Lucky for Us

There are moments in life when I sit back and realize "I have said the word no at least 100 times today".   Some may read this and laugh because they too have done this and have had this thought before, or they are just realizing "crap I do say no that often". It has just become a part of daily life. The thing is I feel if I say no too frequent it loses its significance. Then I just become that broken record that someone will remake into a song on you tube or something. While sitting back and reminiscing about raising a toddler there are a few moves my daughter does and while talking to other mom's it is amusing because their toddler does these moves as well.

Give me your phone mom!

Limp Noodle- When you are pulling your child away from something or taking them away from somewhere they are not supposed to be, the child raises their arms straight up in the air and shifts all their weight to their butt and starts wiggling to get out of your grip.
Stiff Ninja (appropriately titled by my friend Lindsay)-When trying to leave and putting your child in the car seat, the child straightens up and does the best stiff as a board pose making it impossible for you to put them in the car seat.
Rolling Pin-When you are trying to pick up your child off the floor and they roll to avoid your grip
Mischievous Elf- When you say no. Your child stares at you and points at what you are saying no about. The child then smiles wider squints their eyes and continues to move closer to the object. You say no again and that smile gets even larger and the child gets even closer.

We had a couple of events this week where Autumn was not the youngest child there. Back in October my friends, Summer and Matt, visited us with their son, Callum, who is exactly one year older than Autumn. I remember Callum pushing Autumn aside to get to the toys and running into her playhouse and trying to push her out. This did not bother me but my friend Summer apologized for her son. At that time I did not understand why she was apologizing to me. Now I get it because my kid is now the one that pushes smaller kids. I don't want her to push other children and I know it is just the age she is at, but as the parent I sit there and think in my head "oh my gosh what should I be doing" "I need to say no I can't just let her do that" "what is the correct action when dealing with a 18 month old that she will understand" "I hope my friends don't think I am a terrible mom because my kid is acting like a bully" See now I understand why my friend apologized to me. I didn't think twice when Callum was pushing Autumn around, but now that Autumn is pushing others around, discipline is all that comes to my head and I feel guilty for her behavior. Let me tell ya, while trying to stop Autumn from pushing another child and taking her away from that awesome toy she was trying to get, the limp noodle move comes into action.
We did have fun though playing with others and Autumn passed out from exhaustion each time. This week was filled with nice warm weather and terrible cold weather. Unfortunately the cold weather happened over the weekend and we didn't get to make it to the St. Patrick's Day parade. We went last year and had a blast but hey there is always next year.

Rojas family at the parade 2012

St. Patrick's Day 2013 in the kitchen

We did have a family event planned for St. Patrick's Day to celebrate Aunt Jessica's Birthday. Jessica is Fred's middle sister.

Autumn and Auntie Jessica

Now taking a family picture is a lot harder at times than it used to be.

We may not of made it to the parade but we had a fun day regardless. I even colored Autumn's apple juice green to celebrate. This year it is crazy that Easter is only 2 weeks after St. Patrick's Day. I made a board to display Autumn's cards awhile back. I don't know what it is, but I feel bad throwing away cards. Therefore I am always trying to think of new crafty ways to display them.

This was a old tack board that we had hanging out in the office closet. The board originally was a dark brown color that would not match anything in our home. I decided to paint it pink and give it that personal touch.

The "Lovin my Nibz" board is not only to display cards, I also like to cut out shapes and have Fred and I write personal messages to Autumn for the holidays. Now my Grandma Lastovica was huge on cards. She always sent a card. After my grandma passed away the day after Autumn's first birthday, I kept staring at the first birthday card she sent and realizing that would be the last one. Well I save cards, so I have a card from Autumn's Great Grandma for almost every holiday. The bunny card on the top right is from Grandma Lastovica. Something as simple as a card can bring back memories and just make you smile. The board has given us a place to display these.

Autumn receiving her St. Patrick's Day card from Grandpa Bender at our weekly Chipotle visit. She hugged her card and kept pointing and laughing at the dog. This is the card that is located on the bottom left of the board.

 Rocking out our tiara and playing with the dog food bowls. I don't understand what is so cool about dog bowls but apparently they are amazing to Autumn.

 Rocking out our shades like mom does in the car.

 We got to rock out with our red wagon. It was about 87 degrees during this walk. St. Patrick's Day was two days later and the temperature was in the 30s. Crazy Kansas weather!

 Practicing with our Easter basket.

 Being silly. Hi Mom!

I may feel like I say no a lot, but I know it just comes with the fact that I have a toddler now. There are going to be many more days to come when I may say no even more than a hundred times. No one has ever said it is easy to raise a child. Manners don't come naturally. As a mom I will get better as time goes on about disciplining in public. Sharing is a new concept to Autumn just as how to react to her misbehaving is a new concept to me. We will learn and get through this together. As for now I am just going to accept the word no as being a new addition to my frequently used vocabulary :)

Hope everyone had a Happy, and safe, St. Patrick's Day!