Oh - my kid is still in there somewhere. I see flashes of him - the chill, smiling, giggling, always angelic baby who will happily sit by himself with a cup and a wooden spoon or any other noise-making instrument and play without complaint.
But I am starting to get glimpses of a much more willful Scott - and they are coming with far greater frequency than I would like.
First problem: Scott is in a major mommy phase. He wants to be touching me, climbing on me or in my arms constantly. It's flattering, but exhausting. It's also extremely hurtful to Jim. If Scott doesn't get what he wants (me), he throws himself into an utter, screaming baby meltdown temper tantrum.
Second problem: We are whiny. All of us. Jim and I are whining (me, publicly, here in this blog) because Scott is whiny. He is suddenly very emotional. He cries when we leave the room, even if its just to go to the bathroom for like half a minute. Doesn't matter if he was belly-laughing 20 seconds earlier. If we plunk him down in his pak n play, or his crib, or his high chair, and he can't see us, he FREAKS OUT. Sometimes he even laughs and cries at the same time.
Third problem: My kid is freakishly strong. And he is exerting his newly discovered strength and independence to the point where it feels like I am engaged in a daily, ongoing wrestling match.
Diaper changing has suddenly turned into an utter nightmare. He squirms, he twists, he flips over on to his stomach, climbs onto his knees. I am afraid if I am going to hurt him if I pin him down, but he fights me so much that I have no other choice.
This latest hand-to-hand combat/back-flipping/I-am-the-strongest-baby-on-earth-and-will-prove-it-to-you-tendency has made everything more difficult. Scott won't sit still for a bedtime story. He swats and pushes our hands away when we try to brush his teeth, he writhes on the floor when we try to put sunscreen or swim trunks on him. And forget going near him with a spoon full of baby food when he's tired. I've been cleaning sweet potatoes off the floor, the mini-blinds and the wine cabinet behind him for days now.
Seriously, who is this kid, and where is my easy-going Tank?
On some level, I get it: who wants to lie on their back -- even just for a short time -- when they can crawl and stand and cruise the furniture??
And I know it's got to be extremely irritating not to be able to talk and convey your frustration about naptime, mommy's poor choice of bed-time story or the fact neither of your parents is nice enough to let you play with that little spoon while they shovel nasty-tasting purees into your mouth.
If I couldn't talk, I'd go stark, raving mad. And this is my child after all. So I feel for him.
But I feel for me and my husband more.
One of my friends just told me to brace myself. "Welcome to toddlerhood," were her sage words of wisdom.
Gulp. Toddlerhood? Scott's not yet 11-months-old. Shouldn't I get a six-month ramp-up period before I have to deal with a toddler? I was kind of just thinking I had this whole baby thing figured out.
Damn.
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| Don't be fooled by that angelic face. He's smirking on the inside and plotting against you. Really. |
I am tempted to copy and paste this into my blog and click "publish." We are dealing with EXACTLY the same thing. I'm rather relieved that this might be a normal phase.
ReplyDeleteWow. I feel SOOO much better hearing you say that! So maybe my kid isn't weird after all. Today, I put Scott down, next to me, on the floor in the kitchen so I could chop tomatoes for dinner. He bawled. Like hysterically. He was right there...at my feet, literally inches away. But that wasn't good enough. He wanted to be picked up. Kept standing and grabbing a hold of my leg. I finally had to get down on the floor with him, play for a minute or so with a wooden spoon before he finally calmed down and occupied himself while I prepped dinner. Oy vey. I seriously can't hold you ALL. THE. TIME. child.
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