We've had a great bank holiday weekend so far but it's been a weekend of me questioning the attitude of my son! I have previously talked about our little threenager and the transition from the terrible two's into the world of a stroppy teenager in small child's body. Sometimes I am left shaking my head in disbelief and stifling giggles behind my hands at his behaviour! I'm feeling slightly random as I write this so am starting with today and working backwards, keep up!
So take today for example. We pop to the pub for a couple of drinks, there is a beer festival on. The pub backs on to a football field, we go there regularly so it's ok, we know its safe. There is a beer festival on.....first thing Alfie asks for? A pint of beer......WTF?! Like father like son, but hold on he's 3 not 23! How does he even know to ask for a pint of beer? There is a football match happening so what does Alfie decide is the right course of action...............yup, you guessed leg it as fast as he can straight into the pitch in the middle of the match, cue Daddy shoving his pint in my hand legging it after him for Alfie to run even faster (and believe me he is super quick) and then Adi having to rugby tackle him off the pitch. This happened not once, not twice, not three times but four times. The shame!! Worst thing is Alfie saw the whole thing is one hilarious game!
Fast forward to just before we leave and Alfie decides he wants to play with a sandpit which happens to be full of rain water. That's ok I thought it's keeping him quiet. I then turn round to see him dunking...............yes that's right DUNKING his head in the water and blowing bubbles. Jesus, why is it always MY child that is the one doing the inappropriate behaviour. Have to admit made me giggle, especially when he looked like this when he came up for air!
Saturday we had a great day, we popped over to Southwold to meet our bestests and while the husbands were tasting beer over at Adnams, myself and my bff wandered along the seafront. Needless to say Alfie was an absolute star for Aunty Kat (pretty much!). I think she was a tad alarmed when he whipped off his shorts to go paddling but he's got this weird obsession with getting his clothes wet and actually I'm quite surprised he kept his pants on so overall pretty good going that he was half dressed! It took us an absolute age to walk along the pier as Alfie insisted on walking along the beach stopping to paddle, pick up stones and generally just look at everything, he then demanded ice cream so I obliged to keep him sweet. I ended up spoon feeding him the ice cream because it was windy and then bribing him to walk back along the pier with the promise of meeting Daddy. We popped into the Adnams cafe for a drink to wait for the boys and Alfie demanded a coffee. No word of a lie, he asked plain as day for a coffee, no idea at all where he acquired that sentence from because even though I love coffee I haven't been to any coffee shops recently with him. Bizarre. Needless to say he didn't get him a coffee and he was satisfied with a lemonade.
Towards the end of Saturday Alfie decided that enough was enough. He'd been really quite good all day, firing on all cylinders as always but well behaved bar a few standard toddler melt downs. We popped into a few shops and at the last one Alfie decided that the most appropriate behaviour was to protest by lying in the middle of the pavement. I picked him up and tried to sit him against the wall for some time out but he just decided to starfish in the middle of the pavement again, oh the joys of being a Mummy at this point. Cue lots of stares from judgy, judgemental parents and looks of disapproval and people actually stepping over him to get by (lol!)! Honestly though, didn't give 2 hoots, normally I would but that day I didn't as he wasn't having a tantrum just a silent protest on the floor! My best friend had hold of his lead reins at this point so at one point I stepped away and pretended that actually he wasn't my child (mwahaha), jokes on me though when he called me Mummy! There is a much better picture but I'm saving that for Wicked Wednesday, hehe! So with Alfie deciding to protest it was definitely time to call it a day and head on home.
You may notice that we still use reins. We have to, he will hold hands but has the knack of squirming and wriggling free from us and legging it, he is aware of roads and cars but I do not trust him yet to be off his reins and walk near us so the lead reins are still very much in use for peace of mind!
Earlier in the week Alfie went through a phase of 'I just want to run around all day in nothing but my boxer shorts. I'd dress him, he'd take his clothes off. I'd redress him and he'd strip again, in the end I gave up and let him run around as nature intended but with his boxers on'. It's been one of those weeks where I've been picking my battles for an easy life! Less stress equals a happier Mummy and a more cheerful threenager. The only major issue I had was on answering the door to the post man Alfie decided he wanted to try and leg it out the front, thankfully I managed to scoop him out to prevent an almost naked child gallivanting down the street with a fraught Mummy chasing after him!
So this is an update on my life with my very own little threenager. He's mad, he's always on the go, he's opinionated and at times a sod but he is amazing me every day with his speech, his memory and development. Would I change him from the crazy child he is? Never! He is his own little person and I love him for that (even if one doth protest lying in the middle of a path!)
How has your last week been?
