More changes

Little Brother hit the ten-month mark this week and has really come into his own. He no longer is content with cruising along the couches. He has turned into a little daredevil. He has been pulling up on everything he can get his little hands gripped on but now he reminds us of a cliffhanger. He’ll pull himself up at the kitchen chairs and then he’ll grab hold of the tabletop. His little fingertips were barely touching. I just watched as a he realized he didn’t want to let go but at the same time couldn’t hang on much longer. He now cruises along the furniture until he reaches a wall. He will then cruise along the wall until he gets to more furniture.

Last night at bedtime we were trying to him settled and started shutting off all the lights. Finally the only room that was lit up was the living room. He wanted to play in the bedroom still. He crawled back across the kitchen into the bedroom. It was completely dark in there. We let him crawl into the pitch black figuring he would just turn around and come back out. After a few seconds he started to whine. So his dad went in to get him. He was standing up at the bed hanging on. He was lost probably trying to figure out which way to go at the corner of the bed.

Don’t we get him back into the living room just for him to crawl back towards the bedroom. We shut the door and he cried. Little Brother is so young and is starting to throw these mini fits. I find them funny and laugh but Big Brother finds my laughter cruel and scolds me so I try to just chuckle quietly since Big Brother was the same way but at a much older age. For example if we put the baby gate up a few seconds ahead of Little Brother getting to that point or close the bathroom door before he can go in. He’ll lay flat on his belly, face down in the rug and cry. It is such a pitiful cry too, like he is heartbroken that you would stop him from doing all the exploring he wants. I am all for letting him explore the house but being fascinated with the toilet water and pulling coats off the hooks are off limits. He can play with the bath water. When he throws his mini fit there are two ways. One is the face down on the floor with one leg kicking. The other is a little more dramatic. He’ll try to throw himself back from a sitting position. If I didn’t catch his head he’d hit it. He’ll roll and roll and cry. The second one usually happens when I have confiscated contraband like a piece of Big Brother’s Lego’s that he could choke on or have stopped walking him around the house. He wants to walk everywhere now. So he’ll get hold of your hands and drive you. He is getting quite good at turning himself and switching directions. However, when my back begins to ache from the laps around the house and I stop, that’s when he tries to throw himself back and roll.

Big Brother seems to have grown up so much since the beginning of this school year. He will brush his own teeth when told instead of fighting or pretending that he doesn’t know how. He hangs up his coat and gives me his agenda book from school. I can tell the days that he was well behaved at school because he can’t wait for me to read about his day and when he maybe wasn’t such a good listener he tries to change the subject to something like, “Hey aren’t we supposed to clean my room today?”

He really tries to avoid having consequences if that means he listens well or tries to talk his way out of it by telling me how much he loves me and how sorry he is. The best has to be when he tries to give me a consequence for trying to give him one. My favorite had to be the day he intentionally dumped a box of cars when it was clean up time and stormed off. I asked him to pick it up and he said, “You pick it up!” I asked him one more time and told him if he couldn’t listen to me that he’d get a time-out. He looks me dead in the eye and says, “Oh yeah, well I’m going to tell Tota Girl that you’re the meanest mom ever!” When I said go right ahead he told me, “Oh yeah! Well I’m just going to run away then, I know how to get to Tota Girl’s house and I’ll walk through the field and you won’t be able to catch me.” When he didn’t get an answer from me he started to pick up his cars. After he was over it I asked him why he was going to walk through the field to get to Tota Girl’s. He said, “well I can’t walk on the road or I’ll get in trouble.”

As much as these boys change and grow I know there will be more changes…