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The Angry Man

19 Sep

He sees me across the room and  yells at me, demanding I  come closer.  I ask him to please be patient  – I’m  still getting his  food ready.  This is  in no way good enough for him so he  lets out a  shriek and hits the table  a few times – really showing  he will  not calmly wait  for me.

I’m finally finished with his food and walk over to him.  He  starts to head bob and dance in his  seat and makes a noise  that sounds like a monkey.  I  smile and let him know  yummy sweet potatoes and  bananas are about to be in his belly.  At first I get a few spoonfuls in  easily – then the  adventure  begins.

He  decides it’s going to be a blast to  try and  swat the spoon out of my hand and scream at me with a huge smile on his face.  After  wiping up several  spots of splattered food on the floor, table and wall,  I  decide  this  is not going to cut it.

This is where I get worried I’m doing some kind of serious damage but what choice do I have – the boy’s gotta eat and we’re not getting anywhere with him smacking spoonfuls around the dining room.  I’m forced to hold one of his arms while I move the spoon toward his mouth.  It’s the only way I can feed him!  I’m in no way hurting him or anything – just merely making sure that violent right hook doesn’t make a connection!

My angry man.  He’s so much fun.  For the most part he’s an extremely happy baby.  He’s super quick to giggle (especially when his big sister is around) and is always flashing a smile at the ladies.  I mean even when he’s throwing a fit he seems to be enjoying it on some level. That’s what concerns me.

He’s only almost 9 months and he is so tough and active.  He seems to love smacking me in the face.  When Nia did that I would take her hand and rub the side of my face and say “nice.”  I’ve tried that with the boy – ha.  He tries to grab any of my skin he can and gives me a huge smile while he practically rips off my cheek.

At this age, Nia wasn’t even thinking about moving.  Nate is practically walking and he crawls with such determination and speed.  It’s a riot.  Andrew pointed out that when he wants something on the other side of the room he puts his head down and takes off, making a grunt sound every time his hand hits the floor.

What a character.  Although I’m worried that I’m going to have to say things to him like, “no punching the stuffed/real animal” and “no throwing spaghetti noodles on the wall,” I cannot wait to see how his personality develops. From the tender moments when he puts his head on my shoulder and pats my arm, to the temper moments when he throws the toys I give him to try and calm him down – I know he’s going to be such a sweet and loving – but also angry – man.

So Tough

 

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No Nap Nia

18 Sep

There were a few times today I thought I was going to lose my mind.  Andrew left early this morning on a business trip so that meant it was all me all day with the sweeties.

I’ve done it plenty of times before – it’s not that it’s hard or anything – it’s just that it wears me and my sanity out – especially when our little princess doesn’t take her afternoon nap.  No nap means the princess’ evil twin comes out to whine, talk back, throw fits and rip toys from her baby brother’s fingers.  I asked her several times today where my sweetie was and if I could have her back.  A simple nap would have found that sweetie.

That’s the Nia who says “Oh, Thank You” with such grownup sincerity when I tell her I love her.  The Nia who makes silly faces just to make me laugh.  The Nia who wraps her little arms around my neck and says “I love my momma.”  Who sings to Nate to make him stop crying.  Who recites the words to Willy Wonka (specifically when Violet turns into a blueberry, she loves the line the dad cries out at the end of the scene “I’ve got a blueberry for a daughter!) – sings the “ah, ah, ah” part of the Little Mermaid – loves the song “Close to You” by the Carpenters and makes us sing that to her each night before bed – calls gymnastics “ba-nastics” – calls my mom “honey” instead of grandma – tells everyone “Momma did it” when I cut her bangs way too short – who says “sure” when I ask her to do something.

