And oh. Did I mention I HATE coughing? I’m coughing so much that there’s no way I can go work out. I’m afraid the heavy breathing would cause me to cough my way right out of the building. I feel completely fine other than this cough and accompanying mild congestion. I’m thankful for the small things because having a cough on top of other cold symptoms is just miserable. My cough is drier-sounding than Nathan’s and I’m coughing a LOT more than he is. His is deeper and rattling, but his cough is more infrequent. I’ve been taking honey, about a 1/2 a tablespoon at a time, to help with the irritating tickle in my throat. It seems to work!

Hopefully this won’t last long, and Nathan and I will be back to our old selves in a few days. I worry about him, though, because he’s just a little guy. Anytime he gets congestion in his chest, I worry. Children tend to develop pneumonia really easily, but fortunately, we haven’t had to deal with that yet. Hopefully, we will never have to.

I’m just glad the sickness held off until now… it’s better than being sick during the Holiday season!

So today, I walked past him as he was playing in his room. I heard him say, “Time to clean up!” and as I peeked my head through the door, I saw him picking up his Hot Wheels, one in each hand, and transporting them to their proper place into the basket on the toy shelf. He did this multiple times until all 50+ Hot Wheels were picked up off the floor.

I could not be more proud. I know plenty of adults who are too lazy to clean up after themselves, so seeing my two-year-old do it without any prompting makes me feel like I’m doing something right. I tell him all the time how important it is to clean up after himself because if he doesn’t do it, then that means someone else has to, and that’s not right.

For instance, I used to be a waitress when I was 16 years old. And out of all the different people that I served, guess who I hated waiting on the most? FAMILIES WITH KIDS. I especially hated, HATED waiting on the families with small children. Why, you ask? Well, because the majority of all the parents that came in apparently thought it was perfectly fine and “normal” for their kids to fling food all over the table and floor, spill drinks, be disruptive, and make the most God-awful messes I’ve ever seen. And the kicker? The reason why I hated serving them so much, aside from the irritation of dealing with a child who has no discipline?

SHITTY TIPPERS.

I tell you, parents with messy kids tended to leave the saddest tips I’d ever seen. You see, servers don’t get paid crap. At the time (over a decade ago), the hourly rate was $2.13 an hour, and to this day, it still hasn’t gone up to minimum wage. That’s because servers are expected to make up the difference with tips. So here I am, busting my ass cleaning up after these bratty little booger-crusted hellions and for next to nothing. No matter how great of a server I was… never letting their drinks empty, bringing their orders out in a timely manner, etc… they still only left a dollar or two. Even if that tip was 10-20% of their bill, when they allow their child(ren) to leave such a horrendous mess, they should tip more because the server now has to go above and beyond to take care of something the parents apparently didn’t have the capacity to take care of themselves. And the more time I had to spend cleaning up after a table, the less turnover I had, the less tables I could wait on, and the less money I could make.

It was really such a welcome relief when the few families with well-behaved, respectful kids came in. That’s probably why whenever we go out to eat, our server inevitably comments on how well-behaved Nathan is.

Here’s the deal. People who let their kids make these disgusting messes pretty much look like complete Parenting Failures to all who observe them. Typically speaking, the messy kids are also the ones throwing tantrums, screaming, standing up in their seats, flinging food across the room, climbing up on top the tables, being disruptive and disturbing the other patrons, etc etc etc etc. Lazy parenting at it’s best, folks. So what gives me the right to say that?  Well, my two-year-old would LOVE to do those things. I’ve never, NEVER allowed him to drop his food on the floor, take food off his plate or play with it, stand up in his seat, climb on the table, or any of that. Don’t get me wrong, he definitely tries. But I am the PARENT. It’s my job to prepare him for the next stage in life, and letting him do all those things teaches him nothing but how to be self-absorbed, entitled, and bratty. My child will not be allowed to be a brat. I know he is capable of better, therefore I expect more of him. I teach him what I expect of him when we’re at the table. And when he doesn’t comply, there are consequences (like putting him in time out, for example. And there have been many, many times I’ve had to get up from the table, take him outside, and put him in time out for not minding me at the table.)

Time and time again, I see parents “check out” while their kid runs amok at restaurants.

