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Jack is a lover of books, this I have talked about many times. But have I mentioned his growing love of my IPhone as well? I try to use it sparingly, but sometimes I have two choices: grumpy and/or crying baby because I have drug him to one too many things past his nap time and he is tired of sitting in his car seat, singing songs with me and looking for Christmas decorations, or happy, entertained baby watching the dang Elmo potty song or "Move It, Move It" for the hundredth time! I hope I am not alone in my allowing my 2-year-old to surf through his favorites on YouTube sometimes.

So he loves my phone. I admit it. I didn't realize his understanding of it though until today when I paused too long during one of the way too many stories I read to him. I paused for too long, he waited a second, then looked at me and said, "I wait. Just loading, mom. Just loading."

How many times have I reminded him to wait patiently for Elmo's amazing singing/song-writing talents to be performed with the words, "Just wait a minute, Jack. It's loading."

Apparently, my IPhone isn't the only thing that takes a while to load. Man, sometimes I just need a nap! Be patient, Jack! Mommy's still loading!

We'll Just Ignore Him For A While

Sometimes, Jack just doesn't want to cooperate with the family. Last weekend, we were celebrating Matt's birthday, enjoying a nice BBQ out on the patio - well, I should say, attempting to enjoy the BBQ. Jack was not happy about something and once he was told "no" one too many times for his liking, he lost it.

Now what do you do when your baby won't stop crying, simply because he isn't getting his way? Well, I don't know what you do with yours, but after attempting appropriate distraction without giving in to his demands, I knew we were just in for a little fit.

Now, as he was sitting right next to Matt this evening and he was being quite loud, Matt had the great idea to just turn his chair around to face away from us and ignore him until he could calm himself down and stop his silliness.

Once again, my blogging obsession took over and rather than being heartbroken that my poor baby was upset or annoyed that my child is acting embarrassingly and never admitting to such things in my own children, I ran for my camera. Seeing Jack turned backwards at the table, facing away from the action while the rest of us went on with dinner as usual, pretending we could not hear him was just too funny to leave unrecorded. So.... I snapped a few shots.

(I will admit that I felt a little badly taking pictures of him in this state; not out of embarrassment, but out of fear of what my little guy must be thinking of his evil mother for making a joke out of his ordeal.)

As you can see from that last shot, his dislike over being excluded from the action dried his eyes and he just stopped the crying. After a minute or so of peaking over his shoulder at us, we turned him back around and he was ready to rejoin us! Of course, the arrival of birthday cake may have had something to do with his change of mood...

It Choked Us All Up A Bit

I just have to say, my favorite movie in a long time has got to be Toy Story 3.  We were lucky enough to borrow it from a friend today and after dinner tonight, we put it on for the boys.  Matt and I started out the movie immersed in our own activities: Matt reading his book, me on my computer.  

As I continued to not pay attention and get some things done while my boys were enraptured by the third and final chapter to what has got to be the best trilogy a child and his parent can watch together, I kept finding my attention drawn to the TV against it's will.  Every time I glanced at Matt, I noticed him in a similar state:  book in hand, held up to his face, but eyes glued to the TV in spite of himself.  

By the time we got to the "scary" part that I keep hearing parents warn against, I gave up any pretense at not being interested in it anymore and shut my computer.  I glanced at Ben during this part and he was close to tears and huddled up in a ball next to his dad, covered up to his eyes in his blankie.  There is nothing like a big, strong dad to help you through the intense parts.

But it was the ending that got to Matt and me.  I have not cried over a movie in some time now, but after a bit of holding the tears back, I finally let them flow.  Mitchell had climbed into my lap and was not facing me and Ben and Matt were in a similar position on a difference couch, so I felt it safe to let loose and let a few tears escape since no one was watching me anyways.

It was a touching ending to a wonderful three-part story and if you haven't seen these movies, I encourage you to watch them with a child if you can.  By the time the credits began, along with the credit entertainment that always accompanies Toy Story credits, I still couldn't turn around and face my family.  This is when Matt asked Mitchell if mommy was crying.  Mitchell whipped around, looked closely into my eyes, noticed the tears, I am sure of it, but answered "nope!" with a little smile on his face.  

I have to think if Matt knew enough to ask if I was crying, he must have been at least close himself.  

A Confusing Triumph

I have known for some time now that Mitchell is capable of riding his bike without training wheels, I have just been waiting for a convenient time to work on it with him when I don't have the other two boys with me.  Well, waiting for that "convenient time" has resulted in just not doing it, so for the last few days, I have positioned Ben on his bike in front (to show Mitchell what to do and also to provide the encouragement he is so great at giving), Mitchell on his bike in the middle, with me close behind holding him steady as well as trying to push my stroller with Jack in it (wish I had a picture of that to show you.)  We have to somehow get this caravan of craziness maneuvered around busy Chicago sidewalks without crashing into things or each other and without getting hit by cars (although how a car could manage to not see a sight such as this from far away and have plenty of time to avoid us would be pretty unbelievable.)

Well, I'm glad we figured out a way to get it done because, as I suspected, he can ride it!  We just skipped the training wheels stage and the boy never needed them!  He has always had the balance, he just needed someone to keep him moving as he learned how to actually pedal.  So great, right?  He can ride, I can stop pushing him around, the boys have one more thing to do together.  Unfortunately, with Mitchell, things are never quite so simple.  He has confused me once again by not wanting to ride the bike, even though the hard part - learning how to do it - is in the past now.  We have now spent two mornings riding around our neighborhood (I now know the surrounding alleys almost as well as the streets) with Mitchell crying and crying because I am forcing him to ride his bike.  

At first, I just thought he was having trouble learning and was scared or really didn't think he could do it, but now that I have seen him ride up and down a whole alley without stopping once (crying the whole time), I wonder what in the world is wrong with this boy!  He's not scared, he just doesn't want to do it!  I can force him, but I taught him to ride for fun not for torture!  

I've held my temper in check and tried not to get too frustrated at his attitude and inability to tell me any reason why he is upset and not having fun.  It is so confusing - look at the little guy!  He rocks that bike!  He hasn't fallen or hurt himself even a little so he doesn't have that excuse. Ben and I are so proud of him and keep telling him what big boy he is and how proud we are of his accomplishment, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.  He will not be swayed - bike riding is NOT fun!

So my little Mitchell can ride a bike and I am so proud of him, but my vision of both boys riding bikes together joyfully has been shattered and I face a choice: push him to keep practicing until he enjoys it (much like our soccer experience) or put the bike away for a while longer and make playtime actually fun for everyone again?  Oh Mitchell, you have left me guessing once again!