Ah life with a two year old. You never know what you’ll get really. But it is always so cool to see the examples of growth in real life form.
Andrew is so 2! You know what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine. He likes to horde toys when we’re around other kids, not so he can play with them but so they can’t. He pulls toys and things away from Paul T a lot.
Last week at our big get together with friends at the park he brought his own new digging toys and was really sweet about sharing them. Then he found a turtle toy under the food table and was so excited. I told him to get it and play with it until the owner asked for it back. Soon after that Andy told me a child walked up to him and seriously and meanly yanked it out of Andrew’s hands (fully appropriate behavior for the other child also). And then gave him a mean look, like how dare you have my toy! Andrew looked OK for a second and Daddy asked if he was, and he said yes. Then he turned toward where I was sitting on the ground with Paul and got the saddest sweetest biggest pout! I said are you OK baby? And he burst into tears! It was so sad. Poor baby. But a big lesson about how it feels to have things snatched from you.
This evening we went out to play at our apartment park. Andrew was a bit on the sleepy side. We slept well last night and slept in late but he still could have used an afternoon rest. We thought it would be good to go outside and play and let him get really good and sleepy too so bedtime would be a breeze.
He rode his trike a bit, we checked the mail and then headed to our little park area. Sometimes the big kids ride through there and stop and play too. Andrew seems to watch them so intently nowadays, like with a strong desire to join in with them but not yet sure how to. This time one girl came through. Her name is China and she’s in the ‘mean girls club’ as I call it. On their own the girls are sweet. They talk to adults us with no problem. Even in pairs they aren’t so bad. But get all 4 together and lookout little kids! They will steal your toys and call names, including to each other. They are demanding and bossy. And whether alone, in pairs, or all together, they never play with Andrew. I guess 2 year olds aren’t that fun when you are 8.
So China was out there alone playing in the dirt with a big stick. We like to gather sticks and play with them like guns or dig with them too. This stick was especially big. Andrew had already collected one he was using but when he saw hers he wanted it. I mean REALLY wanted it. He stared at it. Said “Andrew hab that big stick.” Watched her closely as she pushed the dirt around, moving around her from all angles. Came and told me he wanted it. Went and told Daddy. I tried going to play with him while Andy and Paul played in the grass (Paul was practicing standing on his own). But Andrew kept coming back to the girl with the big stick.
I took him on a stick hunt around the grassy area near the park and we collected several big sticks that he tucked in his shirt for safe keeping but none so big and majestic as China’s. She even told us she got it from a bigger piece of wood when she rode her bike over it and it broke off. She was quite proud of her big stick.
Eventually one in her clan came to play and they dug together. China did not share her stick with her friend but got her another one. Andrew stood near them, digging on his own watching them. They found a worm and were getting it when China set down her stick. As soon as she turned her back Andrew got it! He was so happy. He was digging with it and loving it!
The girls came to where we were and showed us the worm they found and we told them to put it somewhere safe like in the mud. So they got started on that project.
I got worried. I knew Andrew would be noticed and I was so afraid of the drama that would ensue when the big stick was found in Andrew’s hands. I even asked Andy what are we going to do here? And he wisely said let’s wait and see.
China soon realized she needed her big stick to properly dig a hole suitable for the worm to live in and she looked around for it. She saw Andrew with it. He saw her seeing him and they both looked at the big stick. She walked up to him and held out her hand and said “can I have my stick back?” And that little Big Boy, without hesitation or second thought handed the big stick right over. I waited for the tears. He looked over to us and I gave him a big thumbs up and he smiled so huge. I found the tears I had waited for from him came from my own eyes!
After China got the worm safely tucked into the mud under the dirt she turned to us and said, “I don’t want this stick anymore.” Andy said you could give it to Andrew, he’d love it. So she did. And he did! He was so happy! And I had to choke back even more tears.
It’s so cool when life works out like that. When the lesson of doing the right thing pays off in the end.
Here’s a video of our Big Boy at Grandmother Brinkley’s birthday:
Andrew lovin on Paul T