Tyler is hitting the terrible two and a halves, I guess, with almost everything that you could think of going wrong happening all at once. My baby, who proudly ate every food at his catered one-year-old birthday party, including swedish meatballs and chicken parmigiana, has suddenly turned into an I Want Macaroni and Cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner kid. Oh, did I say breakfast? My mistake, I can’t seem to get him to eat breakfast at all any more, unless it’s maybe (organic) fruit snacks or Wheat Thins. I’ve held tight to no fruit snacks but have given him Wheat Thins or goldfish, just to get something down his stomach in the morning.
And no one ever told me that once you transition a boy from his crib to a toddler bed that there will be no more Letting Him Cry It Out? Why was I not told this? A prisoner in his crib no more, he is free to move about as he pleases and he does not want to be in that bed! Preferred choices range from my bed, of course, to the floor!
Lastly, although he seems to do well in daycare when it comes to potty training, he wants no part of it when he is home.
Logically I know that these problems are the problems that every parent has when it comes time for a child to test out his or her newfound independence. Logically I know I can do some research on line, buy a book or ask some friends with older children what they did. But somehow logic flies out the window when it’s YOUR child and you just look at him helplessly and feel like you are the worst parent on earth.
What happened to the child that ate EVERYTHING, to the amazement and envy of friends and family. What happened to the child who after a five minute rock on the glider would lay down peacefully in his crib and sleep through the night, every night?
That child is gone and is turning into a person, albeit a little person with a will of his own and his own two feet to take him where he wants to go. I guess it’s time to stop wishing I could have my baby back, wishing for the good old days (last month) and get used to the child he is becoming. And come up with a compromise that will let him be the person he is evolving into while still making the decisions I know I must make as his mother to help him do that.
