Jbryans’s Weblog

This must be where he learns it!

He must be up to something!

Before I had a child of my own, I was the person who looked on with disdain as a preschooler acted out and I would say to myself, “my child will NEVER act like that.”  At our church there was a fountain outside that all the children would run to after service.  Those who were unsupervised would sometimes manage to get a little wet.  My childless friend Keisha and I would huddle to the side and say, “our kids will never do that!”  And, then, my sister had a child before me and I would sometimes be around her little boy and I would again think to myself, “If my child acts like that, I will just spank him and make him mind me.  She needs to show him who is in control.”  Boy, have things changed! 

My son, Sam is three now and whoever first spoke the term “terrible two’s” was not talking about my son.  We loved being two.  Sam is no angel, but we never had any major behavior problems at two.  But, he turned three only two weeks ago and, boy, is he enjoying “discovering” himself.  I think we must go through several stages in life when we say, “I am discovering who I am”.  I am convinced that is now happening with my sweet, adorable two-year old has been.  He turned three and he decided, “I need to find myself.  I need to test some uncharted territories in my life.”  Pretty profound for a three-year old, I know.  But, let me give you an example.  In the past, when we have gone places I would always get comments like, “He is so calm” and “What a well-behaved child” and even some snide looks from other parents as they would run after their wild-child.  I must have been getting a little prideful about this because since Sam has turned three, God has been allowing some pretty crazy stuff to happen.  And even though I know God is not making these things happen, I have a feeling He is probably somewhat amused by it all.  Sam and I went to church with my parents just last Wednesday night.  Most of the evening he just wanted to lay on my shoulder or hold my hand.  So sweet.  As soon as church was over, he didn’t want anything to do with me.  He just wanted to run after a group of four-year old boys.  No problem.  I guess if other parents are allowing their children to run free, then Sam can too as long I can see him.  So, I tried to keep my eye on him as I visited.  Next thing I know, I am jumping out of my skin because someone (namely, “Sam”) has come up behind me and has bitten my behind.  Yes, he bit my bottom!  This is not funny.  Especially, because we are not even with people who we know.  So, now I am merely making excuses for his behavior.  Saying things like, “he doesn’t usually act this way.”  And, I am most certain that bystanders are thinking, “she needs to do something with that child.”  We left pretty quickly after that happened, because short of beating him, what could I do?  At least it was my bottom and not some random stranger…that definitely would have been worse. 

The next day we went to the mall.  We were visiting friends and we did not have our stroller.  Big mistake.  We went into a clothing store and Sam immediately heads for a rack of clothes that he can hide in.  He loves this.  I let him hide in the rack of clothes that we were looking at.  What harm, right?  Well, when it was time to move to another section of the store, he would not come willingly.  So, I have to pull him out by the one arm I managed to grab and try to have a serious talk about how he needs to stay with me.  Again, I say, “uncharted territory” is on his little brain.  As soon as he can pull away from me, he is off.  I tell him to stop and he begins laughing and running around the whole store.  Yes, I had to chase him.  I was so embarrassed and, once again, I can picture God up there chuckling.  He made it around the entire store before I finally caught him and whisked him into a dressing room.  I am sure people knew what was going on in that room, but noone seemed to mind that my child was being disciplined.  It was a pleasant surprise to actually feel like people thought I was doing the “right” thing.  Maybe it was because I was in one of those trendy stores that attracts teenagers and they were just oblivious to what was going on…who knows? 

I am sure there will be many more adventures with Sam as his borders continue to expand.  I look forward to everyone of them…even the ones that make me want to scream and cover my face in horror (or shame).  I love watching him grow up and explore new things.  I want to always be there to guide him in the right direction and keep him safe, and I want to remember every single detail of these days, because I know they will not last forever.  I just hope he gains some better judgement soon!