…… he busts out with something that he’s never done before and totally melts my heart all over again. I know to the ordinary person this may not be that big of a milestone, but for us it’s a HUGE milestone.
You see, Cole was rather difficult to deal with from about 18 months on. I take that back, he wasn’t difficult, he was just hard to understand. Looking back now, I can see why he was always so annoyed. Most of the time he knew exactly what he wanted, however he didn’ t have the communication skills he needed . He had no way of informing us what he wanted, and more times that not, he would get super frustrated and from that point on there was no hope. A ginormous meltdown was sure to happen shortly there after. I remember wishing that I could interpret his, Uhhhh, uhhhhh, uhhh language, but I’m not a freaking genie, ok? Oh wait … no, not a genie … a fortune teller? No, not that either. You guys know what I’m talking about right? Well, whatever they are I’m not one of them. *
One particular time, I remember Cole having a rather bad day and on his …. oh about 173rd meltdown of the day I just about had it. I was telling my dear friend, Kathleen that I didn’t think this whole motherhood thing was for me. She assured me that once Cole gets to be about 2 years old it will get better because he’ll start to develop his communication skills. SHE WAS RIGHT! Thank the freaking lord she was right! But really though, at the time I didn’t believe her one bit. I thought she was just trying to give me hope and to keep me from running away from home … to Tijuana! Oh wait, can they find me in Tijuana? Ok, so maybe I would have gone somewhere where it would have been more difficult to find me … perhaps Mars?
So anyways, even better news … yesterday during his 24 month check up I was telling the doctor how impressed I was at how less frustrated Cole had been lately. He told me that we made it through one of the most difficult stages that a toddler will go through. Hell to the freaking yea, I thought to myself! He even told me that it’s only going to get easier as time goes on. Wait did I hear him correctly? I would have totally done a happy dance, but then I remembered that I have another child 18 months behind homeboy. At the rate she’s going she’ll be 18 months old and before I know it we’ll be right back where we came from, struggling to get over that hump.
As the doctor was telling me about all this, he had his hands in the air as if he was pushing a car up on a fake hill in front of him. He was basically showing me that it’s all downhill from here. I couldn’t stop staring at his hands as he was talking. After he got done telling me that it was all downhill from here, right before he got to the bottom of the hill he suddenly stopped the downhill movement with his other hand. Before I knew it, he had thrown his hands in the air. Excuse me, Mr. Doctor, did you just crash that same car that you were having so much fun rolling down the hill? You know, that car that’s not longer worn out, tired and at wits end because dude, it’s just so easy cruising down this hill. Really though, was the hands in the air necessary? Why, oh why? Right after his make-believe car came to a screeching stop and then tossed into outer space, all I could do was wonder what he meant. My mind started to trail off and all I could do was sit and try to interpret his stupid hand gestures. Hell, for all I know he wasn’t even aware that I was watching his hands so closely. Hello, my name is Lane and one of the first things I do when talking to someone is look at their hands. Hello, didn’t he know that? Weird fact, I know, but it’s true. I just hope no one else in the world does the same because I’d hate for someone to remember me by my sausage fingers that were so generously passed on to me by my father. Thanks Dad!
Back to the freaking car. So … I didn’t know if I should have taken it as a good or bad thing? To me it looked like it was a wall that he smashed into and then there was a super steep hill after that. YIKES! I’m scared! Yes, I know we will all face challenges throughout our lives, but I’m just hoping the next challenge that Cole and I face is a little less brutal that the past few months.Either way, I’m safe to say that Cole has prepared me pretty damn good thus far, so bring it on life! You hear that? What else you got for me?
Wheeew this is getting way too long and way too out of control. All I really wanted to post about was how cute my sweet little Cole was last night. That’s before I got all crazy on you guys with the doctor’s hands story. It still bothers me, but dude, I’m over it. Let’s get to the details from last night when Cole was so damn cute so you guys can move on and actually do something productive … like read another blog!
So, here we go. Short and sweet. I’ll even do it list-style so I don’t go on and on about nonsense.
1. After dinner Cole starting making his usual “vroooom, vroooom” sounds.
2. I never said that he was talking, I said he is communicating and I happen to know what “vroom, vrooms” means.
3. I cave, and take him downstairs to ride his truck in the driveway.
4. Duh? You didn’t know that “Vroom, vroom” means truck?
4. Yes, I’m for real … this is the kind of communicating we do.
5. A friend stops by.
6. We talk out on the driveway for a while.
7. I’m paying too much attention to friend and not to child.
8. Child gets hose out and rips off his clothes and starts bathing himself.
9. Yes, right there in the driveway. One less thing for me to do, sweet!
10. I realizes it’s past Cole’s bedtime.
11. Go inside and do the usual bedtime routine.
12. Sit down on the rocker with Cole to take a breather.
13. Cole drapes the towel that I was drying him off with over his face.
14. Ummm, ok? This is weird, but I went with it.
15. He sat.
16. He sat even longer.
17. Even longer.
18. I check to make sure that it was my child under the towel. Because :
a. Cole’s not a huge snuggler
b. Cole has never sat still longer than 10 seconds, unless he’s sleeping
c. he’s making a weird humming noise.
