A weekend with Levi

This past weekend, Tim was gone on a youth camp weekend, and I wrangled the toddler by myself. Certainly had its ups and downs, and also some quintessential toddler moments. 

Friday: We visited a local bounce place with some friends. Though certainly a small fry by the standards of a

lot of kids racing round, Levi enjoyed both the toddler-sized bouncy obstacle course as well as one of the giant slides. He went in all by himself (8-months pregnant lady + bouncy house = turtle on its back law, I think) and figured out how to climb up little steps to go down the larger-than-life slide. And then he'd climb down, and race as fast as his little legs could carry him, arms flailing, to do it again. and again. and again. and so on for about an hour ;)

After we got home, we needed to drop Tim's car off at the mechanic's down the street for a weekend oil change. It was raining lightly, but that felt pretty refreshing after the nasty mugginess and sunshine of the past few days and weeks. We brought "tiny car" - Levi's name for his push-buggy car we borrow from our generous neighbors, which is like a car-shaped

wagon that you push instead of pull. However, I underestimated Levi's sense of importance in the tiny-car world -- he did not want to ride in the car, no no, that is for only the small and unpowerful. He wanted to push the car. Which, even at only three blocks away from our house, it quite a time-intensive endeavor. Also, he's two. and it was raining. Which means there were a lot of puddles. Which also means that every time we passed one, he had to stop and splash in the water. So a half-hour later or so we made it home, and I counted the soaking wetness as a bath. 

Saturday: to the grocery store we go, always a bad idea being this pregnant with a two-year-old, but, you know, food and stuff. We managed to snag one of those carts with the little car on the front, which resulted in Levi being occupied for most of the shopping trip. He started losing his ability to listen/behave as we headed toward the checkout. I taught him how to swipe through the photos on my phone while we waited for the lady that looked like a poodle waver on whether or not to purchase a block of cheese for several minutes (both are 100% true). But by the time I got up to the checkout, Levi had lost all patience and started climbing on top of the tiny car. I decided I'd take it over running away and screaming, especially since he couldn't get very high. But then he figured out how to climb most of the way up via the side faux-doors, and then, right as the cashier handed me my receipt, he was

kneeling entirely on the top of the car. I just told him he was big and strong but he had to get down before we could go find Daddy's car.

We had, of course, several incidents of not listening to Mommy. Unfortunately, Levi seems to have inherited my (and Tim's I bet) gene of not even caring about being naughty until I warn him not to. So if he holds a plate full of half-eaten food over the floor and I warn him gently not to drop it, he grins wickedly and not just drops, but chucks it as hard as he can. And then he goes in time out and has to say sorry for not listening and has to help clean up his mess. We're trying to teach him to say what he's sorry for, which goes something like this: "Levi, are you sorry?" L: "I'm sorry mommy." "Sorry for what?" L: "Sorry for what" (very contrite, very serious)." Yes, good job child. 

Also, Levi says "ready, set, go!" constantly. to walk out the front door. to go to school. While playing with his toys.