On Never Growing Up and DI-SOREs

Sometime in the middle of last year I was forced into a period of some major self reflection.  One of the things that came out of that period was learning that I am not so good with change. Maybe that's why I decorated our first baby's room (a boy) with a Peter Pan theme. Deep down, I must have known that once he was here, I would never want him to grow up.

Maybe this is also why I am really struggling when moms post on Facebook questions about things like "infant potty training."  

What the actual heck is that?!

Am I the only mom that has zero desire to get my toddler potty trained before the new baby comes?! Is this just my fear of change and not wanting him to grow up? Peter Pan syndrome? 

As the days are just flying by and the moments feel like they are slipping out of my hands, I felt the need to get back to this blogging space to share more of the every day happenings.  My long term memory is unfortunately terrible, so this seems like the perfect way to save those memories.  I hope those 3 of you out there who still read this page will indulge me a little! :) 

I was having an emotional day last week after hearing some heartbreaking news about an old friend of mine whose son suddenly was diagnosed with a life threatening disease.  I decided I wanted to plan a special afternoon for Teddy after daycare, and landed on going to the splash pad.  

The experience wasn't quite as picturesque as I had imagined.  Naturally, I spent 75% of the time fighting with him about wearing his shoes.  (Look, I'm all for the Boho look, but he slips if he doesn't wear them and I didn't have any band-aids.)  

I always find it sweet when Teddy will find random, discarded toys places and get super excited over someone else's throw away item.  For him, its like finding lost treasure.  So, when he came running up to me with something tiny and green in his hand yelling "DI-SORE!!!!" (aka, dinosaur), I said "awww, yeah!! did you find someone's dinosaur?"  

Only, this seemed to be only a teeny tiny piece of someone's discarded DI-SORE.  

And then he got closer... 

And then he handed it to me... 

And I kid you not, I was staring at this little green treasure for a good 20 seconds before I realized it was not actually a DI-SORE, but a piece of someone's chewed up wintergreen gum. 

Peter Pan.  DI-SOREs. Nasty old gum destined for a shoe that a toddler has begged to take off.  Not all green things are alike, but they do make for fantastic memories and moments I clearly do not want to change or forget.

 (Don't call DCFS, he is not chewing the gum!  It's the pretzels I bribed him to wear his shoes).