Obsessions II

February 29th! What a special day.

Anyways, here are Russell's obsessions. Bet you thought I wouldn't get it in this month, eh? I didn't quite know myself.

I wrote a lot of this post several weeks ago (as evidenced by the publish date), and everything is still pertinent today. So it is proof that he's certifiably obsessed.

1.) Lights. Now in addition to flashing the light sign constantly, he says, "ites, ites, ites."  Several times through the day we go to various rooms to turn the lights on and off, and each time he is just as fascinated. Things get even better for him when we pick him up so he can flip the switch himself. Not letting him play with the light switch at church has caused many a tantrum. Oy.  The other day I gave him a headlamp to play with and he was in heaven.

We still have not cut his hair and sometimes it is pretty awesome.

2.) Keys. This one is perhaps the most annoying. His favorite, of course, are the ones with buttons on them. At first, I thought it was harmless to let him play, but when I found that his playing had opened my trunk from inside the supermarket, I put an end to that game. I thought I came up with a clever solution by putting my car key on a carabiner so that I could easily detach it from my other keys. Of course, the instant that carabiner is off, he is no longer interested in the other keys. Although just two days ago, I used the boring key ring to open our house door and he was instantly like, "What?! Those keys are important too? Give them to me NOW!"

What makes this obsession the most annoying is that he thinks perfect stranger's keys should also be his. Many a time has he has begged a stranger for their keys after he's noticed them in their hands or chased after someone upon seeing or hearing some keys dangling from a purse. Now that he's talking a bit, he'll also say, "ees, ees, ees..." in the most pleading, desperate voice to prove how badly he wants them. At friends' homes, I've discovered him roaming around with random key rings...as happy as can be while the other children are busy destroying the toy room. I get worried we'll be responsible for someone being stranded because Russell has unknowingly displaced their keys or because Russell has pressed the buttons to their car key so hard that it broke. Can I apologize in advance?

3.) Cell phones. Pretty much the same description goes with this obsession as with the one above. The only difference is he is better appeased with fake phones. We have 3 toy phones and he likes them all. He even thinks a calculator is a phone and if you spoil that secret, I will kill you in the night.

Sometimes I make him wear that hat inside because it is so cute.

 4.) Doing What We Do. This is the newest one and it is to be expected, although I am again surprised at how early in his life it has happened. It shows how thoroughly he knows how things work and wants to be apart of it. He loves to help us unload the dishwasher, he begs to throw his dirty diaper into the outside trash...so much so that we often have to let him hold the folded up dirty diaper for the duration of the change so that he knows he will not be denied the privilege of taking it outside. If we don't, he whines and wiggles so incessantly that it makes it really hard to get that diaper on. Feeding himself is his newest obsession at meals and let me tell you...it is messy and tedious as he can't really do it at all! But he will not let us hold the spoon any longer. 

All by myself!

I could go on and on about this topic...and I actually I will.  If I am getting dressed, he immediately takes my dirty clothes and puts them in the hamper. If we are grocery shopping, he loves for me to give him an item so he can throw it in the cart behind him. If we are out with the stroller, he loves to be taken out of it so he can push it.  He loves to press the button on the fridge that fills our water glasses. He has found my hair clips and asked me to put them in his hair and has been seen trying to put on his dad's slippers. If I wipe something off the floor, he does that same motion with his hand. If I have come out of the bathroom, he immediately goes to the toilet to try and flush it. A funny story: The other day I caught him playing in the bathroom.  This doesn't happen too often because the door is usually closed.  As I approached, I said, "Russell...we don't play in here." When he heard me, he started to frantically unroll the toilet paper roll. Just before I snatched him up, he yanked off as much toilet paper as he could and stuffed it in the toilet, as if to say, "Boo-ya, Mom. I got to do it anyway! Take that!"

And most of this stuff is stuff he just randomly started doing on his own.  This video is another example...it is what happened after he got into an open cupboard.

So there. That is our February life. Wildflowers are blooming throughout this city of ours and the highs are in the 60s and 70s. We are loving it (but not the weeds) because we know it won't last long!