Days 24 and 25

Day 24: Time to eat!

One of Lego’s self-assigned duties is to run and yell, “time to eat,” at his Dad when I tell him it’s time. Sometimes he’ll start yelling it when I start making dinner, and I have to yell, “Not yet,” so Jon Boy doesn’t get confused.

Day 25: Use caution!

Toddlers are notorious for having little to no sense of their own danger. They jump off of things, climb too high, run into streets, grab dangerous objects, and stick their fingers in outlets. Sometimes Lego does things that scare me—I would never expect him to do otherwise.

At the same time, he is extremely obedient the moment I tell him something could hurt him. He moves far away when I open the oven, he stays close to the car when we’re getting in, and he doesn’t climb out of his crib (even with the side rail down). Lately, he’s been pointing at knives (including butter knives) while I make dinner or do dishes and saying, “No, no, no.” These are the times I love how cautious he is.

There are times when I wish he’d be a little more daring. When there’s a small step that I know he could walk down safely, he insists on going down backwards. He still hasn’t learned to jump, though I know he can do it. I’m fairly certain it’s because he’s afraid of falling instead of landing.

Other times, his caution is just funny. He got sprayed once by accident when I was using the spray attachment on the kitchen faucet, so every time I pull it out now, he ducks down below the countertop. When he was learning to cruise on furniture, he would let himself down slowly and carefully instead of doing what every other child does—plop down using their diaper for padding.

I am definitely the cautious type, so he might get it from me. I remember once when all my siblings discovered they could slide down the top of a tube slide at the park instead of going down inside it, and then jump off at the end. I was too scared and never tried it. I wish I had. I mean, yeah, I’ve never broken a bone, dislocated or sprained anything, or gotten stitches. But I’ve also refrained from trying some fun stuff. I hope Lego doesn’t take after me too much.