May 15, 2017
Warning: This is a REAL LIFE post. Moving 2,000 miles away is not without its struggles.
Toddlers are little but they have lots of personalities…and constantly keep you guessing!
I looked back at Liam this afternoon as we were driving down the road and just had an ‘oh wow’ moment. His legs were dangling out of his car seat further than they ever have before showing off his newly acquired scabs on his knees and shins. The shorts he was wearing seemed to have made his legs grow by several inches. He was talking a mile a minute about ‘lellow school buses and dump trucks. Where was my baby?
Rewind. Did you catch what I said? He was wearing SHORTS. That’s right people. It is shorts weather. Well, for another day then it’s back to pants but I am thankful for the 60s/70s and SUN we have had for the past week! But where are my shorts? Being shipped to me from NC by my sweet in-laws. Apparently, my mindset back in March when I was packing my clothes was that it will neeeeeeeever get warm in Montana so I might as well leave my warm clothes in the south until I come back in the summer. But the warm weather pleasantly surprised me and got here first. But for now, my pasty white legs are covered while my arms work on a nice farmers tan.
But I digress. Back to toddlers. Liam is in the stage where he is the boss. I can’t imagine where that personality trait comes from–ha! He tells Matt and me who can sing and who can’t. He constantly says “My do it,” demanding for us to stop helping and leave him be. He has developed quite the extent of stall tactics at bedtime. And he likes to bark out commands that usually get met if he remembers to add the ‘please’ at the end. Simply, he is growing up.
But remember the child from before that walked into nursery all big and bad and waved goodbye to me? He moved to Montana but within a few weeks disappeared. He now whimpers and says “noooo nooooooo” just at the sight of the building. He hasn’t stayed in there (without me) for at least three weeks. (And, yes, we’ve tried but he cried for so long they called me to come back and get him – he’s that strong-willed.)
And last week his nights started being just as bad. He has always gone to bed with no problems – even for babysitters. And now, our routine has changed into an almost 30-minute ordeal. And between a cold/teething/and whatever else, he’s been waking throughout the night which is something he never did back home.
All of this is completely normal and a product of his age and all the changes that have happened to him, but it was enough to throw me for a loop last week. I cried twice just stressing about everything – blaming myself, convincing myself its just age, making plans on how to ‘fix’ things, praying for Liam to ‘go back to normal’.
Like all moms, I took to the internet to convince myself that everything that was happening was in fact ‘normal’. But the best response I got was from someone who 100% related to each thing I said. Her two and a half-year-old child was fine when they first moved here a year ago and then one day ‘snapped’. Isn’t it funny how we can feel better by someone else’s struggle? But it was great to know that the anxiety her child had, had been overcome.
Bedtime has become better over this past week but I fear long gone are the days of a simple story, laying him down and kissing goodnight before walking out and watching him talk himself to sleep on the monitor. And next week, I am breaking down the pack-n-play which he has been sleeping in since we got here and moving him to a toddler bed. Hopefully, his new Choo-Choo bedding set will entice him to say in bed!
As we are meeting new people and doing play dates, I watch as Liam ventures out away from me to go play. While at a lady’s house last week, he was content playing outside so I told him I was going upstairs to get us some food. I fully expected him to follow me right up the stairs but he said “OK” and kept right on playing. Watching him grow and change is mind-boggling and heart-wrenching and wonderful all at the same time.
So, while he may be a bit of a “Momma’s Boy” right now, I find comfort knowing that it’s all a stage…and that there’s no doubt my boy loves me! After all, as a newborn, I thought there were some nights he’d never sleep more than two hours…!
So, what was/is your hardest part of parenting? Do you remember your toddler going through anything similar?