I was hanging out the washing recently (yes, I lead an extremely glamorous life) and Mitchell was trying to help me (yes, I’m a super-fun mum who only gives the best playthings to her children).
He had a pair of his tracksuit pants (yes, I’m a fashionista who only dresses her children in Gucci and Prada, daaaahling) and was intent upon putting them on the lowest rung of the clothes airer.
He tried, and it didn’t work. He tried again, and it didn’t work. He tried a few more times, and it still didn’t work. He grunted. He threw them on the floor and started to shuffle away. He came back and tried again. And it didn’t work again. He shrieked.
He tried again. He grunted again. He flailed. He almost head-butted the floor. He swatted at the clothes airer. He dropped the pants on the floor and hit them a few times.
He was trying to hang tracky pants on the airer, but he was wearing his cranky pants.
He flung the pants around one more time with a scream. And they landed on the clothes airer.
He looked at them. He cocked his head to one side, then the other.
Then he grinned. He tilted his head back to show me his teeth (only his top eye teeth were through at this stage – yes, I’m the mother of a vampire baby, and yes, it’s still adorable and only a little bit unsettling), then giggled and shuffled away.
What is the point of this story? Well, there a few.
One: keep trying. You’ll get there. You may not get there the way you’d planned – you may even get there by just flinging things around in frustration – but you’ll get there
Two: my boy is adorable even when he’s having a little hissy fit.
And three: hanging out the washing is difficult and annoying. But entertaining if you involve your children.
You might even get a blog post out of it. So hop to it.
What have you learnt from your child(ren)?
Oh, I love vampire babies. It’s funny I was thinking about this the other day. My littlest is so determined to crawl, he can’t yet but he wiggles so much he moves and he’s so happy about that. I think the motivation of chasing his older brother is a big help and it made me wonder about what we can achieve when the motivation is right and we don’t worry about the can’ts x
Beautiful comment. The removal of can’t. I like it as a poem title!
What persistence and patience and a bit of luck. I think we can all learn from that.
Yes, definitely a try, try again message in there!
Just what I needed to hear today.
Glad you heard it! I hope your day was good x
Mitchell is adorable. I think any mum of a baby boy has probably already nailed patience and persistence.
Certainly trying to! And thanks.
Ahh he reminds me of my little guy who has a couple more teeth but is just as persistent! It’s amazing what we learn from our children:-)
There is so much to learn. And so much I’ll probably blink and miss.
This sounds very similar to my attempts to get a “sensible” boyfriend when I was in my 20s.
Loves
HAHAHA! Love the analogy.
Oh this is gorgeous – I can feel his exasperation and elation but still not enamoured with hanging out washing.
I don’t mind it. It’s probably my least loathed of all household chores to begin with, so M’s cuteness just made it fun.
This made me giggle. Only because the exact same thing happened here this week. Isn’t perseverance a wonderful trait to encourage?
Absolutely! Glad it’s happening everywhere.
LOL! Love it! We learn so much from watching our kids. Even maybe a thing or two about ourselves. My boys lately have taught me the power of imagination. They’re really big on magic wands at the moment, changing all of us into either frogs, dinosaurs or crocodiles.
‘Maybe a thing or two about ourselves.’ YES. Always the wise one, Grace.
Well done little vampire! My son was a happy fanger too, very cute.
xx
I used to joke about vampire babies and their inherent evil – but it’s SO cute!!
LOL, that’s pretty much how my teenagers hang the washing when I demand they “bloody well help me, I don’t do this for fun ! ” . Lovely little vampire baby xx
As long as it dries!
Too sweet, love that he felt triumphant in the end!
He was a winner!
You made me laugh with the vampire bit. I’ve had a similar clothes hanging experience with my daughter. They just get so frustrated 🙂
So very frustrated! Funnily enough, I had someone find this post by googling ‘what can my child learn from hanging out the washing’. I hope it helped convince them the frustration is worth it!
well at least it was hanging up in a sort of fashion!!! x
That’s it! They’ll dry. Mission accomplished.
Yes it’s all about persistence and resilience – vampire baby – ha ha. Washing does suck!
BOOM! And snap. Love it.
I snorted when I read your vampire baby comment! I remember that phase so well!!! He’s definitely cute enough to make even hanging out the washing bearable. x
Nawwww, thanks. Now he’s ALL teeth. Still adorable.