Motherhood.. it's not for the faint of heart..

This morning Joseph woke up nearly fourty minutes early and called for mama and dada. Oh well, some days start a little bit earlier, and we had a good night sleep. Nothing too bad. Or was it?
He wasn't his usual cheerful self in the morning. I even remarked to Bill that it seemed our boy had woken up at the wrong side of the crib this morning. If only I had known. He fought with mommy over the cherry tomatoes she was trying to eat at breakfast, and wanted to take a bite out of each one before putting the rest back in the box. Of course this was not allowed and the tomatoes were taken away, which was cause for a tantrum.

He kept being fussy and recalcitrant during the morning, up till the point that we went to the library to get his reading medal. I really love our library, and last year Joseph received his first medal there. We made some incredibly cute pictures. This year we managed to snap a few shots but nothing as pretty as last year. Oh well... I will get great pictures another day. Our little boy is nothing if not photogenic.
After that we went out to eat for lunch. Considering Joseph's mood and his recent lack of patience in restaurants we thought a buffet place would be best since that way he would not have to wait for twenty minutes on his food and sit still for a prolonged time. Plus, people adore him at the chinese buffet near our house.
Except.. that he had changed into a cross between a banshee and a wildebeest. Things went fine for the first ten minutes since we immediately put a plate with water melon before him. But after that he want out.. out ... out... walk... walk.. walk.. fish.. fish.. fish. (The chinese restaurant has a little pond inside with large fish). Bill and I ate in shifts while trying to stop Joseph from climbing into the pond, running outside of the restaurant or getting into other trouble. No more restaurants for now!

Once we came home, Joseph played in the car for a while and I stayed with him, reading the library book I had just borrowed. We managed to lure him out after a while since it was time for him to watch Elmo. There are few things at the moment he would not give up to see Elmo.
An exhausted Bill went to bed while I stayed and watched Elmo discover that people were not sharing on Sesame street because of severe cases of Minitis. But all ended well. He even went to bed after that without too much trouble. Maybe this day was going to turn around after all.

Mommy had a nap too, and Joseph awoke only ten minutes before the end of his naptime. He was still fussy and hyper though, not even happy with the chocolate milk he always gets after naptime. and trying to steal stuff from mommy's purse. (that boy has a great career as a burglar ahead of him. He loves to get stuff out of my purse, pick dada's pockets for his keys and has figured out how to open the childproof locks.) He protested vehemently about being removed from the purse.

During the wakeful part of the day Joseph had managed to cover most of the living room floor and kitchen with child debris. Blocks, books, puzzles and mommy and daddy had not covered their own tracks very well since most of their day had been spend trying to keep a cranky Joseph in line. So it was decided that one of us would keep our little boy busy outside, the other would try and tidy up enough for us not to break our neck the rest of the evening. I chose to go outside with Joseph. He played nicely for the first twenty minutes, splashing happily at his water table, and getting very wet, but who cares about that when it is warm and everyone is having fun?
Mommy kept watching him, especially when the water table seemed to lose it's atraction, and he went to the pool. Dipping the cup in there is allowed. Dangling his feet (with pants and shoes) in is not. I had to haul him away only once it seemed. He came to sit with me on the swing chair.. he found some fun in trying to fill the garden hose with water. He kept however coming too close and bending too far over the pool. Mommy warned him. Mommy pulled him away several times. And Mommy was only a few feet away when he ignored her warning and... fell in!
Of course I was immediately after him, fully clothed and without even taking off my shoes. The water is not deep. I can stand easily, but of course it is too deep for him. I had him out of there within five seconds. Both of us were .. well of course we were soaking wet. And let me tell you, those pregnancy jeans can hold a LOT of water.
Holding on tight to Joseph I brought him to the backdoor where I called for my husband. He took Joseph over, got his clothes off and rubbed him mostly dry. I came in too, minus my sodden shoes. Luckily my sweet husband brought me a big towel so I too could get nice and dry.

You would think that was enough adventures for one day. We had one more thing on our agenda which was a quick trip to babiesRus. Joseph refused to sit in the cart and wrestled heavily with dada when he tried to put him in, but luckily he could be entertained by sitting on the backseat they had there to demonstrate the instalation of car seats and by going around the store. He did find a walker with Elmo which he wanted, but his hard of heart parents did not see the need, despite the fact that it had ELMO on it.
Rather exhausted after an eventful day, we indulged in a drive through for fast food, then came home. There was the usual battle of having Joseph eat the food from his plate and not mommy or daddy's but by the time I put him in bath, we were thinking the day was mostly at an end. Then he pooped in the bath tub....


Tomorrow is going to be a whole new day. Thankfully.