Being Outside Melts Feelings

I recently read another post saying how the best advice ever given to her was when children are having a bad day, moment, or whatever it is, either put them in the bath or take them outside.

Sure, that’s the shortened version of it but you get the gist.

It’s from a Facebook post on The Motherhood Project. Check it out here!

I would have to 100% agree with this advice and wish it was given to me when my son was an infant because I whole heartedly agree with that right in this moment and this week. If I had tried one of those two options when we had those “bad” nights as an infant, I would only dream that they had worked.

You’re not only distracting them from the moment they’re in, but you’re providing them an outlet to relax and melt those feelings they’re having.

Add in the winter we had here in Pennsylvania, and you’ll know the time outside is necessary for all of us to melt away any of those cabin fever and seasonal depression feelings.

My son is an outdoor kid through and through. He cries when we come inside no matter how long we have been outside. He doesn’t care if he’s tired, he wants to remain outside being a boy! Winter didn’t stop us from going outside, it only slowed us down from being out as much as we would like because someone didn’t keep his gloves on.

Recently, he has developed more of his moments of independence and proving he wants what he wants when he wants it. The attitude is there and while I know and admit it’s because of being inside a lot, and from his mother’s attitude, the weather broke here and WOW.

He continually goes to the door and exclaims, “shoes!!” letting us know he wants to go outside and play. This morning specifically, he was an angry elf no matter what we did. We had breakfast, played in the back room, offered a bath, offered to help make breakfast, not one of those options were what he wanted.

I mentioned a family walk and his eyes lit up. He ran to grab his boots and I hear, “shoes!” So we got him ready and went to the driveway first.

I kid you not, this boy shook with excitement when we got the chalk out. He would spend all day in the driveway as long as we have a few items for him to tinker with.

It isn’t much but he is outside the four walls of our home that he knows every nook and cranny of. The fresh air feels so good for all of us. He and his dad did venture off of our family walk to go shed hunting before the rain hits here.

What I’m saying is GO OUTSIDE! You don’t need to be an outdoor person to enjoy this spring weather. Go in your back yard, take a walk in the neighborhood, eat lunch together in your driveway. I don’t care what you do but enjoy the weather together and watch all of the feelings we all have from whatever is going on melt away.

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Things Not Told in Parenting Books: Early Toddler Edition

As a new parent, you’ve either read books suggested to you, googled anything you think of, found blogs on Pinterest, or been given all of the unsolicited advice you never asked for.

Shoot, I still google things related to what my son is going through. We all know Google is extremely reliable… I am joking, of course.

What most people don’t tell you is the real shit that happens when your kids are here and how they will be. I love sharing the stories with friends so we can laugh together about what has happened knowing they have their own to share with me too.

Kids are unpredictable. Whether they go through the same developmental milestones or not, they each have a personality someone cannot write about for you.

But I can share with you what my son has done that was not told to me but I can now save in my memory and write it out for you to see his antics and hopefully laugh along with us.

Things Not Told in Parenting Books: Early Toddler Edition

• Your kid will throw things in the trash thinking they’re helping. Really, he just tossed his baby monitor and you’ll only know if it’s on and the battery is dying. Then it’s a game of hide and seek toddler style. This is done while he is napping too so you can’t ask for his help, as if it would have been any assistance. It doesn’t end there. Other items that don’t make noise also find their way to the trash and it’s a game of luck if you find it. If you don’t find it, plan to blame your spouse for throwing it out because that’s the obvious logical thing to do!
  
  
• You will go to get something from your deep freeze and find all items are thawed. You quickly yell to your husband that something is wrong with the freezer panicking over what items you’re going to lose because it’s too warm to put it all in a cooler and store outside while you wait to buy a new one. Then he investigates and realizes a small human turned the knob controlling the temperature to 0 because it’s on his short leg level. Now we cross our fingers it freezes and everything was still cold enough and is not ruined. Update to that event: everything was a-okay! We also installed a toddler proof mechanism… duct tape.
  
  
• When you’re hungover from enjoying an adult night with friends trying to nap on the couch, the savage will find you. They are sweet and cute when you feel fine and dandy with no headache. The minute you fall asleep from the awful feeling over being over 30 and drinking too much he will throw a rubber bottom slipper at your face and get a direct hit on your nose then smile at you when you wake up. Along with this same time of attempting to become human again while still on the couch, they get as close to your face as possible and yell “MAMA!” just to be sure you’re alive and still there to pay attention to them. That same shitty smile will appear when your eyes pop open out of fear.
  
  
• They will have accidents in the tub and/or shower. It’s inevitable. Our son quickly stood from his bath a while back signing “all done” to my husband and he couldn’t figure out why until he looked over and saw a floating turd. Also, when they’re done in the shower and you place them on the rug while you turn for .2 seconds to grab a towel they will begin to pee on the rug. You’ll panic and say “whoa, whoa, whoa” scaring them to a stop and quickly hop them to the toilet to finish. Remind yourself, the rugs are washable or replaceable for cheap.
  
  
• You’ll plan for him to have dinner in front of the TV on his tray table of chicken nuggets, fries and ketchup, peacefully. He gets excited at the movie scene and flips the tray guaranteeing the ketchup lands straight down on your light colored rug. You stay calm, clean up what you can and continue to remind him, calmy, not to touch the spilled ketchup. Emphasizing calmly because every ounce of you did not want to clean up red ketchup. He claps once its clean and proceeds to finish his hopefully 5 second rule safe dinner. The next day you use your Oxiclean concoction to clean the stain.

But when you’re winding down for bedtime, he will sit in your lap all snuggled in. He will grab your hands and hold them, then put them against his face while you kiss his perfect head. The whole world stops and it’s perfect in the moment. Every moment he had to test your patience and handle the unknown moment will fade.

No book ever prepares you. No other parent’s advice will prepare you. Only you trusting your gut and instincts will allow you to be able to handle each and every situation.

You are their parents and their antics will make you laugh, smile, cry and be frustrated. They’re still perfect and so are you, as the beautiful mess each day brings. Trust the process.