Run, Run, Run and Jump!

As the mother of a child that will sooner throw himself on his stomach in the middle of a busy street than give me a hug when asked, I've had to figure out some creative ways to get my way without sparking the rebel inside him (I don't know where he gets THAT from). While Christmas shopping, we went to Burlington Coat Factory to see what we could find. It was rather cold outside and after not figuring where I wanted to go for a while, I stopped mostly for the reason that I needed to go to the bathroom really bad. When Hunter hears a sense of urgency in my voice, it appears to be his cue to make my life as hard as possible. So I learned how to make a game of it. He has never been much of a hand holder but I can get him to when it's time to run. We run, run, run and jump! I'll swing him as high as my little body and short arms will allow.

We get to the store and inside and he immediately wanders off in his own direction. At this point, I'm about to embarrass myself if I can't get to a bathroom. So I take off in jest that I want to be chased. Oh my goodness, it actually worked and he got a big grin on his face and started after me. We must have looked like weirdos playing in the store but I got to where I needed to be without having to lug the large child in my arms. Let me just mention that I hate BCF now. Every store has a system for getting into the bathrooms and it requires pushing a button and someone allowing you in. Where was the sign posted that read that? On a 5x7 post card in tiny writing. We must have waited 3-4 minutes (an eternity when nature calls) before I remembered the drill and even then I didn't see the card until my way out.

Ever since then, we've made a good game of "run, run, run, jump" as Super calls it. Any kind of slope or hill makes him run down at full speed so he can have a big jump at the end. Speaking of slopes, physics hasn't become known to my son yet. Right after we moved into our new place, we were taking a walk and Hunter took off towards the street. I was hot on his heels until he reached the top of the slope before it went down to the actual pavement and he leaped onto his tush. He thought he could slide down it like something at the park. Poor kid.

He likes to get other people into the game as well. There was a man across the street doing some work on a roof, my little man practically egged him on to commit suicide. All he would say is "wun, wun, jump!" "JUMP!"