylor’s age. Instant friends all around.  Back doors open all day long with kids (and parents carrying babies and cups of coffee) wandering in and out of each other’s houses. Sweet, blessed days of community; the very best kind of living. 

So, yesterday all the kids were playing together in Miles’ room.  I noticed my 3 and a half year old was uncharacteristically erupt-able, bursting in tears for the littlest things.  I took him in the other room, sensing something was brewing in him causing these outbursts. I wanted to help him figure out what he was feeling.  What transpired felt like the nothing out of the ordinary, an everyday occurrence and at the same time, it felt like the sweet, sacred work of parenthood.

“What’s going on buddy? Can you try to tell Mommy what you’re feeling?”  I watched my son wiggle and wrestle with his emotions, his chest rising and a lump forming in his throat. After a few minutes the truth tumbled out, a beautiful burst of raw fears, articulated by my 3 year old in a way that took my breath away.

“I don’t want B to take my JD and TayTay away,” he sobbed.  “She’s going to take my cousins away and no one will play with me.”

Miles has been afraid of monsters before; he’s been afraid of scary movies and the dark but, yesterday we ventured into the realm of relational fears, things I can not cure with Monster Spray. {Gulp.}

I was proud of my son for saying what he was feeling. I told him so. I want to teach him to give words to his feelings, so they don’t stay bound and jumbled inside him.  I told him it was brave.  

I suggested we go talk to B.  He jumped up and ran to the other room.  

“Miles wants to tell you something,” I said to the neighbor-girl. “Go ahead buddy…”

“B, you not take my JD and TayTay away?”  

Her answer was the best. So honest. So funny. So confirming all Miles’ fears. “Well,” she said. “Which one of them is your favorite because I am going to take one away.”  Oh dear. It took all I had not to crack up.

Miles burst into tears.  B’s mommy stepped in and we talked the kids through being inclusive and playing with everyone.  B promised she wouldn’t take Miles’ cousins away and leave him out.  My 3 year old exclaimed, “We can play with EVERYBODY!”  He wiped his tears and smiled resolvedly. And that was that. 

It was a moment of ordinary conflict resolution that goes with motherhood. But also, it was something more.  It was a triumph of being present and asking the question, and for Miles, a victory in putting words to his feelings.  Job well done, son.

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Kids say the very best things.  I regularly jot down funny things Miles has been saying, since he won’t be three forever.  My list is getting long so below is the most recent ones.  Hope you enjoy!

{Another Neon Selfie, Photobooth Style}

• Miles asked if I knew the directions to where we were going. When I said yes, he responded, “That’s my girl.”

• When Miles plays “I Spy” he says, “I spy with my little eye something…(at this point he’s holding one hand up to his eye, making an ok sign with his fingers) then, he doesn’t say the color or description of the thing he spies, without fail, he says the thing he’s supposed to be trying to make you guess.  “I spy with my little eye something…mommy!” “I spy with my little eye something…chair!”

• “If I don’t see the kids it will break my heart!” exclaimed Miles at the prospect that he would not get to play with his cousins, as he planned.

• “Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the silly gilly gumball bite”

• Miles loves movies. LOVES movies.  He loves sharing his love of movies with everyone he meets.  Recently he started asking (over and over again) if we knew whatever movie or character he happened to be thinking of.  So he is constantly says things like: “You know….Wreck it Ralph?”  “You know…Fireman Sam?” Sometimes he whispers the name of the movie and looks like he is just going to burst from excitement at uttering its title.

• His correct use of “wah, wah” is amazing. Recently, I told him to go potty. He said he didn’t need to but I said go anyway. After trying and nothing came out he looks at me and says, “wah, wah”.

• I gave Miles a kiss goodnight and after he flew backwards, spinning around and laughing. When I asked him what he was doing he said, “Your kisses blow me away, mommy!”.

• “I am Iron Man and Iron Man doesn’t want to get into his car seat”

• On a particularly bad day where I was having a terrible attitude Miles said to me,  “Mom could you do me a favor and just give me a smile?”

• After tucking him in bed, Miles yells, “Daaaaaaddy! What’s that delicious smell!? It tastes like pasta.”

• I let Miles take a drink of my water and he said, “Thank you, ma-lady “