Somehow, we watched nearly two hours of cartoons, while I puzzled for way too long over whether or not I should fold the clean laundry or try to pay some bills. Charlie moved from seat to swing to blanket and back again and could not seem to find a comfortable spot to play and Finny, it seemed, was everywhere. While I nursed Charlie, Finny hung on my knees. When I peed, Finny followed me into the bathroom, hung on my knees again and waited anxiously for the opportunity to flush. While I emptied the dishwasher, Finny leaned on the rack and attempted to shuffle breakable plates around. My brain, which seemed to be out of the office, struggled to devise a creative way to entertain him or have him entertain himself while I tried to get a few silly little things done, and the result was just a constant shooing him away.
“Finny, don’t touch that! Go do…something.” So, he walked around the corner and climbed up on the kitchen chair to see what fun awaited him on the counter. First he found the tomatoes to fondle and drop and bruise. “No, don’t play with those, honey! You’ll ruin them.”
Then, he poured salt on his hand and licked it repeatedly. “Do not play with the salt! That’s wasting!”
Then, he hopped down and began licking the dirty mop cloth which was hanging and drying from the oven door. “Finny, that’s yucky. Don’t touch that!” More fondling and licking of the mop cloth. “Listen to me, Honey! Don’t touch that!” Even more fondling and caressing of the mop cloth. “AAARRGG!!!! Listen to me or you’re going to your room!” And at that, I firmly grabbed my two-year-old by the shoulders and moved him into the family room. Tears.
So, I decided we needed to go for a long walk. The heating and air guy was coming in an hour, so we couldn’t go far and we just needed a little peace and quiet and a cool breeze.
The cool breeze was sticky and hot and the peace and quiet was accompanying someone else on their walk, but did not show up on ours. After twenty minutes of screaming, crying and whining in the stroller, I finally said, “Finny, you cannot get out of the stroller right now, so stop whining and just enjoy it.” It did not escape my attention, that I too needed to figure out how to do this. Life with a toddler and an infant: difficult and trying, but I needed to figure out how to stop whining and just enjoy it.
A couple hours later, when lunch was eaten, the humidifier was fixed and it was finally time for a snuggle and a nap, I kicked off my shoes and laid down with Finny to read him some stories before bed. About half way through our story about Piglet and Pooh and rain puddles, Finny, propped himself up on his elbow, took out his Tissa, puckered up and gave me a big kiss on the cheek.
I literally felt my heart of ice melting all over the sheets and I let out a huge laugh. Delighted by my delight, this adorable two-year-old who really just wanted nothing more than to be close to me all morning, propped himself up on his elbow again, took out his Tissa, puckered up and kissed me again smack on the tip of my nose. I laughed even harder. And so, he grabbed my face between his two baby hands and showered me with kisses all over my nose and face until I was practically dripping with his sloppy little kisses.
“Finny!” I said between breathless laughter, “Do you want me to finish the story?”
His reply. “No, I just want to kiss you.”
And we finally found something we could both agree on, because I just wanted to be kissed.
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