Let's talk about unpredictability. (Am I the only one who thinks that word sounds ridiculous? It's totally a word.) God's good humor has been serving us up some pretty unpredictable situations, handing them out like free rolls at a restaurant. One batch after the other, and more and more and more until hello I'm too full I can't enjoy my meal now. Too much bread, too much unpredictability. Did you follow all that?
I digress.
Unpredictability. Recent Texas weather- wait, there's no rain or freeze warnings forecasted for the next several days, is this a dream?! Our water heater. More specifically, our water heater's death wish. Hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, freezing. All damn day. Laptop chargers. I'm not sure of the average life expectancy of a laptop charger but I'm certain that for the number of times I have had mine abruptly die, I should know better than to have only one in the house. Austin purposely dumping the entire bag of Veggie Sticks onto the floor. Okay that scenario was probably more predictable than not. He has learned how to maneuver his way around the pantry and I can't even explain how annoying it is.
Dumped veggie sticks aside, he really is such an unpredictable little person. What flies one day may not always be okay the next. Some of the habits that he's recently picked up at school- I can't even. His newest party trick involves offering a piece of his snack and when it's just close enough to take a bite, he whips it back and stuffs it into his own mouth. Where on earth…? It's just my guess that he learned it at school. Or maybe he's seen it on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? (Waving my white flag: I'm one hundred percent guilty of too much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse tv time.) Either way, more often then not it really is funny. But when a bite of the last Girl Scout cookie is at stake…. not cool, kid.
One of the hardest things to deal with at this age is the correlation between his wanting and needing to communicate certain things, and not knowing how. He's two, of course I expect his communication to be lacking. And even though I watch it grow stronger week after week, it's frustrating. Not only for me, but more so for him. The emotions and feels are strong with this dude. He goes from requesting something that he is easily able to communicate to a complete breakdown in the blink of an eye. Tears are streaming and he's screaming the same "word" over and over again. It's so obvious that he knows what he wants, and it's heartbreaking to see him so frustrated and helpless. I try not to call these tantrums, usually I associate a tantrum with something like not getting to eat cookies for dinner. These breakdowns are triggered by his basic human need to communicate. I can't blame him and it's exhausting for everyone. Throw in the unpredictability of when or where, multiply frustration level by ten.
Of course the unpredictable isn't always bad, I do love a good surprise. Juan surprised us on Tuesday evening, a few days early! It made my week, and I'm looking forward to the weekend A LOT more now that the whole team is here. Though it may just be spent catching him up on all of Austin's new words to avoid any uneccessary breakdowns ;)
"The only thing predictable about life is it's unpredictability." -Remy in Ratatouille
Heard that.
