Recently I shared my experience about free time for dad (aka potty time). Now I want to talk about the next phase my son has entered into, which I call the “I want to be a nudist” phase. My son, as you know if you read “The life and times of a stay at home dad: Oooohhhh to poop alone” is two and a half and has a very strong personality. My most recent epiphany, that I first noticed when he began to hate socks. No matter where he was he would take his socks off and throw them. This quickly turned into the sock game. The rules are simple: 1. He takes his socks off 2. I chase him down and reinstall them! I didn’t last long at the sock game; he quickly gave me a lesson in this game. Actually I’m pretty sure I didn’t even make it past the chase and replace stage more than a few times! But hey I can live with that, it’s just socks right? Or so I thought, the socks quickly turned into all clothing and here is how it happened.
When he isn’t wrestling or play fighting with dad, one of his favorite things to do is hang out on the couch and watch movies (mainly Disney) under a blanket. Over time his campaign against clothing progressed and at this point, I’m lucky if I can get him to keep his big boy “under rooos” on! Of course when he decides he doesn’t want to wear them it results in an Olympic style foot race around the house to see if dad can catch him. Now I’m not the runner I once was, but I still got some juice left! Once I have caught him here comes the hard part, corralling those tiny legs. Obviously there is some type of dark “Jedi Force” coupled with a hard core “Spidey sense” propelling his feet at the speed of light every time I get close to them with his undies. If you have kids, I’m sure you can relate to the fact that there is no possible way I have become this slow at the young age of thirty, right? Anyway after the battle is over and I finally get his “undies” back on, I usually have no willpower left to try and go for the entire outfit. We then proceed to the couch or whatever we were doing and he will just be half naked. He has successfully beaten me into submission!
As I record my experiences in this blog, I am beginning to see a pattern develop. Same as last time, I am probably to blame for this phase of my son’s life too! He is simply following what he sees me do, just the same as last time! If you’re a first time father reading this, remember this part! If your son see’s you get out of bed every morning and all you are wearing is under wear (he doesn’t care that I wear clothes at all other times), then he will only consider wearing “undies”! This gentlemen; I can guarantee you! Which brings me to my last point; and this was told to me many times over the years, which of course I just laughed at. “Pick your battles wisely”! I have resigned to the fact that if I can get him to wear anything I am ahead of the game. Let me tell you; nothing is worse than lying on the couch and having a butt naked 2 year old run at you potentially breaking the sound barrier, jump and land on your head with his “man parts”! That’s my rant for today! I hope you have enjoyed a brief look into my sons “I want to be a nudist” phase. For those of you that have kids, have a great day and keep up the good fight against your child’s “I want to be a nudist” phase!
Did your kids have a phase similar to this? Let me know about it!
Good thing Summer is coming!