You know when you have a baby, your first baby, and it's all so exhausting and overwhelming? I for one think it gets harder as they get older. When they're small their needs are so simple for the most part but as they grow and develop strong personal preferences and personalities it becomes more & more of a challenge to know exactly how to handle every eventuality.
Harry is definitely into the Terrible Two's now. If he doesn't want to do something he's not backward in letting you know it. If you're trying to convince him to walk in a certain direction you get screaming tantrums, refusal to cooperate, sitting wherever he lands. If you take him in a shop and mistakenly not have him in a stroller he loves to show his disapproval by immediately removing the nearest shelf of everything it contains. We're also having some trouble at bed time currently. It started with the teething - the molars. They were hurting him and when he went to bed he would gnaw on his fingers and make them hurt more. We ended up bringing him out of his room for a cuddle and of course the inevitable has happened, he's now realised that he can protest about going to bed. Every night this week we've had screaming fits for at least an hour while he goes mental at the sheer audacity at the fact he's been put in there against his will.
Dylan meanwhile is into arguing. With *absolutely everything* that I say. From the simplest of things to the biggest debates, nothing I say is right and must be disagreed with. Sometimes quite clearly just for the sake of it! And on top of that nothing may be answered in any tone but a sullen or snappy one. I do lean towards the reasoning with him tactics but they take an awful lot of patience and it's extremely easy to find yourself angry and losing your temper if you're not careful. Similarly in the event that someon does lose their temper with him (usually after he's been asked to do something / not to do something 15 times and ignored us every one) he looks so hurt and distraught and as though he is unloved that it breaks your heart to see. Any advice from parents in similar situations would be greatly appreciated. How to deal with a 7 going on sulky teenage boy!??
In other less interesting news, Harry is now in a Stokke Kinderzeat at the dining table instead of the large cumbersome (golden) high chair that preceeded it. He likes it so much that he can sit at the table with the rest of the family, and the dining room has alot more space than it used to!
Dylan meanwhile has had glowing reports back from school after his handwriting and concentration levels have improved dramatically since we have been working on them at home and he seemed to make a concious decision to actually try!
G continues to be busy at work (grrr) and I am dropping subtle-as-a-brick hints that for Mothers Day I want to be 'surprised' with some vacation tickets for a much needed relaxing beach holiday!
Me - I'm muddling along. Medication wise I'm feeling OK and I've noticed some improvement in my general sense of wellbeing, in that I feel more 'alive' than I did. On the other hand my shin splints are killing me so I am definitely going to have to lay off the jogging for a while in favour of the elliptical trainer (ugh).
Posted by katie at May 3, 2006 05:16 PM