She’s just such a happy, helpful, loving child for the most part and that’s why it’s really hard to handle anything but our normal Nia.  Don’t get me wrong, even when she’s unbearable because she hasn’t had a nap, she’s still sweet.  When she sees we’re getting mad she says a phrase Andrew and I have both now come to hate –  “I wanna listen.”  I know it seems silly – it’s such an innocent comment – but imagine a fake cry voice saying that over and over and over and over and over again after you’re already upset about something.  It’s kind of extreme but Andrew and I are so sick of hearing it he’s actually tried to tell her that was a bad thing to say and wasn’t nice!!!!  Has it worked? Nope. The whole thing is just so silly.  It kind of goes like this.

Me/Andrew – “Did you just hit/push/steal that toy from your brother?” (This can be replaced with any other action she should be questioned about.)

Nia – “No.”

Us – “Don’t lie Nia – Why did you do that? That wasn’t nice.”

Nia – “I wanna listen.”

Us – “Ok. You need to be nice.  How would you like it if someone treated you that way?”
Her – “No! I wanna listen.”
Us – “Ok. That’s enough Nia.”
Her- “But I wanna listen.”
Us – “Stop saying it Nia!”
Her – “But I wanna listen.”
Us – “Say it again and it’s time out.”
Her – quietly “But I wanna listen.”

AH!  (That’s me now!)  I know this probably sounds awful – but after hearing it so much and sometimes for no reason at all, it just wears on us.  Today I had to go through it all probably five times. I finally got to the point that I was like, “Uh-huh, great, listen.”  And would you believe that actually worked!  She didn’t repeat it!

Despite all of the battles that happened today because she didn’t have a nap, we made it through the day with quite a few fun moments (her thinking our dog Joey would like his food better if it was drowning in his water bowl/us playing games and puzzles while Nate took them apart for us/us cuddling in the rocking chair as we watched Aladdin) and in typical Nia fashion – it all ended preciously.  When I came back from putting Nate to bed I saw her catching flies – fast asleep on the couch hugging her stuffed elephant.  Although at one point today I was wishing for her just to go to sleep, I was sad I didn’t get to tell her I loved her and hear her say it back to me. I guess that’s what parenthood is all about – one minute you’re ready for silence, the next you feel like something is missing – and it is – the sound of sweeties.

Night-night Nia.  I love you so very much.

Zonked on the Couch

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Measuring Fun with the Baby Monitor

14 Sep

When all the red lights on the baby monitor are reaching peak levels, several things could be happening.

One – your baby is screaming his/her head off in the crib – disturbed that people have not immediately stopped what they’re doing to rescue him/her from the prison.

Two – your baby is having a good old time in there talking about the night he/she had to the mobile of stuffed animals/cars or that one spot on the wall you keep meaning to fix.

Three – alien communication is being picked up. (Signs is an awesome movie.)

Four – some sort of mischief is going on between a 3 year old big sister and her 8 month old brother.

Wednesday morning I had the joy of experiencing number four.

In the middle of drying my hair, my 3 year old runs to me with a big smile and a squeal and then darts away.  I figured she went to her room to play before we have to leave.  Then, I see all the lights on the baby monitor light up then quickly go away – light up again – go away – light up again – go away.  I  decide I should listen to what’s happening instead of just watching and guessing so I stop the hair dryer.   I hear loads of little girl laughter and precious baby giggling.  When I go to see what’s causing all of the fun  – I discover that Nia thought Nate’s crib would be a better toy box than his actual toy box.

He was surrounded by blocks, books, cars, stuffed animals, some noise making things – and he was LOVING it.

I really didn’t appreciate the beauty of it all at the time because I was in a hurry to get to work and because each morning I have to pick everything up in case the realtor wants to show the house.  Now though, I see how funny and special the whole thing was.  My two kids were having a blast together.  I need to stop for a minute and realize – even if it means a mess for me, it’s so worth it.  I guess I’m just thinking like a mom on the move – I saw the mess and said, “ok time to stop we need to go.” But Nia knew better.  She replied with a line she usually says when she’s trying to sit on him or something, “but he likes it.”  This time though, she was right.

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