Corporal Chaos....

 

See these moments of peace, tranquility, and calm? Me too. I look back at these to remind me that at one time, Ryan was actually still and not dodging danger at every corner or in to EVERY THING.
I have to laugh at times when people tell me, "Oh, you are SO going to miss these moments. They are the best times with him. It goes so quickly...." And then they walk away with a knowing smile of fondness.
I'd give these people one morning with Ryan. ONE morning. Fairly certain that smile would fade, they would be waiting at the door, checking their watches to see when exactly it is I said I would return to relieve them of their duty.
When he was born and I said he was the exclamation point to our family, little did I know how those words would come back to haunt me. Funny how even then I had those words without true knowledge.
Under the "umbrella of understanding" or the "duh?" of understanding, I am so happy to be Ryan's mommy. The love he gives is the sweetest, most genuine, and most rewarding, because they come from him when HE wants to give it.
I spend most of my mornings with him following him from room to room making sure he is not doing something he shouldn't. The few times I have assumed he is alright (granted, I am FEET away from him most  times), I have regretted it beyond words.
Today's easy example.
This morning Gary left for work early, leaving me to see the kids off to school. No biggie. I do it all the time. The kids get dressed, eat their breakfast, shoes on, out the door. Now, breakfast consists of cereal or granola bars at our house. It's easy, one handed, we can carry it around while we are working our way out the door or doing other tasks. This is no different for Ryan. He is more than capable of eating a cereal bar. Well.
Today he was playing with Brendan in the bathroom while Brendan was getting ready. He had his breakfast, I checked, he was eating it. 5 minutes later, it's time to go to the bus stop. I get Ryan, take him to the car, we see the kids off. All is good.
We come home.
I get a cup of coffee, Ryan goes to the bedroom to, what I assume, is watch tv.
He comes out of the bedroom.
His mouth is black and moving, and his arm is strangely black as well.
He is shaking and then lets out a terrified scream.
My brain does not quite make a quick enough connection to realize the boy has his cereal bar in his little hand, he had taken a bite, HOWEVER.
It was covered in black ants, as is his forearm and mouth.
I run the three feet to rescue and swat all of the ants away, shove my fingers in his mouth to sweep out the swarming ants, reach for a wet wipe and begin killing them as they scurry away on the floor. Ryan is still screaming and crying in terror and I am furiously taking off his clothes trying to make sure I got them all.
This is just one minute in my day with him.
He also has a thing with vacuuming. And plugging in a vacuum. I thought he would have been deterred from plugs since he mildly electricuted himself at Christmas while plugging in the tree when I looked away for a second.
He also likes to "get out". And by this I mean he likes to go through doors, gates, windows,...you get the idea. At a friend's house, she was acute enough to hear the tell-tale "click" of her front gate. We turn the corner and sure enough, Ryan is on the OTHER side saying "Woohoo! Woo! Hoo!" jumping up and down at the fact he got out.
The crazy thing is he is so strong and tough! He can fall, draw blood, and just wipe at it as if nothing happened. He takes a knock in the head, all he says is "Ow! I bonka da head" while rubbing the spot he hit. No tears.
But then heaven help you if I turn on the blender! He runs in terror, tears streaming down his face, screaming as if it were coming after him to blend him to pieces.
When we put him to bed at night, the entire house sighs a breath of relief that we made it one more day without massive injury or loss. Well, I should say physical injury or loss. My mental capacity is diminishing daily.
I love Ryan. Please don't hear any of this as anything else but me trying to get out some of the crazy that is my daily life. He is a perfectly active, normal little boy....who has energy that won't quit until he is forced to stop moving in his crib. But have I mentioned he has also figured out how to climb out of his crib....