I have no pictures, but so much about Hardin on my mind that I want to document a few things for myself. I've decided I'm just not crazy about the indoor pictures I take, and therefor I take less. I realize that is crazy. Irresponsible. You name it. I should document Hardin's life whether I like the skin tones or not. But you know, the truth's the truth, and I just have no desire to reach for my camera. I have on the other hand been taking a ton of videos. I think the trade off will be one that brings Hardin much laughter, because let me just tell you, our boy's a total trip right now.
We have absolutely nothing to compare him to, and wouldn't even if we did, but to us he's just the smartest, sweetest, funniest, coolest and most tenderhearted kid on the block. He's so much fun right now and nothing like the terrible twos we've been warned about. We've been schooled on the fact that 2s with boys are a breeze, and the 3s are tough, and we've completely braced ourselves for that.
For now, he's very tender and sweet for the most part. I had one spanking my entire life. It was in second grade and I cheated on a spelling test. It was no walk in the park spanking, but there is no doubt that my little heart took it a lot harder than my rump. That kind of parental disappointment was not for me. For the time being Hardin is following in my softhearted ways. The boy can not handle us being upset with him.
We have an extraordinarily quite home. If we ever raise our voice it's when he's doing something dangerous like running towards the fireplace hearth, standing on a table, reaching toward the stove, etc. A loud voice is normally enough to stop him in his tracks.
Stop him in his tracks and elicit the biggest little pouty bottom lip you've ever seen. Complete with alligator tears and a "you better pick me up and hug me right now before I LOSE it" face. Little buddy just can't deal with it. The other day I grabbed his arm when he was reaching for the sharp end of a knife and it took me no less than 5 solid minutes of full body hugs to calm him down. Not because he wanted the knife, but because he was in trouble.
We have to be careful when talking about him also. When Mimi was in town, I was telling her the full detail story about him coming home with the "no push yer friends" directions. We laughed about it, joked, until I looked around and realized Hardin was laying face down on the floor covering his head upset because he thought we were talking about him doing something wrong.
Same goes for when he's cooking with me. He gets so excited about helping me every night. I've realized I have to pour the exact amount of something we need into a cup/bowl first, and then ask him if he can measure out "X" cups for me. He counts the measuring cup numbers (albeit incorrectly most times), and takes his job very seriously. If I don't do the pre-measure and he accidentally pours too much, he gets all bent out of shape and says "I broke it, I broke it!"
Another way we see his tender side is when other people, especially kids, are upset. When we are in public he stops in his tracks if a kid starts crying. He quickly finds my eyes and looks for me to tell him it's okay. Once I do that, I try and get him to move along but he normally stares until the upset child stops crying. We're working on this, because no one likes to be looked at when upset.
As much as he's tenderhearted, he can also be manipulative and whinny. Some hours more whinny that others, like before bed. Another post coming soon about that soon. And sometimes just whinny because he wants to be whinny. We've yet to figure out how to stop him from starting to whine, but we've finally learned that total distraction is best medicine. Not doing what he wants to do, so as to not encourage more whining, but figure out something totally different.
There's something about this boy of ours that just fills my heart, he's so sweet. Jason feels it too. I've said it before and I feel it every day. Jason is nothing short of amazing with him. He's soft and kind and everything you would want from your children's father.
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