A couple months after I had little B I was talking to my brother in law about the “infant stage”. We talked about how hard the first couple months are with the lack of sleep and essentially not really knowing what your new baby needs or wants. He told me that things will get a lot better and a lot more fun in the coming months. That’s when he told me how much he loved the current stage his son was at (just over a year old). I remember thinking to myself that I couldn’t wait till my little B was a bit older and was a lot more “fun”. Don’t get me wrong I really loved the newborn stage. Having your baby nestled into your chest and the teeny tiny toes was truly a magical experience.
However I could not wait till I could sit and color with my baby, read books together, to hear my babe say “mommy” for the first time. I imagined how special a trip to Target would be, having him walk beside and me and if he was behaved I thought about how special it would be to pick out a toy together as a reward for good behavior. If you’re reading this and are not yet a parent you can probably picture those experiences with your future children in your mind and picture how truly special it would be. Now if you are currently a parent with a child over the age of 1 you know that what I imagined is not exactly what happens. Well let’s be honest it is not at all what happens at the age of ONE….
The reality of coloring with a 1 year old is a green crayon on your kitchen walls, countertops and cabinets. When you finally find the green crayon you notice the orange one is missing. That’s when you see it…. Orange drool coming out of the biggest smile you’ve ever seen. Instantly you realize exactly where that orange crayon went. That’s when you stick your fingers in a mouth with razor sharp teeth and pull out tiny remnants of an orange crayon. Your toddlers crying because they were enjoying that delicious orange crayon and you’re crying because essentially you just stuck your hand into something that can only be compared to the mouth of a baby shark.
“The Rainbow Fish” by Marucs Pfister was my FAVORITE book as a kid. I loved the shiny scales of the fish and the message was very sweet. I’ll tell you what’s not sweet. It’s having a book that you spent months trying to find so you can enjoy reading it with your child, only to have the book smacked into your head for 10 minutes straight. Or having the pages ripped out of it only to be chewed on.
While I was pregnant my sister and her little guy came to visit me. Hearing him call her “mommy” was the cutest thing and I could not wait to have my child call me “mommy” someday. I understand that some kids say “daddy” first and that in fact some people believe that “daddy” or “da da” is easier to say than “mama” or “mommy”. However I was not prepared for my child to say our cat’s names or “meow” before saying “mama” or mommy”. In case anyone is wondering little B does now say “mama” however it is not the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. It is usually a loud scream that I only hear when I take something away from him or turn off Paw Patrol.
Target is my happy place. I love the smell of popcorn as you walk in the store. The smiley staff in their red shirts and most of all the dollar section at the front of the store. If I was ever having a bad day or just needed to get out of the house I would put little B in his car seat and we would head to Target. Parents it is wise to note that your first store experience may not be as bad as mine. May be you have a very well behaved child but I think I can speak for most parents when I say. Taking your littles to your happy place is not the experience you’re used to having.
This was my first 1 year old Target experience:
It started off a nice sunny day. As we walked into the front doors of Target I noticed the line at Starbucks was extremely long and I also didn’t want to have to constantly pull my mask down to drink it so I skipped it that day. Which looking back was a good idea because the second I put little B down I realized that he may have future as an Olympic runner. My little Usain Bolt took off before I couldn’t even see the theme of the seasonal dollar items at the front door. Once I tracked him down little B went right into the cart. The only thing to stop his screaming was goldfish. Which I forgot. As I then myself became a little Usain Bolt I raced to the baby food section. No goldfish but yogurt bites. This would do. After about 2 minutes of silence the sippy cup went flying, the yogurt bites (which I had still not paid for) went flying. As I tried to quite a screaming little B with baby shark on my phone I raced down to the toy section. That toy I imagined we’d pick out together for being so well behaved turned into three toys that were way more money then I wanted to spend and they weren’t toys for good behavior they were toys to keep him quite so that everyone in the store could finally stop staring at us. We left Target that day with an empty bag of yogurt bites and three toys he never played with again.
Little B’s transition to a toddler has been interesting. I don’t know if I would use the word fun. I’d say it’s more like a rollercoaster. Exciting and thrilling one day and scary the next. Now I can’t imagine it any other way!
(The above photo was from a more recent shopping experience where he refused to let me touch the cart)
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