things my child does that drive me a little nuts.

It's been REALLY hard, but I've gotten infinitely better at stepping back and not trying to control my kid. This is huge for me - I've always been a total control freak and have always been really preoccupied with what other people think of me... and him. It's rough letting go, but it's also been very rewarding. He's a lot more mellow now. I'm starting to get more mellow, slowly but surely. But some stuff gets under my skin and BUGS THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF ME.

Breathe... calm... focus... close your eyes...

Ok. better.

Sometimes he raids the recycling for all of the paper and cardboard pieces and makes robots and collages and mouse-trap type contraptions with them. I love that he's being creative, but I hate having recycling strewn across the house. It's tacky. I hate being tacky. I don't want him to be tacky.

He uses SO MUCH tape when making projects. I've tried to get him to switch to glue sticks, but there's some creations that just need tape to hold them together. Staples won't work, glue has to dry... tape is just the best option. I buy some every time I do big walmart/target/costco trips. If we run out of it - beware.

He loves reading books before bed. This is great. I fully support it, but books end up falling off the edge of the bed and onto the floor. Then when he gets out of bed the next morning, they get stepped on. Pages get crumpled, covers get bent, edges get all mushed and messed up. I'm just waiting for a favorite book to get completely ruined. Maybe then he'll start to understand the importance of caring for your things. Then as I'm shaking my head in disgust... I think back on my own childhood, my messy pit of a room in high school, my constant losing of things, ruining of things... This is a lesson I didn't learn until I was an adult and living out on my own. It may very well be the same for him and I need to do what I can and then step back and accept whatever happens. Gah. This is hard.

And lastly, why does brushing his teeth result in a flooded bathroom each and every night? Mouthwash on the counter, toothpaste on the mirror, water everywhere. I've watched him, he doesn't do it on purpose. He doesn't purposefully smear things everywhere or dribble water on the floor or spill his sloshing cup - it just happens. He's a little clumsy, a little distracted, and a LOT careless. I'm sure I was MUCH worse, but it's still one of my pet peeves. I almost wonder if that's why it's one of my pet peeves.

Moral of the story: Overall, I'm trying to stay out of his way, be there when he needs me/requests it... and just calm down about everything. Life is life. It happens. You can't control it. When you try, you just make yourself crazy (or crazier, as it were).