Choosing my Battles

I think toddlerhood ushers in a lot of new parental lessons. Not the least of which is the importance of choosing my battles. As with most things, I'm sure I'll get better at that in time. Here's a lesson from my latest attempt.

I am working all week this week. Every time I write that I feel like a big wus to those parents who work full-time all the time. Anyway, I took yesterday afternoon off to I could have some time with LO and get his food made for the second half of the week. I promised myself I would stop in the kitchen as soon as he woke from his nap. Well, I had to clean up a few things first, then I stopped. While I was cleaning, LO took up his post in the favorite spot in the kitchen...the refrigerator. He managed to get to it before I could get the door closed, so I let him hang out there a little bit. He enjoys playing with the bottles in the door. Eventually he commandeered the redi-whip can and the door closed behind him. "Great," I thought. I didn't make an issue out of him playing in the fridge and he didn't end up there for long. He was really enjoying putting the lid on the redi-whip can, but wasn't putting anything in his mouth and wasn't discharging the canister, so I thought we were doing ok. I let him play beside me in the floor while I finished clean up. About five minutes later he had (silently, I might add) redi-whip all over his leg, on the hardwoods and was distressed at the mess, so he was flinging it from his hand and trying to crawl away. It really wasn't a huge mess, but it could have been. It was kind of funny to see how upset he was at having it on him. He usually doesn't mind being messy during meals. Anyway, I guess I have plenty to learn about which battles are worth fighting.