How many endless hours did I spend praying/pleading for Aidan just to be a normal boy while he was in the NICU and in those newborn months? It has to be literally thousands.
“Be careful what you wish for” is a phrase taking on new meaning for me as of late. I had LASIK on Monday and as such I am being careful to keep my new eyes away from the swinging arms of toddlers. Brandon has the week off and graciously agreed to take Aidan to Little Gym on Tuesday and Kindermusik today.
If this was baseball, I’d feel great about batting .500, wouldn’t I? Well parenting just isn’t baseball and somewhere in our mommy hearts we have some bizarre expectation that we will do everything perfectly and our child will be seen by others as perfect.
Little Gym was great. A wonderful time had by the hubby and the boy. Lots of running around, swinging from uneven bars, bouncing, walking on balance beams, and even a little group participation. Big thumbs up from hubby…glad Aidan has gotten involved in this.
Today….not so great. Well, probably what I should have expected, really. I have been wondering if Aidan is either bored by or just not ready for Kindermusik. Hubby reported that he didn’t participate in any group activities and just wanted to do his own thing. Not a big deal, but probably a waste of time for him. Immediately I take some personal affront to this. What have I done wrong as a mother? Do I not discipline him enough?
Ugh…I hate all these moments of self doubt that parenting brings. What it probably comes down to is that not every kid likes the same things and maybe Aidan’s attention is just not what it needs to be yet to sit for that long. He is only 2 after all.
Aidan is definitely a do-er. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Hubby couldn’t sit still for an evening to save his life. (Love you, honey)
I hate the idea of giving up on something, but if he is not into it, why keep going? On one hand I don’t want to set the precedent that he is allowed to quit things, but on the other not everybody likes doing the same things.
And why oh why do I somehow feel utter joy at watching my 2 year old running around, jumping, laughing and being obnoxious while at the same time wonder if I have misstepped somewhere in my parenting? Somebody send me Dr. Sears, STAT. 
Oh, and for those waiting for the LASIK results….I would recommend it in a heartbeat. 24 hours post surgery, my vision is a little hazy but tested at 20/15! Simply amazing!
Just a thought: if you quit Kindermusik, I don’t think it will set a life-long precedent for quitting, because he won’t necessarily remember, or know that you could’ve signed up for more units and didn’t. Plus, it’s expensive, so if he’s not getting anything out of it, why force it? You can always try a different Kindermusik class, wait a while and try again, or just let it go. And hey, in a world where kids are so over-scheduled, it’s not a bad lesson to teach that they don’t have to do EVERYTHING.
And, I have no idea what I’m talking about, but I suspect that expecting an active 2-year-old boy to sit and pay attention to a group activity is kinda crazy. If he’s just not that into it, that sounds healthy and normal to me!
Kellar is not quite 2 yet but there is NO way that he would ever sit still long enough for something like this..I comment all the time about how he goes from one toy to the next and is always on the go, when we wake up in the morning he goes non-stop..I think it’s very normal..I soooo want to have my eyes done…Merry Christmas!!!!