There are a couple of things that Jacob does that I’m always trying to ‘fix’.
I’ll start with crooked pants/shorts/underwear. One of the first signs indicating he has been to use the bathroom is crooked clothes. Sometimes it is so bad, he will come to get help. Or bring extra underwear or shorts to replace the ill-fitting ones. But very often, not bad but needs adjusting. And he does not, I repeat DOES NOT, want me to straighten his clothing.
Note, there aren’t many pictures of Mr. Crooked Pants – I’m too busy wanting to get him picture perfect! Shame on me! In the grand scheme of things, this is minor, right? But it looks uncomfortable, agree?
I am wondering if he takes after his daddy. Not sure if it was because he was the youngest child and nobody noticed him or if he didn’t care but in photos, he often looked disheveled. Seems looking ‘gooooooood’ wasn’t based on whether or not his clothing was straight!!
Some days I just can’t ignore and determine to fix his appearance. And then I’m met with him grabbing my forearms and holding me at arm’s length away. I need to walk away and let it go! Unfortunately, it often becomes me wanting to win that silly battle. He doesn’t care—why should I? You’ll be happy to know that on the day I composed this blog, I let him wear crooked pajama bottoms all day. Yes. I. Did.
The other thing is wearing socks in the winter months. Much of our house is ceramic tile. It feels COLD to bare feet. I am constantly putting socks back on my boy. Because his feet will be very chilly to the touch. He has never, brought me socks needing help or wanting them back on. And often when I’m trying to get socks on him, he makes it a test of my patience and endurance!!
I’m in the cold feet could lead to a cold, camp! I read that virus doesn’t enter through your feet so having cold feet doesn’t make you sick. I also read that if your feet are cold, your nose is and cannot fight germs as well. And, that cold feet increase the likelihood of catching the flu. As with everything, information is conflicting; and I must choose which I’m going with.
Some days, my sole mission is to keep socks on him. Isn’t that one of my jobs as his mother to do everything to ward off cold and flu? As you can see, he’ll toss socks anywhere and everywhere! I will put socks back on his frosty feet multiple times a day. Not always easy but it’s a battle I haven’t surrendered yet.
I thought about instituting a policy – NO sock, NO service. But that didn’t seem fair since it would change with the season. Here it seems he is trying to appease me with one sock on and one-off.
Now that spring is here, maybe there will be a break in the sock battle. I’m sure he is as tired of my demands as I am at keeping his feet warm!
Obviously, on the parental battle hill, neither of these things is of life-altering importance. Not rooted in anger, a misunderstanding, or even willful disobedience. One I think I can let slide and the other, I’m not so sure. It is comical that I could even call them battles, but they are to me.