Sunday, December 12, 2010: Bear with a shovel

I bought my son pink snow boots. It was an accident. They looked red and orange online. Instead they're more dark pink and light pink. No wonder they were on sale. Why can't companies just use regular color names like "pink and pink" instead of "persimmon and coral?" I'm not an interior designer or something. I just wanted to save $10 on a pair of boots. In any case, they're going back. I've ordered black ones instead. So that he can grow up and be a real man, which obviously would have been impossible after wearing pink boots for the winter he was one and a half, a winter he won't even remember when he's older.

On Wednesday Gavin got a bad day care report. His first. Usually, Shelly, his teacher, writes little notes like, "Great day today!" or "Went to the playground today and had a lot of fun" with a little smiley face beside it. But on his Wednesday report it said, "Gavin was very hurtful to another child today" complete with a frowning face. I can't even really begin to describe what it felt like to read that, but it was a lot like when you're eating something and you're liking it well enough and all of a sudden you just kerchunk a bite out of the inside of your cheek like your cheek just jumped in there between your molars for some reason and now you can't chew anything without re-biting your cheek because it's all lacerated and swollen. It was just like that, only substitute "heart" for "cheek." And scrap the eating metaphor because this isn't like a Hannibal Lecter thing. Anyway, it was intense.

So what did Gavin do, you ask? Well, he apparently pulled a teether out of a younger baby's mouth and then proceeded to hit the baby repeatedly in the face with it. Later, when that same baby was sucking on a pacifier, Gavin began smacking the pacifier with the palm of his hand while it was in the baby's face. Picture someone frantically testing a microphone by tapping it and you get the idea. At least that's what I think he did. I was getting the information from Stacy who got it from Shelly. Still. My son's a bully. I have clearly failed as a parent. It was probably the pink boots.

Actually, I don't believe Gavin is a bully. I think he's impulsive and curious and interested in testing boundaries, for better or worse. In this case, worse. He's getting interested in other kids, though he doesn't always know what to do with them. He's testing physical boundaries with us, too. And the toddler resistance tactics have begun in earnest: going limp, falling to the floor, arching his back, kicking his surprisingly powerful legs as hard as he can. Man, some days it feels like pulling a pair of sweatpants on another, much smaller, human being should be an Olympic sport. A sport I am forced to participate in and am judged by how well I complete the task at hand while keeping both myself and the tantrum thrower free of injury.

I am glad to report, however, that he had a good day care report on Friday and am keeping my fingers crossed for next week.

Gavin is actually a very giving kid who loves to help (did I mention that I bought in a vacuum for Christmas? I totally bought him a vacuum for Christmas. I know it sounds like something a terrible husband would buy for his wife, but Gavin is going to love it. I am sure of this). In fact, he helped out at the families in need program at Stacy's school yesterday even if he doesn't know that it was for the greater good. I was not there, but Stacy said he had a blast. The job involved a lot of putting canned goods in boxes and pushing around a utility cart. These are his big skillz right now, so he was all about it. Apparently the cart he and Stacy were using would get quite full and, no duh, canned goods are heavy, but Gavin was just huffin' and puffin' and pushing his cart down the line. And he didn't even hit anyone in the face while he was there.

As I mentioned, Gavin's been saying new words. Yesterday he said "bib" as he pulled his bib off. Then later on I heard him say, "Hi" to Jota (the cat). He also says down, up, drop, jump, and woo-woo when he hears a dog. Here's a video from two days ago of Gavin "jumping" on a manhole cover while saying, "Jump, jump." Stacy took this video and without her translation I don't think I would have understood what he was saying. Especially since he isn't really jumping (but don't tell him that).


Today's big adventure was shoveling snow. We shoveled our walk and then headed down to our elderly neighbor's house and helped shovel her driveway. Her husband died recently and while helping her shovel snow was helpful, Gavin was the best part, I think. She really likes him. I mean, who wouldn't? He didn't do a lot of shoveling at her house. He mostly walked up and down the driveway between Stacy, who was at the bottom, and me, at the top shoveling away. But we were all outside for quite some time. Definitely his longest time being out in the snow ever in his life. And certainly his first time in the snow with a shovel.