Sometimes the hardest thing to do as a parent of a toddler 2 going on 3 is to NOT laugh at the wrong moment. As in not laugh at the moment that your toddler is doing that which you don't want to be seen as getting attention which will be added to the toddler rolodex of attention getting behaviors that parents do not want to encourage.
Everyday when I pick up H from school he has a snack. This has been going on since we put him in his second day care at 17 months. He plays so hard and is so active that the afternoon snack at 2:30 is never enough to keep him from having a meltdown on the way home. The trip from that daycare to the house was less than a mile but if we didn't have a snack and a drink immediately after getting into the car, H would scream/cry the entire way home. You can imagine how loooong that mile was when this occurred. We have eventually settled on an everyday basic snack of "gummies" those mushy fruit flavored gel type snacks one can get in a BIG box at Sam's Club. This is H's favorite store by the way. He knows Sam's every time we pass it. "There's Sam's, Mommy, there's Sam's!!!" I was talking with a friend just today and think the first thing he will truly be able to identify as a word is in fact going to be "Sam's."
Anyhow, the last couple of days I had forgotten to put in more gummies in the car. This does not sit well but at this point any snack is usually accepted as there are always other choices: beef sticks, power bars, granola bars, nutrigrain bars, and if I've come directly from home I'll have fresh cut fruit in a bowl, too. So, this morning, I finally remembered to shove a few packages of gummies in my purse as we headed out the door. I would have preferred to just carry them but with my purse, a toddler backpack, a toddler lunch bag, and whatever else he or I need/desire to carry at the moment, I just don't have enough hands. H has always been a "bag" boy. He loves his bags. When the new daycare required a backpack, H was in heaven as he now had TWO bags to carry (or to give to me to carry on his off days - everyday). As an aside, I tried to leave the backpack at the daycare since it only holds his extra two sets of clothing. His room teacher even tried to help me, but nope. H was not leaving it behind.
Our pickup routine consists of getting into the car, H finds the gummies (no longer kept neatly in a bag with other treats and toys as he has to dump that bag out everytime he gets into the car) in my car which looks like someone is living in it that eats in it and leaves crumbs, wrappers, kleenex, toys, bags (those are just H's things) and shoes, bags (for groceries which I never remember to take into the store with me), junk mail which hasn't hit the recycle yet, and whatever else I might have in my car....gets into the seat and proceeds to open the package - mostly succesfully - by ripping off one corner, handing it to me, and then starts to eat the rest while I buckle him up, shut the door, reenter, start the motor and head off to our destination. Once H finishes said gummy pack, he says "Here, Mommy!" I have to take it while I am driving or he will not quit saying "Here, Mommy!"
So today, a second snack request was for a beef stick which I declined to give him as we didn't have any water in the car and beef sticks can get spicy. Imagine driving SIX miles with a crying/whining toddler who has eaten an unexpectedly spicy food item.....so no, a decline was made. Then it came. His moment of expression for his true desire.
"I want a sucker."
Honestly, it was a matter of fact statement, normal voice volume, and polite.
"No, honey, we don't have any suckers."
"Oh."
Silence...........then a small little plaintive voice came from the back seat......"We have oooone (while holding up one finger).................................silence.............................then a smaller and even more pathetic small voice said "in the bag"................................................."
Of course I had meant we didn't have any in the car but being the true toddler who keeps track of all things HIS, he knew exactly where there was indeed a sucker. In our case, this means a small plastic baggy in our snack cupboard that holds the candy he has received from various parties at the previous daycare. We do indeed have a sucker left over from Valentine's Day - in fact we have a couple but I didn't feel the need to remind him of that at the time. The tiny little plaintive voice and the delayed response caught me off guard and it was so stinking cute! I couldn't help myself.
"You mean at home?" "Yeth" came back the tiny quiet plaintive little boy voice.
If I had had a horrible rotten terrible day, that moment would have lifted all the clouds away.
Oh, and for the record, he forgot about the sucker the moment we hit the driveway and he wanted to watch Cars. So instead we had apples and juice until he recouped and went outside to play in the wonderful 80 degree weather for an hour.
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