David's Daily Diversions

Today in Parenting 101

Living with a toddler is the most exhausting thing I've ever done. Okay, admittedly I have never gone out of my way to find exhausting things to do, but nonetheless, Aidan is a handful.

Today, we feared he was going to get a black eye. I don't know how many 17-month-olds get black eyes, not to mention in a self-inflicted manner. While we were in the supermarket, he demanded to hold a can of beans. This is not unusual. He generally demands to hold whatever is the first item retrieved from the shelves. Today it was Tesco Vinaigrette mixed bean salad. Being the active boy that he is, he was swinging it around and around, from side to side, up and down, and then whap! he beaned himself in the eye. Given his vast experience with canned goods -- particularly in removing them from the cabinets and caryying them about the house -- I was particularly surprised at this move. At the time of the incident in question, it appeared that there would be some swelling. However, any evidence of his self-inflicted wound soon disappeared.

Our new phase is knocking. It started with knocking on doors. If one of the internal doors in the house is closed, he uses this opportunity to knock, even if he can just reach up and open it. When we go outside, the first thing he does is race across the hall and knock on our neighbour's door. Fortunately, this has only once been loud enough for them to answer it.

Now he is using knocking as a way to get attention. If I am attending to something other than giving him my undivided attention, he will come up and knock on my arm. Or if I happen to be resting from a particularly long stint of undivided attention, he will knock on my chest or stomach or head. I have been afraid that when he goes to baby group that other parents might mis-interpret his intentions if he knocks on their little youngsters with his closed fist. He already didn't like him going around and hugging everyone.

We are still working on vocabulary at a heightened pace. My favourite new word is "beverage." How many toddlers do you know that can only say "dink, dink". Aidie doesn't ask for a dink. He clearly knows what he saying, because when we are eating dinner, I will often say "Do you want a beverage with that?" and he picks it up from his tray for a swig.

We've made advancements in the area of beverage containers. Sippy cups are okay for walking around the house for that drink on demand. However, at the table we have moved on to regular open-topped glasses. Well, plastic glasses. And there are the constant reminders to use both hands and the occasional spills when the reminders don't come in time.

That's today's briefing from Parenting 101.