19. Anyways, that’s besides the point …
20. Lane starts rocking Cole.
21. Cole peeps his one little eye out from under the towel and whispers, “Mama, I love you”
23. Excuse me, did I hear you correctly? Can you please repeat that?
24. Wow! Best feeling ever. There is nothing that feels better than when your child tells you this for the first time.
25. My heart melted all over again.
26. I start putting his PJ’s on.
27. Cole starts saying “hat, hat, hat”
28 ”What about the hat, baby? I don’t get it.”
29. ” Hat, hat hat” as he points to the drawer where I keep his hats.
30. “You smart boy you! You know where Mama keeps your hat!?!
31. “Hat, hat, hat.”
32. “Ummm …. ok so do you want me to open the drawer?”
33. He chuckels (that means yes in Cole’s world).
34. I open drawer, he started screaming at the top of his lungs, “HAT, HAT, HAT ….” as he points at his head.
35. “Ohhh … the hat. I get it, you want to put the hat on?”
35. Cole chuckels
36. Duh, why didn’t I freaking think of that earlier?
37. Cole shoves the hat that’s 4 sizes too small on his noggin.
38. My pride soars because I was able to understand my childs needs.
39. Spoke too soon.
40. Right when I thought I had solved the worlds problems, he starts screaming..
41. Even louder, “DADI HAT, DADI HAT, DADI HAT!”.
42.” What? Are you trying to say Daddy hat?”
43. He chuckles once again.
44. “Yes Cole, you are right, daddy does wear hats too.”
45. ”DAAAAAADI HAT!, DAAAADI HAT!, DAAAADI HAT!”
46. “Chid, I give up, what in the world are you trying to tell me?”
47. He’s still yelling “DADI HAT!!!!” as I lift him off the changing table and put him down.
48. He runs over to the stairs.
49. “Nice try, Cole, but we’re not going upstairs right now, we’re going to bed.
50. “DAAAAAADDDIII HAAAAAAT!!!”
51. “Fine, you win! Go do your thing!”
53. I follow as we climb 13 flights of stairs.
54. Joking! It’s only 2 flights of stairs, but it felt like 13!
55. Finally get to the 3rd floor.
56. “DADI HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!” as he bursts into our bedroom.
57. Pook jumps because he’s caught off guard.
58. Cole runs to Pook’s side of the bed, still yelling, “DADI HAT”
59. “Hey little guy, you are right … Daddy loves it when you wear your hat”
60. Finally we solved his problem, he wanted Pook to see his hat. Weird, but whatever.
61. Spoke too soon, once again.
60. “DADI HAT”
61″ What in the world could he be talking about? I give up!!!!! Just start talking in complete sentences already, child!”
62. Pook says, “Ohhhh I know, you want daddy to wear a hat too?”
63. Cole chuckles.
64. I sprint to Pook’s closet desperately searching for a freaking hat.
65. I grab the first hat I could find hidden in the huge pile of nonsense.
66. I launch the hat at Pook’s head and demand that he put it on so our child will chill the hell out.
67. Pook slowly puts the hat on.
68. Cole chuckles.
69. And chuckles more.
70. And more…
71. I think to myself! Wow, this communication thing is way harder than I ever thought it would be. But hey, we did it and we’ll do it all over again tomorrow.
72. Think to myself … “this time, I really did solve the worlds problems … and then some!”
73. Carry my son back down 13 flights of stairs to his bedroom.
74. ”Good night Cole, I love you”
75. Cole drifts off to sleep while wearing his hat…
76. As I was falling asleep, it finally clicked. “OH! I GET IT NOW! That’s what the doctor meant when he slammed the imaginary car into the wall”
p.s. As you can tell, I have way too much time to spend on the computer these days. Once again, the kids are on the same nap schedule leaving me with a few more minutes to write about anything and everything. I’m lovin’ it! I desereve the right to write about nothing because I have been working my ass off on this house for the past 5 months, mmmmmmmmk ?
* A MIND-READER! That’s the word I was looking for earlier! So yeah, I’m not a mind reader either, ok?
