What a stubborn little toddler can teach you about life.
As I wait in the parking lot of Kiki's preschool(yes I am fashionably 10 minutes early for every event) for the Mother's day celebration I am reminded of the time(1.5 years ago) when I feared I was failing as a Mother!
We were at Disneyland, the happiest place on earth! Me and Kiki had come to our room for his afternoon nap while Vicky stayed with Kiara in a 1.5 hour long queue for the "The Rise of the Resistance" ride(seriously, Disney and the hour long queues, that's a rant for another day though!)
Anyways Kiki woke up from his nap and instantly asked for his sister in his 1.5 year old babbling voice. I tried to explain to him that sister was at Disneyland and we will join her soon.
He is not the happiest waker, so I was expecting him to be a little cranky but was not ready for what happened next.
As soon as we got out of our hotel... I was carrying him, his bag and pushing stroller with one hand because he refused to sit in it, he lost his mind.
May be was expecting sister to be standing right outside or wanted to press some buttons in elevator or may be I was holding him wrong, whatever, he went from being cranky to being hysterical.
He arched his little body, wiggled out of my arms, threw himself on the sidewalk outside the hotel and wailed in his highest possible pitch.
Now I threw myself on the floor to try and talk to him or understand what is it that he really wants? But reasoning with a 1.5 year old is like reasoning with a piglet, they don't understand anything and you get covered in mud from head to toe. In this case, I was getting covered in snot and slobber from a toddler who wanted nothing to do with me and just wailed.
People were beginning to stare and I was now a hot mess of fear, shame and judgment that I had hurled in my own direction! I worried if someone would think I am kidnapping this child, because what mom on earth can't calm her own baby down!
There was no way I could get Vicky and Kiara fast enough to the hotel, they were at least a 20 minutes walking distance away.
So it was just me who would have to do something about all this crying.
With no other resort at my hand, I wrestled him in the stroller, strapped him down and just started walking. I played white noise on my phone(he used to sleep to white noise) and just prayed for a miracle.
After a good 20 minutes of howling he did start to calm down a little bit, I handed him water and that's it!
He was his normal self when he met his dad and sister at Disneyland as if he did not just cry his lungs out!
That very night, still recovering from the trauma I faced in the evening, I ordered a book called "Happiest Toddler on The block". I don't really call many things life changing but this was definitely it.
I am here to tell you today that no matter how hard the terrible two stage is, it does pass. He started to communicate more and we started to understand more and things got a little easier.
Today I went to his pre-school for the Mother's day celebration. When his little eyes spotted me in the crowd he ran to me and gave the warmest hug. He sat on my lap and sang songs they had so lovingly prepared for moms. Then showed me around his classroom pointing at his favorite toys. He gave me a beautiful card that he created with his little hand prints. And told me how he loved me and planted a slobbery kiss on my cheek.
His language is developing so fast now, sometimes he catches us off guard. In his exact words:
You are awesome momma, I love you!
Like everything in life, motherhood has its high and lows and right here, in this moment, surrounded by so much love, I was at my highest!
We both drove home singing the songs his teachers taught him for mother's day.
As soon as he got home, he rushed for his dad and sister, somethings never change 🤷♀️
