Jaysonisms

Just moments after waking up, Jayson asked me for "the mirror that's a circle, that's Daddy's" (hand motions in the shape of a circle) and I gave him Jay's shaving mirror that he uses in the shower and Jayson examined himself very carefully, then smiled. "I waked up and I thought my nose was red, like the reindeer. So I looked in the mirror and it is red like the reindeer!" His nose was not red in the least, but he must have been having some very funny dreams.

I got down next to Jayson so I could lecture him about something (I forget what now) and when I paused momentarily before starting my next "that's not nice" or whatever it was sentence, Jayson leaned in and kissed me right on the nose. I couldn't help it...I laughed in spite of my lecture then he laughed and hugged me and said "I love you Mom!" No wonder I can't remember what I was supposed to be disciplining him about.

I asked Jayson to be quiet one day while Aidan was taking a nap because he kept running by their bedroom door cheering (he was "running a race"). I went into my bedroom and Jayson came in a few minutes later and told me that Aidan was awake because he "told Dumbo (his stuffed elephant) to be quiet but he kept saying yeah when I was running and he just waked Aidan up". So I went to get Aidan and sure enough, there was Dumbo propped up against the bedroom door. No wonder he woke Aidan up. At least it wasn't Jayson. :)

Mom: Do you remember why we celebrate Christmas?
Jayson: Yes.
Mom: Why?
Jayson: I don't know.
Mom: Because it's Jesus' birthday and we're so grateful for Him that we like to celebrate His birthday.
Jayson: Oh! That means that at Christmas time it will be my birthday too!

We've become more and more concerned about Jayson's pickiness. There aren't a lot of foods that he wants to eat besides chocolate milk and macaroni and cheese (and a few other choice junk foods). He's the shortest and skinniest kid in his preschool class (accept for one girl)-I never would have noticed this but Jay came one day and that's what dads do...assess their son's football playing potential. We came up with a plan that's actually been pretty successful, aside from the extra work for me and suddenly extended mealtimes. Jayson has tried all sorts of foods this week..none were enjoyed, but some were definitely harder than others(see video below). Some new foods tried this week were: mashed potatoes (cried for 20 minutes with the same bite in his mouth), a pea (gagged and started to throw up the rest of his food at the dinner table), celery, a cooked carrot, corn, broccoli, a cucumber slice ("I like cucumbers! No, I don't want anymore!", and chicken that was not in the form of a chicken nugget. It takes a lot of energy, but I'm surprised that I can get him to eat any of it without major tantrum throwing. I've realized that it probably isn't him that's so picky..it's just me enabling him to be that way. Tough love is hard. I guess that's why it's called tough. I know that in the long run my conscience will be relieved of any guilt. I can't really be sure of anything else...that he'll suddenly become extremely tall or that he'll be a great football player, or even that he won't always prefer Cheetos over all other foods, but I know I already feel better about myself and and that's what parenting toddlers is all about...building self-esteem to steel us up for the teenage years. :)