No Lions, No Tigers, but BEARS-Oh My!

Yesterday we enjoyed spending our Saturday at Yellowstone BEAR WORLD!

We drove through the park and saw animals, fed the fish and ducks, went to the petting zoo, explored the gift shop and rode some rides! I should say that most of these things were ATTEMPTED. Of course, the gift shop truly was "explored" in Creighton-fashion and all things were touched at least twice and put back in what Creighton believed to be a better location. Creighton couldn't see the animals well and was more interested in eating his candy than looking at bears. He didn't want to feed fish or ducks, there was so much room to run!! He certainly didn't want to pet any animals like: a pot belly pig, goat, chickens, peacock, or deer. Again, so much room to explore and run!! He did however, LOVE the rides! 

We didn't know what to expect as we headed up to Bear World and were surprised to find little-kid amusement rides! Creighton loved the "choo-choo" and liked to sit up front and ring the bell. There was a mini-roller coaster he got to ride with his daddy, that was fun.

Creighton got to drive a bouncy car, I think that one was his favorite, but it was a little too bouncy for his daddy. And the biggest surprise of all, he liked the ride that took him WAY up in the air! He was laughing and giggling the whole time.

He was so sad when each ride was over and had a hard time understanding he needed to get off. But most of the rides he got to do a few times. We are going to Lagoon with Cason's family later this summer and I am glad to know Creighton will have a BLAST!

Cason's parents just live a few minutes from Bear World so they met us there for some bear fun!

 The baby bears were so cute, I wanted to take one home with me!!

This is Creighton's "growliest" bear face he could muster! Oooh-scary!!

Speaking of bears... remember Mr. Bear, Creighton's favorite stuffed animal? He appears in a lot of pictures I take of Creighton because he likes to tote him around the house; usually swinging him by his hat. Creighton calls Mr. Bear "baby" and likes to wrap him up in a blanket and insists I rock him to sleep while he shows him pictures in a book. Mr. Bear is always sleeping and asks us to "Ssshhh..."

It's nice to see him sometimes being so soft and gentle. Because there are many times I would not consider him soft and gentle. But... he is a little boy after all.

Being his mom is wonderful and I wouldn't change it for anything! But it sure is a demanding full-time job with lots of overtime. It requires so many skills that I don't have and am slowly trying to learn.

Lately, Creighton has been throwing A LOT of tantrums. I guess this is what people refer to as the "Terrible Twos".  Me: "Creighton, please put that back." Him: "NO!!!" Then he throws himself onto the floor, flails around like a fish out of water and screams and cries. He also throws things. A lot. I am hoping that this passes soon.

It is especially frustrating on Sunday. When he decides it is time to go, it is TIME TO GO and he will do everything in his power so that I know. On Sundays we sit by ourselves since Cason sits on the stand. When stake conference comes around I am happy to have Cason sit with us and I let him deal with him. But a few weeks ago Cason wasn't able to go, so I was not looking forward to wrestling with Creighton during a 2 hour stake conference. I even let Creighton bring Mr. Bear, hoping that would keep him happy. No such luck.

These tantrums and naughty behavior sometimes make me into a frustrated and impatient mommy. I often feel like our day is full of him not listening or obeying, him getting mad at me, him crying... But at the end of the day when I reflect I realize it wasn't even 10% of our day. So during those "hard" times I remind myself it is just a small moment in time. Because always a few minutes later he is running to me, "Hugs?" And gives me a big squeeze and then says, "Kiss?" and gives me a big smooch! Or he wants me to read him a book, or he wants to do a puzzle, or he wants to go outside and play...

I seem to take his behavior so personally. But I am learning, it really doesn't have anything to do with me, it is just him and his age and him learning to listen and obey and understand why I say "no" or "not yet". I am learning how to deal with his unwelcome behavior as I continue to pray for guidance to be a better mommy.

A few nights ago he decided to play "dress-up" and grabbed a vest and his hat from his closet to add to his pajama top. He must of thought it made good "working" attire. That night I brought into the living room some very large boxes and he crawled in and out of them with his tools and tool box "fixing" things. He likes to walk around the house with a tool, hammer or saw usually, and say, "fixing...fixing...fixing..."

He also likes to be "making" and loves to play in the kitchen and make soup! Most food Creighton makes is soup. He also loves to help mommy make real food. His favorite food to make is pancakes!

Creighton loves pancakes. A few weeks back there was a day where I couldn't get him to eat ANYTHING and when it was bedtime he was really fussy and wouldn't sleep. Clearly, because he was hungry. So I gave in, took him to the kitchen, and let him pick out whatever he wanted to eat. He grabbed the syrup from the fridge. Errr... I knew it. But I filled the pancakes with some leftover scrambled egg and sausage mixture for some protein. And he loved it :) Cason was like, "You really did that?" Hey-desperate times call for desperate measures. Moms with picky eaters or non-eaters totally understand.

Creighton has also FINALLY started saying Mommy. Cason must have been working with Creighton to say it for an early Mother's Day gift! Now Creighton likes to walk around the house pointing at everything that is mine and say, "Mommy's!" Creighton loves to talk about families and in all books he points out the mommy and daddy. (Pretty much any woman is a mom and any man is a dad) He has a Book of Mormon ABC Book and everytime we get to N is for Nephi he screams, "DADDY!"

Creighton and his dad made sure I had a wonderful Mother's Day with gifts, a good dinner, and plenty of love! I am so happy to be a mom!