stuck

A couple weeks ago Noah found a new word. We were playing with play-dough (as we do now four times a day), and he was trying to dump the play-dough out of the play-dough can. He kept shaking it, but nothing would come out, and then he looked at me urgently and said: "Stuck!" He must have heard me say it enough times that he picked it up himself. And he's started applying it to things beyond play-dough. Actually he probably over-applies it, but anyway, it is funny. He says "stuck" when he can't get out of his highchair, when he can't get a toy out of his toybox, when I change his diaper and hold him down so he can't escape,... My favorite time was when he wanted me to come play with him, but was having a hard time convincing me, because I was busy doing something at our desk. He started pushing on my butt and yelled in frustration: "STUCK!"
Which brings me to Noah's other little thing. He wants me to go everywhere with him. During the day when we are home together, all day long, I follow him around like I'm his shadow. To get me to go with him, he always holds out his hand expectantly, and will keep it there as long as he needs to until I get up and take his hand and walk with him wherever it is he wants to go. He says something while his holds out his hand that sounds like it might be "come on Mom" or at least just "Ma ma mom." Half the time he doesn't have anywhere in particular that he wants to go, he will just wander aimlessly from room to room, towing me along. Almost like he is testing me, he will sit down in the middle of the hallway and wait for me to sit down, and as soon as I lower my pregnant body down to the ground, then he is up again, and pulling me on to the next stop. The fact that he wants to go everywhere holding hands with me is so sweet. During my lazy moments when I don't particularly want to wander around the house and would prefer to be stationary on the couch, I remind myself that this is just a little fleeting stage Noah is going through, and I think that when this stage passes, he will probably be Mr. Independence, and someday he will even get to be too cool for mom. That thought leaves me feeling a little pathetic, so I choose to get off the couch, and let him lead me around by the hand wherever he wants to go, happily.