It's a Rojas Life: Parent Watching: A Fun New Hobby

A new hobby of mine is what I like to refer to as parent watching.The older Autumn gets, the more we do activities where other children are present. The pool and the park are two great examples. And when there are children, there are parents. One of the moms, that I always see at the pool, is my personal hero. This woman has 3 kids, is in great shape, and her kids listen to her. They stop what they are doing and go into a time out basically without being told. She is good! The way she talks to her children about sharing with each other and other children is admirable. I want my kid to act like that and respect what I say in public. Now her children are like 5,6, and 7ish. Way different then a toddler.

Autumn is consistently on the go and therefore so am I and/or Fred. This girl is trying to soak up everything she can. This beautiful weather has been so great to help us with activities to do. It is non stop rinse and repeat. I think I say the word "sidewalk" maybe about 70 something times when we go one a walk. I make her walk on the sidewalk and if she gets in someones yard, I pick her up, place her on the sidewalk, say "no we walk on the sidewalk", after 3 times consistently I will pick her up and make her ride in the wagon, saying "you didn't listen to mommy, you need to walk on the sidewalk, therefore you have to ride until you listen to mom". She kicks, screams, and flails sometimes, but I ignore it and keep walking. Sometimes I run into other moms on these walks and they look at me like "good luck mom" and I nod back to them "thanks, I see yours is behaving, good luck later mom". Rinse and repeat. Sounding like a broken record everyday is the life of being a parent to a toddler.

Not happy about being forced back in the wagon

Now there is sometimes when I go out in public and while parent watching I see kids do things and I am like, absolutely not. I will make my kid sit with me in a car and go home before I let them act like that. You see that poor parent and you know deep down inside, my kid will probably act like that too at one point in time, I just need to remember my role in the rinse and repeat.
Then there are events like birthday parties and library dance parties where I have to remind myself , we are here to let her have fun and explore, this is the point of what we are doing. Even though they are in public sometimes you just have to watch your kid dance and run in circles smiling like a out of control monster, just being a kid. Now pushing, taking things and overall rude manners still will not be tolerated. I have my close mom eye on her at all times. But playing a acting a fool is fun.
It has been awhile since I have written a blog so here are a few photos of Autumn :)