why moms of small children stay at home...

so today it was gorgeous out, and i thought i would take clay for a walk and visit the neighbors. so we set off down the road and clay talked about the cows and the tractors and pointed out the birds. he was quite cheerful, and so was i. so, thrilled that my child was so well-behaved, i stopped at the neighbors house for a little visit. clay immediately went towards the most delicate object in the room -- some ceramic sparrows on the woman's end table.

"ducky!" he said, happily.

"no touch!" i tell him. "that's not a ducky. its a sparrow."

"pawwow?" he says.

i redirect him. he sees a toy on the floor. its the dog's toy, and i try to get him to play with something else, but he wants the orange squeaky dragon with purple claws.

he's happy for awhile, so i attempt to have a conversation. clay takes off. i run after him. this process repeats itself several times and i finally sit in the doorway and give up on drinking my coffee.

he then decides that he wants another dog toy; a ball, that is lying under the end table. he can't reach it, so i get it for him. he immediately throws it under the table again and says, "ball?"

he gets tired of this game and discovers a dish full of jelly beans. he tries taking one, and i tell him no. the neighbor says, "oh, he can have some if that's all right with you."

so i decide to let him take one. he likes the one and goes back and takes five. i tell him no, but he shoves them in his mouth. i try to grab him and he throws a tantrum. and starts choking, because you can't throw your head back and stomp your feet with your mouth full of jelly beans and not choke.

he proceeds to spit all the partially chewed jellybeans out... onto her nice white carpet. i put my hand out, and get a handfull of a sticky, spit covered, goopy mess. nice.

immiately after spitting out the jelly beans, he runs back for more. i stop him and he throws another tantrum.

i decide its time to leave. this actually makes him happy because he likes going outside. he throws another tantrum though, because he wants to go play in the yard, not get strapped in the stroller.

so here i am, pushing a screeeaaaaming baby in a stroller down the neighbor's driveway, and wishing i could just get home.

clay continues to scream, and he sounds like he's being tortured. we get home, and he throws another tantrum because we have gone inside. i decide its time for a nap. i then wish i could take a nap, but settle for the peace and quiet that results from clay getting some much needed sleep.

and i realized that kids will be kids. they all have their "moments"; mine just apparently saves them for when we are in public. so yeah... i still wouldn't trade him for the world, and despite the crazy days, i can't imagine life without him.

i don't know if i can imagine him behaving in public, either. lol.

and guess what? we get to go out tomorrow.