There is no excuse. None. Put on your big girl (or boy) panties and BE A PARENT. Teach your child the right way to behave. It’s not the kids’ fault that their parents suck, and believe me they will pay for your failures as they grow into adults, and that’s not fair to the child.  They usually end up becoming bratty, self-absorbed and entitled adults who won’t be able to get far in life.  What a shame.

I can’t stand to see bad parenting because it’s so selfish on the parents’ part and is nothing but detrimental to the child. Your child deserves better. Your child deserves a parent who is going to at least TRY mold them into becoming a responsible adult. I have friends whom I am embarrassed to go eat with because their own children, who are older than my son, are hellions at the table. When we leave the restaurant, my son’s area is clean. There is no food on the floor, no spilled drinks (I understand it’s inevitable, but some kids spill their drink nearly every single time they eat) and no disruptions such as standing up in his chair or getting up and running around the table.

The world doesn’t revolve around a single one of us. We have to be respectful of others, and we have to understand how our actions affect those around us. It’s our job as parents to teach our children those same principals. Anything less is letting your child down and inadequately preparing him/her for life. That’s not fair to the child.

PRESCHOOLER.

And he doesn’t toddle anymore. He doesn’t even walk. He RUNS. EVERYWHERE. And let me tell you, this kid is fast. He’s growing more and more into a little boy. A big kid.

I’m not ready for this.

See, we often get those catalogs in the mail that are filled with pictures of kids’ toys. One arrived in the mail the other day. I like to flip through them and see what’s out there. I was thumbing through the toddler section and became slightly dismayed to see that Nathan wouldn’t be interested in most of those toys. I turned the page and GOLDMINE! It was filled with all kinds of toys Nathan would find intriguing. And then I looked up at the top of the page and saw the glaring words “PRESCHOOLERS AGES 3-4.”

Preschooler.

The word tastes funny in my mouth. It seems so… old… somehow. So grown-up and yet not. A contradiction. I have a preschooler and yet he’s still just a baby. It took me a while to get used to calling Nathan a toddler rather than an infant. And just when I became accustomed to that, he morphed into a preschooler right in front of me.

Watching your kid grow is a funny thing. I find myself becoming emotional over things like the thought of getting his first hair cut (It took him over two years to grow his hair; he was completely bald up until a few months ago. And now he has a mop on his head, and cutting it will be a bittersweet moment indeed.) and every time he goes up a size in shoes. There are so many firsts, so many changes, and it all happens so quickly. I just want to press a pause button and breathe him in before he grows any more…

It’s been a long time since I’ve really, REEEEEAAAAAALLY wanted something, and this I WANT!!

I also did yard work last weekend, but that time, my legs were quite sore. Even though I was swinging an ax, sawing, and chopping things, nothing else on my body hurt except for the backs of my legs. It just goes to show that even when you go to the gym and work out really hard, manual labor still uses muscles that you may not be reaching at the gym.

See, I’ve been working out 4x a week since March. I also did a lifestyle change… greatly reduced the amount of processed foods I’ve been eating, incorporating more fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean meats into my diet, drinking a lot of water, and just being healthy in general. And it’s paying off. I’m losing 1-2 pounds a week, which doesn’t sound like much, but after a number of weeks and months, it adds up. And since I am losing it slowly, I will be less likely to gain it back, which is a problem I’ve had in the past. I’ve tried numerous fad diets (years ago), lost a decent amount of weight in a short amount of time, but I had a hard time keeping the weight off because I was doing it all wrong. It’s not a diet; it’s a lifetstyle. And I love it! I feel great, look great, and have tons of energy, which is a big difference from this time last year. I’m not as focused on losing weight now, though. If I lose more, that’s fine, but I’m more focused on toning up at this point.

So yeah, that was my Saturday. Sunday was nice and relaxing… Paul’s parents came over early Sunday morning to watch Nathan while Paul and I went to church. Since he’s been sick with back-go-back illnesses (with a cold that turned into a respiratory infection, and then that nasty virus he had), we decided to keep him out of the nursery so he could enjoy being well for a bit longer. It was nice not having to hurry to the nursery to drop him off, and Paul and I enjoyed a nice breakfast together after the service. It’s been a long time since we’ve gone out to eat, just the two of us, and we enjoyed not having to worry about keeping our little guy happily entertained, cutting up his food, preventing him from launching said food in all directions, and all the other things that come with having your child with you in a restaurant.

