Thursday, October 31, 2013

My Children This Week

I still get weekly updates from Baby Center, the website I joined when I was pregnant over 5 years ago. It sent me little updates filling me in on what size my baby was. It started with a sesame seed and ended with a watermelon which turned out to be my 7 1/2 pound daughter. The emails kept coming once she arrived to keep me informed about what to expect week by week. I now get one called "your big kid" and your "17 month old week one."

This week it told me that I need to stay consistent with the discipline I give my 5 year old. That if my change my tune from one day to the next she won't know what rules to follow and what rules she can test. It has some tips on helping her be more articulate and table manners for a restaurant. For my son this week it recommends giving him opportunities to climb. It discuss the future potty training topic, and is your child ready to lose the morning nap.

Here is what they don't tell me in the weekly updates. I keep looking but it never seems to cover these specific topics. My daughter is going to come home from a full day of school and regress from an amazing Kindergarten student back to a three year old the minute I open the front door. Maybe she will wait until after she has a snack, but most likey it won't be long. She works all day to keep it together at school and be "good" that when she comes home she collapses in a mix of meltdown and fit sobs. Not pretty! She also has learned to refine her manipulation tools this week. She explains that if she doesn't get an ice cream like other kids after school she will feel left out. This is where I fail on my consistent discipline. Some days I say "too bad" and that we cant always have what everyone else has, but other days I am a straight up sucker for her and get her an over priced frozen piece of junk on a stick. I don't want to her to feel left out.

For my 17 month old they didn't tell me he would get a bruise on his head after he drags it on the floor in a fit of frustration. That when he doesn't get picked up at the precise moment he whines to be that he will flail his entire body like a wet fish out of water. They didn't tell me that he has the instinct to bite, hit, and head butt me when he gets upset. Most importantly they didn't mention that with his recent molars cutting into his gums that he will want to nurse around the clock. If I decide that I don't want to nurse him that I should be prepared for the neckline of every shirt I have to be ripped or stretched as he attemps to claim what is "his." Or that the transition from two naps to one is a bitch and that I will have no idea when to leave the house this week.

I don't know why they are sugar coating this all for me and making blanket statments like "pick your battles." This is a war zone here. There is no choice in which battle, it's coming at me from all sides. Good think I am so in love with my little enemies. They give kisses and draw me "i love you mommy" notes at school so I have more fight in me.

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