The Twos

I don't like the term terrible twos. I mean, I will be the first to admit that this age comes with some terrible days, but it comes with some super funny and wonderful ones too, so I won't refer to the whole year as terrible. But...this past week Benjamin sure showed off his "two-ness." Mr adventuresome that he is, he decided to pull down the curtains in his bedroom rod and all. I was cleaning in our bedroom and he brought them to me and told me they were an umbrella. He was quite pleased with himself. I'm thankful that I didn't spend a lot of money on the rod that I bought not even a week before he pulled it down. It's rather bent, but I've decided it will work until he's past this stage. Hmmm. Does he get to that point?

Ahh yes, and then there was this past Friday. It began as any other day begins with Benjamin waking up soaked and in great need of a bath. I stripped him down and bathed him before changing the sheets. Then I did my usual slathering of his legs with his lotion. And before I lotioned him up, I took off my wedding ring. I always do this. But I usually put it right back on and for some reason on this particular morning I forgot. It wasn't until about an hour later that I even realized I wasn't wearing it. By that time I had done dishes and fed my sourdough starter, and since I also always take my ring off when I do those things, I figured I left it around the kitchen somewhere. I began to panic when I couldn't find it in the kitchen, and panicked even more when I realized that I must have left it on the floor in Benjamin's room. I rushed upstairs to see if by some miracle he had left it there. Ha! Of course not! So after turning his room upside down in search of my ring, I moved on to the rest of the house and searched everywhere I could think of. I kept asking Benjamin what he did with my ring, all the time feeling bad accusing him of taking it when I wasn't for sure that I had even left it in his room. He thought I was saying rain and kept taking me over to a book we have with an umbrella on the cover. And so my normal day turned into a day of sadness mixed with frustration, mixed with despair over ever finding my ring. By the time Matt got home from work, I was an absolute mess. And yes, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I got that consumed with an object, but I did. After we put Benjamin to bed, Matt and I looked everywhere we could think of and then some. You look in the most ridiculous places when you've lost something precious. By 8:30, I was ready to wait and see if it came through Benjamin's diaper (yes, I know that's gross, but I was thinking that was a better alternative to having flushed it down the toilet), but I was still racking my brain trying to think of what else he could have done with it. And then it hit me that the air conditioning return vent was right outside Benjamin's room and that the holes in it might possibly be big enough for my ring to fit through. Matt and I took the cover off and the first thing we saw was a bobby pin. That gave me hope because I knew Benjamin had to have put it there. Then, off in the corner, there it was! My ring! I was so happy I almost cried!!! And well, I had to laugh when I pictured Benjamin, ring in hand, bending over to look up at the holes of the return vent to see if my ring would fit before dropping it in, safe and sound. Silly Boy! And yes, he will be two tomorrow and it shows! I'm just thankful he made it to the return vent before going three steps further and making it to the bathroom.