If you give a toddler a cookie, she will ask for a cup of milk.
If you give her a cup of milk, rather than a sippycup of milk, she will knock it over instantly.
If you fetch a rag to clean up the milk, she will want her own rag so that she can help. When you get her out of the highchair to wipe the seat out, her feet will catch the edge of the tray and the entire highchair will tip over. Milk and cookie crumbs will spread across the kitchen.
If you put your toddler in the bathtub to get washed up while you clean the kitchen floor, she will want some bath toys. Tupperware, cups, and spoons are her favorites.
If you give her the Tupperware, cups, and spoons to play with in the bathtub, she will knock the (full) Tupperware containers onto the bathroom floor; she will wedge the cup onto the faucet, forcing the water to spray out all over the walls; she will get a spoon stuck down the drain.
If you hand her a towel and ask her to start drying the floors while you finish wiping up the milk in the kitchen, you will return to find her happily drying the floor…with every roll of toilet paper she could find.
If you bring her the My Little Pony dress to put on, she will ask for the Strawberry Shortcake one. But that one is in the washing machine.
If you leave her alone and unattended for 21 seconds, you will return to find that she has used a red Sharpie to draw “strawberries” all over the My Little Pony dress. Because she’s a problem solver like that.
If you ask her where she got the Sharpie, she will open the drawer of her nightstand. You will find: several tubes of Chapstick, Skittles, several more Sharpies, a dead lizard, Daddy’s lost credit card, and one of your pearl earrings.
If you start removing the treasures from her nightstand, she will ask if she can have some of her own Chapstick for her “big girl purse.”
If you show her that you are writing “chapstick” on your grocery list, she will ask if she can write a grocery list, too.
If you fetch her some paper and a crayon, she will decide that a paper airplane would be more fun. Except you are terrible at paper airplanes.
If you quickly watch a YouTube video to learn how to make a paper airplane, she will have already lost interest and will be playing with your iPhone. She will have sent “sjjncjnaoeiru234354r” to 43 people on your contact list, one of them being your husband’s new boss’s wife.
If you suggest going on a walk down the sidewalk, she will happily oblige. But baby doll and baby doll stroller need to come, too. The walk is a lovely one…until you get to an uneven and bumpy stretch of sidewalk and she can’t push the stroller over the bumps. One attempt turns into two, two attempts turns into frustration, frustration turns into refusing mommy’s assistance, which turns into what we southerners like to call a “hissy fit.”
If a neighbor who happens to witness the spectacle offers to let your toddler pet their adorable new puppy, she will switch gears from devastated to overjoyed. Pictures will be taken and cuteness will reign once again.
If you start walking back home (with the baby doll stroller slung over your back), she will stop to pick dandelions. She will blow on them to no avail, and her spit will glisten like raindrops on your knees, but she is happy. She will hold your hand and ask to sing a song. She will find roly-polies and ask 5,000 questions. She will laugh and smile and melt your heart…and you will pray that you remember this exact moment forever.
That darn cookie was worth it.
What Is One Word You Would Use To Describe Your Toddler?
Related posts that you might enjoy:
- Then & Now: Kids Change Everything
- 6 Weird Things That Make A Mom’s Day
- When I Was A New Mom And Everything Freaked Me Out
Karen Sandstead
May 28, 2016 at 6:37 am (8 years ago)What a great piece. I really find the key for me to be able to enjoy your children is to take much needed breaks. Then all the little things aren’t a nuisance, they are a moment.
Lauren Souers
June 11, 2016 at 9:10 pm (8 years ago)I agree! The little things are what I hope to remember decades from now.