Sometimes it’s nice just to have some time to yourselves. It doesn’t mean you love your kid any less, though. We all need a break sometimes!

In other news, I spent the majority of the day yesterday helping my parents with some yard work. I pulled up tons of weeds, pulled fence-steaks up out of the ground, sprayed weed killer all along their house and the fence perimeter, pruned trees, and picked up large branches from the yard so my dad could mow. It always feels great to do physical work like that because it makes me feel as if I’ve accomplished something. It’s a good feeling. My legs, however, are protesting today from all the kneeling, squatting, and getting up and down! But I don’t mind too much. I had a great weekend, especially with Nathan being back to his happy little self.

I can’t believe I never blogged about this.

So anyway, we found one of those indoor playgrounds in a fast food restaurant. From the outside, the play space looked massive. It beckoned to us, looming over us at about two stories tall. So we hauled Nathan out of his carseat and into the restaurant.

As soon as I opened the door to the play space and looked around, my heart sank. Yeah, the play space was two stories tall, but it was NARROW. The room it was in was maybe 12 ft x 12 ft, with the play space taking up a good portion of it… leaving an available space of about 12 ft x 4 ft. And the play space was completely vertical. There were a number of ledges arranged in step-formation for kids to shimmy up, but there is no way an adult could because there was only about a foot of space available to squeeze through in order to climb to the next ledge. Someone like me would get stuck. It was a safety hazard if you ask me.

Of course, the kids all had to take their shoes off to play, so the smell of dirty feet permeated the tiny enclosure. There was no air conditioning or any air flow whatsoever, so it was stuffy and stale, which only exacerbated the dirty feet smell.

I sat on one of the benches and tried not to touch anything. My friend T appeared to be just as uncomfortable as me, but we couldn’t just leave. No, once you take a two-year-old into a play area, you cannot just turn around and leave unless you’re wanting to experience the apocalypse.

I couldn’t let Nathan climb the contraption because he’s so little, if he got hurt, I would have not be able to squeeze my way through the ledges to help him. Nathan, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the stale air and dirty feet smell. And even though I wouldn’t let him climb the play thingy, he just ran around that tiny little enclosure, clapped his hands, and had a ball.

In fact, he was running so hard and enjoying himself so much that he quit paying attention and ran right smack-dab INTO A WINDOW. Just like how you see in the cartoons, with his little arms and legs splayed out. He kinda bounced off it, rubbed his head, but shook it off like it was nothing.

Another gross thing about the play space is there were a number of kids in there, and at least two of them were sick. One had a nasty, hacking cough and the other had a disgusting, snotty nose. You know, complete with those gross snot bubbles. And she was constantly wiping her mucus faucet with her hand and then she would TOUCH everything.

What made it even worse was her mother came in there once and was all like, Oh look at your poor little nose, my sweet sick little baby, blah blah blah. And I’m thinking to myself, CAN YOU NOT SEE YOUR KID IS SPREADING THE MUCUS PLAGUE ALL OVER THE PLACE??

My left eye actually twitched a little over the mom’s obtuse complacency. I mean, who can be so oblivious to others that they let their snot-bubble spewing kid sow their noxious germs into the porous plastics where said germs will fester and possibly mutate into an ULTRA MUCUS PLAGUE and other kids will then pick them up and spread the love? Who does that? SATAN??

Can you imagine the self control it took for me to not yank my child out of there?

I just didn’t have the heart to. Nathan loves being around other kids and was having a blast just running around. We stayed for about an hour, and let me tell you, when we finally left, FRESH AIR NEVER FELT SO GOOD.

No, not a good place for a mom like me who is trying really hard to control her OCD tendencies. Needless to say, I sanitized the shit out of Nathan’s hands once we left and fortunately, he didn’t get sick from the episode.  Lesson learned. It will probably be a long, long, LONG time before I take my child back to one of those indoor play spaces. My friend and I were so dismayed… it felt like we were tricked. I mean, from the outside, it was so big and inviting… It was like a bait-and-switch, and we were very disappointed.