Matthew has taken to whining. It is charming and lovely to suddenly hear his sweet darling little voice pitch into a whiny fervor over the amount of mashed potatoes I gave him or "Matthew go outside for feather" even though we should have left five minutes ago for daycare and holy shit we are going to be late for work! I hardly noticed that he started whining until recently. It dawned on me when I heard Kevin say "you need to stop using that voice because I cannot understand you when you talk like that." I was all in the dark about the whining thing. Like 'OMG my son whines' (scoff...)
As if this was not ever going to happen - just like the nine million other things I always said pre-child that MY child would not do! Ha, we are SO naive before having a baby, aren't we?!
All kids whine really - I mean all kids do things you hope they do not do like throw temper tantrums in public (yeah, because we have had an resurgence in this: Kroger last evening and Wonderlab on Wednesday.) I am laughing as I type this for two reasons. One: The looks people give you when your little darlin' is screaming bloody murder because you would not let him play with the bottles of wine on the bottom shelf of the alcohol isle. Two: Because when we went to Touch a Truck, this little girl was throwing a wicked good temper tantrum which everyone turned to watch. Matthew & I and another mom & her son were sitting under the shade of a tree having a drink and the mom turned to me and said "we all know they have them and know how it feels but aren't you glad that is not us right now?!" I nodded and truly agreed with her at that point.
I have to say that of all the things that could possibly annoy a person - you know, nails on the chalkboard, temper tantrums, a whiny child - miraculously my short tempered, impatient self does not get annoyed with whining. Perhaps I have been listening to myself my whole life so I am just used to it... What ever the case may be, I am oddly and uncharacteristically calm when it comes to the whine that my son emits.
We are not really making a big deal out of the whine. We are just using common sense to deal with it but it is a new "stage"!
On a separate but related note, why is when our children were babies we were all into the stages of development and excitedly wanted to tell everyone about how brillant our babies were but as toddlers, the stages all involve some new and painful lesson in Parenting 101:
How to deal with whining.
How to deal with temper tantrums.
How to get your child to go to the potty.
How to get your child to sleep in a big kid bed.
How to run away screaming because I am having information overload and my child is getting to all the stages I don't want and not getting to the stages I do want!
So I ask you would you like some whinnnnne with that cheese? Bring it on, baby, bring it on!
Showing posts with label potty training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potty training. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
My son is brilliant...
Yes, I said it. I said what we all think! We all want the best for our children and, of course, we all hope that they are born intelligent. It seems to me today that is the main focus of child rearing. How much smarter can I can I "make" this child? Every toy, every activity, every thing we do now a days seems to have some ulterior motive intending to make our children much more intelligent. I feel myself being sucked in at moments - pushing M to learn his letters and numbers, to potty train or get into that big boy bed, trying to ensure he has a full range of experiences from helping mommy bake to children's museums to the library and every event in between... then I am hit by reality.
He is a 2 year old - he will learn his letters & his numbers when he ready, no child ever gets to be over the age of five without becoming potty trained and moving out of a crib and all of the experience M needs is to be around K and I enjoying happy fun filled moments running around picking up dog poopy on a sunny afternoon in our backyard or walking the trail near our home talking about the water rushing past and the birds flying over head... I was reminded over the weekend that M is going to be a intelligent, happy, fun loving, kind person because of these moments. Not because he can recite his ABCs and 123s before other kids.
Sure, I want him to be smart (who doesn't want that for their child?) but I do not want to drive him to be smart. I do not want to rub off on him the drive I always felt to be better then other people - to win the race always or else feel like a failure. The kids who seem to be the most satisfied are those that get support and love and attention - not always those that win every race or have straight A's or have it all.
He is probably not headed for MENSA since he just seems to be getting into potty training and even that comes and goes (he poops in the potty now (!!) with much prompting and he pees as long as he is naked so he is naked often... expect streaking in our house...) He can recite part of his ABCs which is very cute but he does not usually get them all... in the right order... and we probably don't do "enough" art projects and learning activities when we are together - but dang if that boy is not the happiest kid around! And I need only see him smile and hear him laugh - that glimmer of excitement in his eye when he spies something new (or old for that matter!) But most of all I only need to hear him say "I love you mommy" with that sweet sloppy wet kiss and that huge bear hug that he has perfected to know that nothing else matters as long as I am the best most supportive mommy I can be. M is brilliant because he has helped me to see that today.
He is a 2 year old - he will learn his letters & his numbers when he ready, no child ever gets to be over the age of five without becoming potty trained and moving out of a crib and all of the experience M needs is to be around K and I enjoying happy fun filled moments running around picking up dog poopy on a sunny afternoon in our backyard or walking the trail near our home talking about the water rushing past and the birds flying over head... I was reminded over the weekend that M is going to be a intelligent, happy, fun loving, kind person because of these moments. Not because he can recite his ABCs and 123s before other kids.
Sure, I want him to be smart (who doesn't want that for their child?) but I do not want to drive him to be smart. I do not want to rub off on him the drive I always felt to be better then other people - to win the race always or else feel like a failure. The kids who seem to be the most satisfied are those that get support and love and attention - not always those that win every race or have straight A's or have it all.
He is probably not headed for MENSA since he just seems to be getting into potty training and even that comes and goes (he poops in the potty now (!!) with much prompting and he pees as long as he is naked so he is naked often... expect streaking in our house...) He can recite part of his ABCs which is very cute but he does not usually get them all... in the right order... and we probably don't do "enough" art projects and learning activities when we are together - but dang if that boy is not the happiest kid around! And I need only see him smile and hear him laugh - that glimmer of excitement in his eye when he spies something new (or old for that matter!) But most of all I only need to hear him say "I love you mommy" with that sweet sloppy wet kiss and that huge bear hug that he has perfected to know that nothing else matters as long as I am the best most supportive mommy I can be. M is brilliant because he has helped me to see that today.
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