Shovelling snow with the pink princess shovel he picked out
2 days ago:
me: “cashill, will you please throw the orange peels/wrapper/random trash away?”
cashill: “no!”
me: “cashill, pick up the orange peels/x/x/x/x/x or you’ll have a time out”
cashill: “mmmm, no!”
me: “ 1…. 2….. 3….”
[time out]
/end scene
tonight:
me: “cashill, will you please throw the orange peels away?”
cashill: “no!”
me: “cashill, pick up the orange peels or you’ll have a time out”
cashill: “i want to snuggle mama”
me: “you want to snuggle mama? pick up orange peels and we’ll snuggle”
cashill: “up please. snuggle mama. i love you!”
[5 second snuggle and he’s playing with his ball and shovel]
[orange peels still on kitchen floor]
/end scene
kid has me figured out.
[video shot saturday morning while cruising park meadows with the mall walkers. we were waiting for IKEA to open. an exciting life we lead, here.]
sometimes i sit at my desk and watch videos like this one of cashill on repeat. some days i miss that little bugger so much and dream of being a stay at home mom. trading spreadsheets and emails for toddler wrangling.
this weekend we invested [see how that sounds less consumeristic than bought?] in a new IKEA closet for our bedroom. it is, in a word, amazing. but before we could get assemblin’ and make it amazing, we had to demo a couple walls and tear up some carpet to make room. [and by we, i mean matt]
now, cashill is a man-child. 25lbs of rough and tumble masculinity. and playing with dangerous tools like saws and hammers and screwdrivers is just a dream. and being told one cannot play with dangerous tools like saws and hammers and screwdrivers is killing dreams.
so while matt demo’d i soothed cashill’s broken heart with things like chocolate and yo gabba gabba. we also got out of the house for most the weekend, but when home, chocolate and yo gabba gabba.
come sunday night that sweet child of mine was just.beside.himself. so as a final treat when the chocolate was gone and we’d watched the same episode of yo gabba gabba 5 times, i let him take a screwdriver into the bath with him.
you’d think i handed him the moon. cashill washed that screwdriver no less than 10 times. gingerly soaping it up, scrubbing with a wash cloth and rinsing it clean.
the cleanest and most loved screwdriver that ever was.
No big deal, just being an Almost 2 Year Old and peeling his own orange.
Naturally, a new year brings a lot of reflection on the last, of the present and of the future. Cashill has morphed into a very entertaining little being. And so, below listed are random fragmented thoughts of those things that make up Life with Cashill today at almost 2 years old (!!).
- Most often, he is found missing his pants. With knee high rain boots on. Working a shovel/mop/broom.
- He spent 90% of our 10 day Oregon vacation without a shirt, pants or both.
- A recent toy organization resulted with a box dedicated to playground tools and small balls per Cash’s lead. A shovel does not go without a tennis ball. Just as a rake cannot be played without baseball. And a trowel without a bouncy ball.
- He’s speaking in sentences and chatters to himself non-stop. This morning on the way to school he spoke the whole way. “Play ball with Thor and jump on trampoline. Read books with Martha. Sing with Friends. Daddy at work banging hammer? Wrench? Screwdriver? Oh yucky, dog pee on the ground. Ooo! Ooo! Look, the kitty, jerry! Where’s Tom? Sarah’s house. With Leo and Elliot.”
- Cashill insists Matt spends his days at work banging a hammer and not at a desk on conference calls. A dream shared by Matt.
- Our recent flights to and from Oregon were more exciting and fun than stressful. Cash loved the airplanes. Loved hanging with all the people. Loved the treats we bribed good behavior with.
- Matt and I started a horrible habit of getting him a small cocoa when we get coffee a few months ago. Originally it was just from coffee houses. But now, every morning, whether I drink coffee or tea he too demands his hot drink. I’ve entertained him til now - considering it was the holidays and all. But from now, we [the royal we] will not be drinking one plus cups of hot cocoa a day.
- He says “I love you” paired with a hug and a kiss and it is the sweetest thing Ever.
- We do time out. Occasionally, self-imposed by Cashill. And whether self-imposed or demanded by a parent, he respects the rules of time out without fail [Knock On Wood]. Time out starts with a reminder of the action which led to it and ends with him telling us what brought him there and apologizing to whoever/whatever he hit/threw/pinched/kicked. This time out thing is working well.
- He sings Happy Birthday, a lot. We’re still reliving Joey’s birthday from early December. I think he’ll be over the moon when we all sing to him in a few days time.
cashill. the union dock worker version.
“what is this!? present opening is AWESOME!”
a christmas in colorado and a christmas in oregon resulted in days of paper ripping and bow tossing. in a few short weeks cashill’s birthday will bring more of the good stuff.
and with february will come with the harsh reality that such festivities are done for the year.
and a happy new year to you!
over here we celebrated with champagne, sparklers and lots o dancing. the latterest seen here.
maybe latterest isnt a word but after the formerest my brain is a bit fuzzy.
seriously - 2012 promises to be a bucket of good times. happy new year!
And getting his mop on. Nothing if not helpful
Moneybags paying the bills
