BOY

{the marker came off!}

My son is a B.O.Y. Everything he does is rough, everything he touches falls apart and every room he enters gets left drastically different than when he came in. It doesn't help that he is and has been incredibly clumsy from birth (sorry son, you got it from your momma!). We work on self control every day but he is a toddler, a boy, and well, he loves life so I hate interrupting his childhood to impose adult "rules" that may not be super applicable or realistic for him. Most of the time I give him a gentle reminder to ease up or to control his hands and he obeys without question but it's the times when he doesn't even expect what his body and hands are about to do that I am... dare I say... afraid of :0) Take last Saturday. It wasn't a great day but we weren't going to let that stop us. A couple of 'bouts of some nasty bug and some temper issues early on set us up for shall we say, an adventure. I had planned to go to the park for a picnic with my sunshine and then to a Upper Case Living Party at a friend's house. I warned her that I was bringing Linc and she was excited to have him saying there would be a 4 year old there too. I breathed a sigh of relief. I don't get out much and was super excited to go spend time with this friend. So after mopping a little, doing a load of laundry and packing our picnic we headed out. I brought PB&J... bad idea! I can't seem to make any food that Linc can't manage to wipe in his hair, eyes, up his nose, inside his shoes (I don't know how!) and all over his outfit. So mess #1 began the minute we got to the park as we sat and watched the birds while eating our lunch. After lunch we headed to the party and Linc did GREAT. Don't let this post fool you into thinking my son doesn't have a heart that wants to please momma (and I hope God but for now I am pretty sure it is momma) but we encountered some interesting events. After introducing himself to EVERYONE, twice he circled the room growling and making people kiss his "owie" which is a two week old sliver cut that he enjoys milking, nonetheless he was delightful and charming until he found his ball. He commenced throwing it. Ug! Luckily he quickly stopped only to pick up one of the sample demo products which was a terracotta pot. He dropped it, broke it and we cleaned up mess #2. He then ransacked his diaper bag (which I let him do to find his toys and keep him occupied), continued charming the crowd, tormented the 4 year old who wasn't quite as into Linc as he was into her, never stopped moving, walking and talking and finally he began to melt so we left the party and headed home for some rest time. Now for the "Tough Love" part. Lincoln loves giving snuggles and kisses but be warned... they hurt! He smushes his face up against yours and pushes, smushes, smacks and squirms for a good five minutes. He is rough and we have worked on it but this is how he snuggles. So I got him up from nap and he needed a snuggle. The minute he wound up to come in for a kiss I knew I was in trouble but I have the reflexes of a sedated manatee and lets just say he head butted my nose into next week. My eyes instantly welled up and he began crying "Momma!! Momma!!" as I lay on the ground writhing over my poor, severely congested and quickly swelling nose. Levi got home and checked out the damage saying "oh, honey your nose swelled in the direction that it is bent!" implying that I looked like the wicked witch in Snow White. Great. Perfect. "My son broke my nose", I thought. I am certain he didn't but man did it feel like he could have. Our day ended after his attempt to eat peas with a spoon resulted in what appeared to be the Battle of Gettysburg between these peas and his ravioli on my freshly mopped floor. He tries with that spoon, really he does. I am exhausted after my days with Lincoln and I feel I have earned my nights rest!!

So does anyone have any suggestions????? What do I feed him to contain the mess? How do I get him to snuggle gently? And what are some good activities for this age to bring along with us (ie: to church, a party, etc.) to keep him entertained without melting or making more messes? Oh, and what do you people feed your kids? I am always at a loss for what to feed Lincoln that is healthy and something he will like (not that he gets to make the choice on what he eats). And how do you keep up with housework?? Does anyone else want to just stop cleaning until the "mess" age is over... is it ever over??!!