Master of Play

Tommy and I spent Saturday at my parents' house where Tommy enjoyed some play time in the backyard.  He is so curious and likes to explore and check things out.  I try not to tail him too closely and let him do his own thing as much as possible. I am trying not to be a helicopter parent in all the different ways you can be one, and hovering behind his every step while a toddler is my first challenge.  Not easy, because you don't want to see your little boy get hurt.  But at the same time, sometimes things have to happen to teach your little ones little lessons so they know for the future. At one point, Tommy fell in the pool - a baby pool, but it did scare him.  He was leaning over to try to reach some toys because my 6 year old niece Emily would not get them for him, insisting, "You can do it, you're old enough, Tommy."  Understand that Em is told that probably 50x a day by her parents, my parents, her teachers, etc., so she's just repeating, and being her quirkly little self.  And unlike if Mommy had told him, "you can do it," and Mommy eventually caving to get what Tommy wanted, Em stood her ground until Tommy had no choice but to try to reach for what he wanted.  I had been watching this and chuckling, turned to take a bit of my lunch, and the next thing I heard was a splash - I had not even seen Tommy attempting to reach in the pool.  He was already standing up, crying, so it was all very quick, the water was not deep, and he wasn't even completely wet - I think only part of his face/head hit the water.  He was more scared than anything.  Of course I felt bad/guilty/awful/like the worst mom ever, but I knew it would be a learning experience for similar situations.  Of course, Tommy wanted no part of the pool the rest of the day, and Mommy was fishing out toys from the pool all afternoon as a result.

Climbed up all by himself while Mommy was at least 20 feet away, but needed me to come and help him slide down.  Nice to still feel needed!



Tommy was quite happy NOT going in the pool, but kept us busy as he threw toys in and wanted them fetched out.



Check out the face as my brother tries to put Tommy in the pool.  Not a happy camper!

Do you not love his strength in attempting to keep his feet and body out of the water?

Tommy got himself in and out of the bounce house all by himself - big change from just a few weeks ago

Catching some good air!

Tommy goes Boom! As Tommy says, "Whoa!"

Very upset when the bounce house was deflated

Happy to hear Pop-Pop is going to inflate the moon bounce again

Tommy really had a great time running around and playing in the yard. No surprise, the little guy hardly napped - thankfully he fell asleep for a short time on the hour drive north to my parents and when we hit traffic as a result of an accident, I was actually happy because it bought an extra 20 minutes or so for Tommy to sleep.  He rarely naps well on the weekend, and his nights have been a bit interrupted with his teeth bothering him. Pretty sure the 2 year molars are the cause, even though I can't see anything because the bugger won't open his mouth enough for me to see.  Let's hope these things break through soon to give all of us some relief!