Tag Archives: bear

The Love-Hate Relationship: A Toddler’s View

11/11/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Hi there! It’s me, Avery, I’m taking over Daddy’s blog for a quick explanation about love-hate relationships. Don’t worry, he won’t mind, I practically have him wrapped around my finger…..or at least on my shirt. See?

I’ve had a certain stuffed bear around me my entire life, and no matter how many times we fight, we always seem to make up. Well, now there’s a new animal in the house, Lamby, and he’s become my new favorite stuffed buddy. Even though Bear can make me feel like dancing at times…..

…..he usually just bums me out.

Finally, I decided I must tell him about Lamby and how he is no longer my best stuffed bud. I kept pushing it off, but finally, during breakfast, there was an awkward silence.

I looked over to initiate the conversation with my old plush pal.

He seemed to sense my uneasiness and simply refused to respond or even look at me. Eeek, that awkward feeling got even awkward….er?

Knowing that I must get closure, I was the ~~bigger~~ only person and walked over to him so we could talk, pretty blue eye-to-beady glass black eye.

Then, all of the fights we had, the times he kept getting in my way when sleeping, and how Mommy and Daddy obviously didn’t like him since they just tossed him at me built up inside. I couldn’t help what happened next, my toddler rage took over and wrung his neck!

Just leave me alone, Lamby and I are happy without you!!

I didn’t know I had so much anger inside of me, but I immediately felt bad. I think I even heard poor Bear sniffle a little. Or maybe he has a hidden squeaker…oooo, that would be cool. No, getting sidetracked here, I simply felt the guilt sink in and only grow stronger. We both needed a big bear hug!

I’m so sorry, Bear, I promise, we can still be friends.

And now it’s right back where we started. I still love Lamby more, but Bear thinks we’re all good again. This love-hate relationship stuff is hard, and is truly exhausting….ugh.

Well, whatever the case, I don’t like these confusing relationships one bit. I know I love Mommy and I love Daddy, and apparently I love to hate Bear. For now he can stick around, but if ever goes near Lamby, well, here’s how I feel about that, and no, I’m not pointing at the red “R”.

Life, Parenting

The Best Little Boo-Boo Kisser

11/09/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

It started about a month ago, Tuesday, October 13th, to be exact. The day I acquired my boo-boo while rescuing my daughter from the scariest of slides 50 stories high!

Just look at that thing, it’s treacherous! Poor girl could be scarred for life having to endure something so horrendous.

Okay, it’s just a small playground in our neighborhood with this slide that hardly lets you slide, more like slowly screech your way down the green plastic as it grasps on to your skin. But that wasn’t Avery’s issue, she just simply did not like being up there without Mommy or Daddy up there too. As referenced by the frowny face….

As I climbed up to join her so we could slide down together, my foot slipped on a step which resulted in a bloody right shin. I’ll spare you the pictures, but geez, that thing hurt for days! And what’s with shins taking so long to heal anyway?

Fast forward to this past week and weekend, and Avery has started to take a notice in all things boo-boo related, included the scab on my shin. I told her how it’s my boo-boo since she would watch me clean it every day, so, naturally, she picked up on saying it.

At almost two years old, she’s been picking up on a lot lately, and even forming sentences! Not only that, but she’s starting to understand things better. I explained the concept of kissing boo-boos which she didn’t exactly get at first, but now she’s really caught on.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

Seeing her sweet self want to help make my boo-boo better (whether she really gets it or not), simply warms my from the inside out. As gushy as it sounds, it’s the truth. Parents, you know what I’m talking about.

Avery as even enlisted Lamby, her current favorite stuffed animal to help kiss my boo-boo multiple times throughout the day and right after reading at night, before Going Mom sings to her. As an aside, Lamby just recently took the lead as a favorite, giving her good friend bear the shaft. I’m not so sure about this Lamby though, she seems a little rebellious and I fear she could cause trouble when Avery is trying to sleep.

But I must say, between Avery and Lamby, my scab is gone and the shin is almost fully recovered. The constant kissing of my boo-boo gets slightly awkward at times, but only when she leans in really slow and all I can do is stand there, as if I’m expecting of a kiss on my shin. I can’t turn her away though, she’s downright insistent on offering her healing powers.

This weekend, I counted over 10 boo-boo kisses as I went about getting dinner ready and on the table one night. How I managed not to step on her as she leaned her face into my leg each time, I’m clueless, but it was sweet and my wife and I both love how much fun she is giving us.

While going about prepping food for the day and weekend ahead on Sunday, I opted to skip my usual podcast listening to enjoy hearing Kelley and Avery spending time together in the other room. Just from the joy in both of their voices while playing and reading books, I couldn’t stop myself from grinning from ear to ear. Until I cut myself for not paying attention when chopping veggies. Good thing we have our own little boo-boo kisser and Lamby side-kick to make it all better!

Do you have your own little boo-boo kisser?

If so, do they have a stuffed side-kick to help out?

Monthly List, Parenting, Photo Journal

23 Month Photo Session: Spooky Fast Halloween Edition

10/28/2015 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

Something spooky is going on here. Since it is October, I blame the spooky spirit of Halloween for our lack of punctuality on the picture post for her 23rd month since birth.

Just like the Monthly Memories posts, these Monthly Photo Session posts have become a tradition. This is the latest I’ve been on a post since the 15th of each month is the true change of age (in months), and for that, I’m making it a quick one.

Okay, Avery is the real reason this is a quickie post since, in typical toddler fashion, she would not sit still or look at the camera for a second! Geez, you’d think she has someone constantly putting a camera in her face and telling her to smile or say something. Oh, wait, she does. Oops.

The pics were taken late afternoon, right after we returned from Going Mom’s work that held a fun family Halloween trick-or-treating event. Avery dressed in the same pumpkin costume as last year since we know she’ll actually have a say by next Halloween. Of course, we didn’t go around collecting candy since we keep that out of the house, but she had fun naming the colors of wrappers to which she considered toys.

Overall, we had a good time going around seeing everyone Mommy works with and some I used to work with before becoming a stay-at-home dad. I’ll add the details to my “things I have to blog about” list for the near future, but for now, lets keep the tradition alive and look at the few pictures that made the final cut.

When this is how things start, we basically expect them to end rather soon.

Yep, to the floor went her bear. By now, he’s plenty used to it.

I tried to bring him back with her “Lamby” as a reinforcement. We got a cute smile, but both animals got the shaft.

This look of innocence only means major guilt!

Oh, hey, my wife was smart and gave her a book! Duh, that actually got her to sit still.

Too bad 24 months is when we plan on stopping the monthly pic tradition, a book would replace her bear for sure!

Maybe not. She lost interest and found something more exciting, her blue (a favorite color right now) cloth diaper. Apparently she needed a second diaper to go on over her pants.

Look at that long, wavy hair back there! And the face bursting with cuteness; you just can’t stay upset with this girl for more than a minute. Okay, maybe two minutes, depending on the severity.

And, since October 27th was Black Cat Day (who comes up with this stuff?!), my wife took a great shot of the black cat I don’t care much for.

He’s an indoor cat, but I think he needs to be made into an outside mouse catcher to earn his keep. Trust me, Kelley has heard enough of my thoughts, and although it’s a losing battle, I still fight it.

Hopefully the final Monthly Photo Session, her 24th month (aka 2nd birthday) will turn out with a few more good pics, but only time will tell. Which, thanks to this post being overdue, isn’t that far away now. Yikes, we almost have a 2 year old on our hands!

Do you have traditional memory-type things you do with your kids?

Do you have a black cat or even know that it was Black Cat Day?