Thing 1 has two speeds: warp and slow-mo (generally reserved for vegetables, bath-time, and bed-time). But he also holds the world-record for slowest walker. When we go for a walk, he stops every few yards to pick up a grasshopper, pick mom a flower or pick his nose. And I often find myself saying, “C’mon pal! We gotta go!”

But the thing is, most of the time we don’t. 9 times out of 10, there’s really no reason “We gotta go!” I once found myself saying this on the way to the park. This is the adult condition. We get into a groove — of going, of doing, of hurrying to the park and completely missing “the most-awesomest-grasshopper ever, Dad…”

filed under Stuff my kids taught me

Have you ever seen a toddler do a face-plant? The first thing they do is scan everybody’s face. Most of the time, the reactions she sees (verbal and non-verbal) will guide the toddler’s response. If you gasp, cover your mouth and say, “Oh my! Come to mama…lemme kiss your booboo!” she’ll act as if she just lost a limb. But if you’re immediate reaction is to laugh and say, “BOOM! Down he goes! You’re OK champ! Get up and GO! GO! GO!”, she’ll… get up and GO! GO! GO!

This phenomenon is not limited to toddlers; I think it impacts us at every age. (more…)

Have you looked at your hands lately?

Both of my kids were enthralled by their hands.  As infants, they would stare at their hands with absolute wonder.  I imagine they were just starting to sense that their hands belonged to them and they had some (limited) control over these amazing contraptions. (more…)

filed under Stuff my kids taught me

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filed under Stuff my kids taught me

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Thing 1 always brings his mom flowers.  He’s learned (the hard way) that flower gardens are off-limits.  So he picks ‘wildflowers’ instead.

For a while I tried to help him distinguish between weeds and true wildflowers.  A typical conversation went something like this:

Him: I’ma pick mommy some flowers…
Me: Good call, champ. But that’s a dandelion. It’s a weed.
Him: Looks like a flower to me.

His ‘bouquets’ definitely aren’t FTD. But his mom loves them like crazy.

filed under Stuff my kids taught me