Logan is asleep now and I am grateful. I was ready for a break! Carly was too and is at the salon getting a cut and color; I'm glad she's getting some time to herself. She needs it. Only a little over two weeks of school left! We are ready.
I put Logan down early for his own safety. Seriously, he must have fallen down hard at least 20 times today. He was all over everywhere. I'd say he walks places now over 50 percent of the time and so he falls more.
He loves outside and we went swimming in his little froggy pool today which was fun. In the afternoon he was Mr. Crabby and, yes, Mr. Fally Down. He bit his tongue or lip during one episode and drooled blood all over the bed sheets. Let's see, what else was trying today? He had four dirty diapers, count 'em: four. Why is he pooping that much? His diaper rash is still hangin' on despite our best efforts to eradicate it. What else? We did not have a cooperative dinner experience. Logan was being bratty and pitching a fit. That seems to be the way he is now. Carly and I are a bit worried that we are going to have a bratty child. If you take something away from him, or do something he doesn't want to do, Logan whines/cries and goes into a full body convulsion and or limp goosey. I understand he can't yet communicate and gets frustrated sometimes because he wants to do something and can't (or we won't let him), but it seems like he does his tantrum routine all the time. All the time! We are at a loss for how to change this behavior or stop it from happening. Hopefully it's just a phase and when he gets words he won't be so bratty, although I'm not so sure.
The answers to my questions ended up in my email inbox.
Daddy is Home...well, sorta.
3 comments:
This is normal, and it does NOT mean you have a bratty kid, I promise. At this point he will go through these phases every few months. It really amps up at 2 (which is where my youngest is at now) OH, The screaming, fighting - they'll even hit you & bite you. I think they have little hormone bursts as they reach different growth milestones.
The way I deal with it at one year old is with a sharp tone (if they're bad) & just force them to either submit to my will (when I'm trying to get a rigid toddler into a carseat) or simply ignore it (when they're throwing themselves around on the carpet in frustration) or sometimes, depending on the situation, I hold them until they calm down.
At two, we introduce THE CORNER.... you go there when you do something bad. A tantrum is dealt with by ignoring or intervening, depending on if they can hurt themselves or some other bystander.
There are points in time where you can't take them ANYWHERE without a scene, so you stop for awhile & within a few months all is well again.
I personally feel like if you jump through too many hoops, like taking a battalion of toys and activities everywhere you go and giving them prizes for not being bad, and planning your every move around their possible meltdowns - that kid will have you by the short hairs forever. I'm not saying don't be creative to avoid craziness, but don't orbit around your kid, teach him to assimilate to your life so that you & Carly aren't burned out.
Thanks for the advice, Liz. I've been feeling like I'm a horrible mom lately, afraid that Logan is turning into one of "those kids." I'm glad to hear his little tantrums aren't necessarily due to my parenting skills.
Carly - that's the problem nowadays. We all feel like awful parents. We're not (fill in the blank: nurturing enough, paying enough attention, not punishing enough, punishing too much, letting them watch too much TV, feeding them non-organic snacks once in awhile... etc.)
But the truth is that you & Eric are GREAT parents. (as if I know either of you - Ha ha! - but I read the blog) And always remember that sometimes your kid is going to be a pain & it's not your fault.
Also know that all of us moms (& many dads too) beat ourselves up all day long about what we're doing wrong.So try to remember what you're doing right. The rest is up to Logan.
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