My mom says between 1-3 is the hardest age (teenage years aside). You can't really reason with them. They don't understand consequences all that well. And you can't really bribe them either (there's no "take two more bites and you can have dessert").
I don't know what Henry's deal is right now. He swings between being super happy and throwing feet-stomping tantrums. It's awesome.
My mom keeps mentioning that perhaps this is just his personality (and it drives me nuts when she says this), but I refuse to accept that. He eats whatever I put in front of him one week and then won't eat hardly anything the next. He is super sweet and kind and then the next week his keeps biting me.
Yesterday at daycare, he was upset when I put him down so I knelt down and was giving him hugs. He then proceeded to walk 5 feet away from me to push another baby. Grumps galore.
{This is what it looks like close to nap time}
Dinner time is especially challenging for me. I waffle between wanting to get him to eat anything and feeling like I am negotiation with the enemy. If I give in and make him something different until he'll eat, am I teaching him that he will always get his way? Or is he too young for that? I don't know.
Is it teeth? Is he growing? Does he have a cold? All of the above?
His hands are constantly in his mouth. He has a rash on his cheeks. 18 months clothing doesn't fit anymore. And his nose is a faucet.
So it is probably all three.
But I want my happy, sweet boy back. Maybe after cold and flu season is over, I guess.
Until then, we will trying our best to not pull our hair out (especially at dinner time).
We don't have kids yet so I can't really sympathize but stay strong! :-)
ReplyDeleteoh gosh I hear ya. And absolutely they know when they are manipulating you! We have that same, he eats everything in site one week to nothing the next week. I figure it like this, they won't let themselves starve. Eventually they will eat. So I try to stand strong and say, this is what you're getting don't eat it if you don't want...but it's so hard to not just whip something else up...it's so hard to know what to do at that moment, right? Good luck, hope you get your sweet boy back! I'm going to go with teething, that is ALWAYS my excuse...
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I raised four. Never found out what makes them tick. Your pediatrician should be able to give you insight.
ReplyDeleteI have a 14 month old and this is my first adventure into motherhood and I agree toddlers are hard! They're like little bipolar people running around.....I had a friend tell me this age was hard mostly because they can't fully speak their emotions and communicate and get frustrated. My little guy was the most laid back baby ever, people always commented on how flexible, quite, and happy he was all the time AND now it's like a whole new child!! I just drink lots of wine at night....LOL
ReplyDeletePoor guy!! This too shall pass!!! Remind yourself!! Good luck Mama!!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that's my story right now.. just replace all those "he's" with a "She" and you've got my daughter summed up right now! You're not alone Mama!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is 18 months right now… same deal. She understands so much though, I just have to hold her to what I expect! :)
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