Making connections

Sawyer has amused us this week in the way he figures stuff out.

Friday morning, he and I got ready early so we could hit several kids consignment sales for summer clothing.

We had put Hank out in the backyard, and Sawyer was dawdling in the kitchen. I kept telling him to "Come on" but he was busy messing with something.

Finally, I told him to come because we were going for a ride. I hoped the prospect of getting out of the house would be more appealing that the spoon he was playing with in the kitchen.

I walked on out into the living room, and he followed along 10 feet or so behind. I was gathering up my keys and purse when I realized he wasn't still behind me. I looked up and he had climbed on his toy racecar and was turning the steering wheel like he was ready to roll.

It absolutely cracked me up that he understood what I had said AND had equated it with going for a ride on his car (which we do plenty in the house).

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We hit three consignment sales and had meltdowns at two of them. The first wasn't so bad, and it was mostly because he was exhausted (and bored). He'd gotten up at 5:30 that morning and nothing I did got him to go back to sleep. By the time we got up and moving, he was dying for a nap. I hurriedly picked out some clothes and realized he wouldn't make it too much longer.

He didn't want to ride in the stroller, so I was carrying him while pushing his hard-to-maneuver chariot draped with a dozen hangars. When I saw how long the line was, I KNEW I'd better stop my shopping and get in line. We were probably behind at least 30other people, and the line was not moving. (The first sale we went to is my favorite, but it is always crowded, cramped and slow to check out.)

A worker came by with a plate of brownies and offered him one. I think she was trying to head off a full meltdown. I told her that I thought we were OK for awhile, but I would flag her down if I changed my mind.

Sawyer spotted a toy he liked and I let him play with it while we waited. I hadn't planned to buy toys because he already has so many, including some birthday presents and stuff I bought at Christmas and put away for later in the year. But I knew I'd have to buy that toy or risk a worse fit when I took it away from him. (Luckily, I knew this before I even picked up the toy so I picked one I thought he'd like, didn't cost much and was willing to buy.)

While we were in line, I spotted a hard plastic Cookie Monster toy/game. It looked fun, and Sawyer adores Cookie Monster in his videos. I felt sure it was a winner, and it was only $3. He played with it for about 60 seconds before it started talking and chomping its mouth, and Sawyer FREAKED OUT!!!

I thought it was just because he was so tired and cranky, so I bought it anyway. To my surprise, he was STILL scared of it at home. It took me playing with it for about 10 minutes for him to realize it wasn't going to "get" him. When I pull it out, he doesn't cry anymore but he does climb on my lap ... just in case.

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Sawyer is pretty rough and tumble, your typical boy, I guess. He loves climbing on the couch and sliding off the couch. He's learned to swing his legs around and slide off so he can land on his feet, although he often tries to slide himself off things that are way too high (like the 4-foot-high guest bed.

Today with Ray he worked himself out of a different jam. Ray said he was lying on the couch and started sliding off face first. Sawyer reached over, grabbed two throw pillows on the couch, threw them to the floor and then slid down face first onto the pillows.

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Speaking of sliding, the other day when he and I went to the park, he figured out the point of going down a slide. I've put him on the slide before at a different park, but he never quite "got" how or why to slide down. He didn't object, but he didn't really seem to enjoy it.

We were having a really rough day and had major cabin fever, so I grabbed Starbucks and we went to the park for about half an hour before work. I put him on the slide and pulled him and "wheeee'd" as he went down and he loved it!

He went down another time or two and realized he needed to lean forward to get some momentum. He'd giggle the whole way down. We went through "do that" about six more times before we had to leave.

It'll be fun to see if he remembers how to do it on the next trip to the park.