I'm Ignoring You
This week I made a phone call I wouldn't have imagined I'd ever have to make. I found myself calling Doodles's pediatrician to whine, "They've secretly replaced my darling angel with this little monster!" I thought they only ever made the switch for Folgers Crystals.
Seriously, we're still a month and a half shy of his second birthday, and the terrible twos have started. The random temper tantrums, the willful disobedience, the absolute making of no sense.
One of his favorite things to do is to look at me, make sure I'm paying attention, then slowly stick his finger out, nearing the stereo--which is definitely a "no touch"--keeping his finger just an inch away.It's kind of like when a kid puts his finger right up next to his sibling, without making contact, and taunts, "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" Doodles hovers there for a few minutes, and then he finally turns to me, gives me an ear-to-ear grin, and--wham!--the finger goes into the stereo. Or, he'll quickly start turning knobs on the stereo before I can stop him, and inevitably he'll turn the volume all the way up, scare himself, and turn to me for comfort. Um, hello? You weren't supposed to be at the stereo in the first place. And yet, he always gets his cuddle.
And then there are the demands that make no sense. Today he stood at the kitchen gate and demanded, "Water!" "Do you want a sippy?" I asked, handing him his cup. "NO!" "Did you want water in a big boy cup?" I asked. "Yeah," he said. I pulled out a plastic cup and filled it up with water. Out shot the hand, "NO!" narrowly missing knocking it from my hand. My mommy reflexes are improving. "Did you want to play with water?" I asked, knowing that one of his favorite activities is taking water from one pot and using measuring cups to scoop the water into another pot. "NO!" "Doodles, what would you like?" "WATER!!!"
I picked up a book an acquaintance recommended called The Mighty Toddler: The Essential Guide to the Toddler Years and it recommends to "pretend to ignore," which is an idea I like. Basically, Doodles is doing a lot of the negative behavior for the attention, so if I remove the attention, then hopefully the behavior will remove itself. We'll see what if it actually works.
Of course, there are positives. He's been incredibly imaginative in his play lately, playing "'tar" (guitar) on pots, pans, drink coasters, chips, and anything else he can pretend to strum. He gets "owies," but kisses from Mommy make them "all better!" He can sing the ABCs from start to finish and about 95 percent of it is understandable. He gives the best "smooches." He says, "Bless you," when you sneeze and when he walks into a room, he asks, "Hi! How are you?" Instead of screaming when he goes down for his nap, I simply say to him, "Doodles, what time is it?" He says, "Nap time," and lets me put him down in his crib. When his nap is done, I hear a little voice calling, "Up, Mommmy! Up, Mommy! Mommy, please, up!"
And I have to keep reminding myself of these cute things as he screeches, "No no no no no no!" over absolutely nothing, walking toward me, hand flapping as he tries to smack me. And I just keep repeating to myself, "I can't hear him! I can't hear him!"
Seriously, we're still a month and a half shy of his second birthday, and the terrible twos have started. The random temper tantrums, the willful disobedience, the absolute making of no sense.
One of his favorite things to do is to look at me, make sure I'm paying attention, then slowly stick his finger out, nearing the stereo--which is definitely a "no touch"--keeping his finger just an inch away.It's kind of like when a kid puts his finger right up next to his sibling, without making contact, and taunts, "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" Doodles hovers there for a few minutes, and then he finally turns to me, gives me an ear-to-ear grin, and--wham!--the finger goes into the stereo. Or, he'll quickly start turning knobs on the stereo before I can stop him, and inevitably he'll turn the volume all the way up, scare himself, and turn to me for comfort. Um, hello? You weren't supposed to be at the stereo in the first place. And yet, he always gets his cuddle.
And then there are the demands that make no sense. Today he stood at the kitchen gate and demanded, "Water!" "Do you want a sippy?" I asked, handing him his cup. "NO!" "Did you want water in a big boy cup?" I asked. "Yeah," he said. I pulled out a plastic cup and filled it up with water. Out shot the hand, "NO!" narrowly missing knocking it from my hand. My mommy reflexes are improving. "Did you want to play with water?" I asked, knowing that one of his favorite activities is taking water from one pot and using measuring cups to scoop the water into another pot. "NO!" "Doodles, what would you like?" "WATER!!!"
I picked up a book an acquaintance recommended called The Mighty Toddler: The Essential Guide to the Toddler Years and it recommends to "pretend to ignore," which is an idea I like. Basically, Doodles is doing a lot of the negative behavior for the attention, so if I remove the attention, then hopefully the behavior will remove itself. We'll see what if it actually works.
Of course, there are positives. He's been incredibly imaginative in his play lately, playing "'tar" (guitar) on pots, pans, drink coasters, chips, and anything else he can pretend to strum. He gets "owies," but kisses from Mommy make them "all better!" He can sing the ABCs from start to finish and about 95 percent of it is understandable. He gives the best "smooches." He says, "Bless you," when you sneeze and when he walks into a room, he asks, "Hi! How are you?" Instead of screaming when he goes down for his nap, I simply say to him, "Doodles, what time is it?" He says, "Nap time," and lets me put him down in his crib. When his nap is done, I hear a little voice calling, "Up, Mommmy! Up, Mommy! Mommy, please, up!"
And I have to keep reminding myself of these cute things as he screeches, "No no no no no no!" over absolutely nothing, walking toward me, hand flapping as he tries to smack me. And I just keep repeating to myself, "I can't hear him! I can't hear him!"
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