101 Things I Have Learned From The Little Man.

There is so much that you learn from, and relearn through the eyes of a toddler. I am starting to feel like if I don't write it all down I am likely to forget all the amazing new insight that I have gained  from my new "teacher." Lucky for me I have a blog so from now on Fridays will be titled "101 things I have learned from the little man." There may be more that 101 but I figured in two years I can easily reassess. I know this has been done before with dogs, cats, kids, and even Congressman, but never through the eyes of my somewhat unique little guy so hopefully I wont be too redundant. Since the little guy cracks me up on an hourly basis with his antics, I'm not thinking that any of these will be too serious so please don't expect any good mommy advice here, just the lighter side of the joys of motherhood. 

#101 Sharing Sucks.

Bottom line, whether you are two or one hundred and two, sharing totally sucks. I know, I know, we have to teach our kids to share. Not only because it is a totally necessary life and social skill, but also because this is the way we are most easily judged as parents by other parents. 

For all of you out there with kids you know what I'm talking about. There you are in the sandbox playing with your little man and in comes "Johnny." Johnny comes running over and rips the sandbox out of your little one's hand. Even worse is when you try to take the shovel back from "Johnny's" kung fu grip and he either 1) hits, 2)bites, 3) screams, 4) all of the above. 

As the parent of the victimized child you patiently wait to see what the other mummy/daddy/nanny is going to do in this situation. If they immediately run over and tell Johnny to give the shovel back and he actually (miracle!) does than you are deemed by most to be a "good parent." If you tell Johnny to give it back and he tells you to bug off than you are a "so so parent" in the eyes of the ever growing crowd, and if you do absolutely nothing than you are usually dubbed a "bad parent." Now we here at yummy mummy rarely judge since "Johnny" in this situation is usually (always) my little man but you get the idea. 

On the opposite spectrum think about when you see a child willingly share his toys. Everyone ohhhs and aaahhs about "what a sweet boy he is." My little guy loves to share his cars. Loves it about as much as I love getting a root canal. Everywhere he goes he travels with his two favorite cars in tow. He never, never, never puts them down. Not when he eats, bathes, plays, swings, watches TV....never puts them down. Now "Mommy" is always in his face at the park telling him he has to "share." I beg, I plead, I bargain and prior to this week nothing. Recently I have noticed that he now travels with three cars. His two favorites and one only I know that he doesn't like. He has figured out that when mommy demands he share he can just slip to kid the crappy car and never lose one of his "babies." Pretty damn smart I think.  

I would like to (and I try to) force him to share one of the others, but really I don't blame him. As I said sharing sucks. If The Husband came home one day and said that our neighbor was going to borrow a new pair of my Louboutins (the only thing I love as much as the little man loves his cars) I would look at him and laugh. My Louboutins, share? I don't think so. Or imagine if you got that new IPhone for Christmas and you are instantly told you have to let your best friend borrow it forever (because to a 2 year old five minutes really is forever) you would surely let out a big fat, "I don't think so." Hell, I don't even like sharing my desert with my husband. Yeah, now you understand where I am coming from.

Whether it's the toys in the sandbox or the Mass Pike at rush hour, sharing completely and utterly sucks. Just promise me that you won't let the little man know I said that.