Obstinate Toddler

Jack woke up around 4am last night and totally stripped.  He didn’t want to wear pajamas, socks, or a diaper.  He peed all over his bed.  It took me about an hour and a half to negotiate him back into his clothes.  In the end I bribed him with chocolate.

This morning he didn’t want to wear a diaper or clothes AGAIN.  After trying unsuccessfully for an hour to get him dressed, I turned to David who managed to get him to “fly like an airplane” into his “airplane clothes.”  And then all was well.

Reverse psychology works sometimes…but not in the case of getting him dressed.  He is getting more and more stubborn and even *I* can’t out-stubborn him.  I try to give him choices but he snubs them all.  I try to put my foot down and force him to do things after the nice way doesn’t work and he just rips off his clothes anyway.  I try reverse psychology with limited success.  Bribery only works if I can figure out what he finds to be incredibly valuable.

I’m exhausted and frustrated.  How long does this phase last??

A Mother’s Day Revelation

Yesterday was one of those not-so-fun type of parenting days.  Jack was in the midst of Terrible Twodom (and yeah, he’s not 2 yet!).  Fits galore, making it difficult to even get out of the house for my brunch (damn it, I was having my brunch even if I had to go by myself!!!).  Jack is too strong for me to handle when he is in a fit, so Joe had to take over trying to get him in the carseat.  There was no way to entice him to sit down (usually a bribe works, or a forbidden object such as a cell phone) so Joe had to pin him down while I helped buckle the straps.  All because Jack wanted to stand in the carseat and yell at the back of the car. 

Brunch was great.  I got a free mimosa and delicious gingersnap pancakes.  Jack was entertained by his crayons and coloring book, ate well (including eggs, which he usually disses) and I felt so happy.  This is the part of the day I will try to keep foremost in my memory!

We spent the day at BIL & SIL’s so that Joe could help Justin put together a gazebo.  Jack was running around everywhere and getting into everything so he went from banging on the window to playing with the wine rack to giving himself power bombs on the bed to snatching his uncle’s cell phone to stealing his cousin’s toys…worn out, I fell asleep putting him down for a nap in the afternoon.

Dinner was fabulous, as was dessert (I had two helpings, yum!).  SIL is an awesome cook!  Afterward, Jack started to completely melt  down.  We got out of there when he started chanting “I want I want I want I want” over and over, wrestled him into the carseat again, and headed home.  Jack flipped out some more there, and started hitting me with fists and books.  When I told him not to hit me, that it hurt, to give hugs instead, he laughed in my face.  Joe had no more luck.  So infuriating!  I don’t know if this is just a toddler thing, or something he learned at daycare, but my kid hitting me makes me want to cry!  He also kept biting me during nursing and continued to hit when I was trying to put him to sleep.  So my mother’s day gift from my son?  Abuse.

I was amazed when Jack was a baby that he was such a sweet little guy, so unlike me and apparently a little clone of Joe.  I was sure I’d get a sassy, stubborn child that was just like I was as a kid (okay, I’m still like that…).  Alas, it seems that he was just biding his time before showing all his cards.  What scares me most is that no adult was ever able to sway me as a child…so I am facing a littler version of myself and I have no idea what to do.