Progress!

Well, I am feeling a little better about motherhood:) (at least at the moment...) I have learned not to let these tantrums and things of toddlers scare you into never leaving the house again. You must get back up on your feet, march back out into the world and show your child that mommy is boss!!! A friend suggested going for the grocery delivery service (thank you, Angela!!) and don't think that thought hasn't crossed my mind!!
On Tuesday I decided to go to the store to pick up a few things (a different and non-super Target) and thought everything was going find until about 2 minutes into the store when Samuel started to cry over....THE WHEEL!! I could not believe after all we went through that he was going to do this again! I stayed very calm this time and tried my best to talk him out of it; even had him get down and inspect the wheel,which was totally fine. Finally we made a trip outside where I tried to get him calmed down. He was sobbing and saying, "I want to go home!" but I knew that if I gave up and went home, he would learn that his behavior in the store was okay and he would win. I was determined not to give up (even if people would stare and judge!!) so I gave him 2 choices. 1) He could walk and hold my hand or 2) he could sit in the back of the cart. Unfortunately, we had to make a trip out to the car to have a talk and calm him down....I let him cry for a little bit and told him that he couldn't act like this in the store and mommy needed to get some things and he was going to have to go back in with me. Finally we compromised, I let him choose another cart and voila! The tears stopped and he was an angel the whole rest of the trip!! I even met another mom in the elevator at the store who said her child had the same fear of the dreaded shopping cart wheels! And that was the reason why she brought in her stroller. It made me feel so much better to know that I wasn't alone and my child is normal!!! I felt so good that we had worked through this problem and Samuel felt so good, too, after Ben and I praised him many times for "working through his tantrum" and "being such a good boy." Thank you, God!!!!
One thing I love to do is change over our toys every couple of months. I hide away toys in the closet in the toy container and bring out "new" toys. The boys think they've hit the jackpot and they are so entertained with the "new" toys for days!! It keeps everything fresh and I don't have to buy anything new:) One of the toys Samuel requested yesterday was a green caterpillar that you pull on a string. It has been following him around the house for 2 days now! It even came with us on a family walk last night. We got lots of smiles as people looked at Samuel pulling his caterpillar down the sidewalk.
Zakkai is trying to add more words to his vocabulary! He really wants to communicate with us! One of his favorite things to do is look out the window. It's the first thing he wants to do in the morning when we come get him and open the shade, he looks out the window while he eats...all day! So he's started saying "Ah-sa? Ah-sa?" for "outside!" He loves to be outside! He is so entertained when we walk, just looking at the cars, people, dogs, airplanes, that he hardly makes a peep! It's when we come inside that he gets loud:) He also likes to point out "eyes" on people and in books. I'm sure every mom has experienced many pokes in the eye from a curious/learning toddler baby! Maybe that's why I keep getting headaches...
We are still making small strides with potty training. I bought a few used potty books off Amazon for Samuel to read and he LOVES them!! One of the books is about a boy named Michael and it is so realistic and he talks about Michael now. He now wants to sit on his potty when we use the bathroom. Still no action but at least he's trying! He is so excited to get his "Percy train" as a prize when he actually goes. The other day he sat on the potty for at least 30 minutes and I had him drinking cups of water and a cup of OJ and he was SO CLOSE to going! He was begging me for his diaper and I kept stalling him but finally his poor bottom was getting red from sitting for so long and it was dinnertime so I gave up and put his diaper on. He went right away in his diaper. Grrr! I know it will happen and I am trying to be patient. I know he won't be 12 and still in diapers:) I hope anyways!! Ah, the joys of toddlerhood! We may have days of frustration but it is so worth it when they look at you and say, "I love you, mommy" and come give you hugs and kisses:) Samuel gives us kisses all the time now and loves to have conversations about who loves who in our family! Do you love daddy, mommy? Do you love your Samuel? Do you love Zakkai? I love daddy, I love mommy , I love Zakkai! So cute!
I'll end on a cute story. We always tell the boys that we love them (a million times a day!) right before they go to sleep and we tell them that Jesus loves them. We have also been talking about the things that God made. For instance, Samuel doesn't like the cold wind (wrong city to live in!!) and he was begging me last week to take the wind away. I told him "I can't make the wind go away. God made the wind and only He can make it go away!" So yesterday it looked like it was going to storm all day but didn't until later in the evening. I went to the produce market with the boys in the late morning and told Samuel we had to go now because it was going to rain, which prompted a conversation about the rain. He said, "Is is going to rain, mommy? Jesus loves the rain, mommy!" I smiled and agreed and said, "Yes, He does and He makes the rain!" I thought that was so cute!