It doesn't HELP that Geneva is at that magical age where EVERYTHING SHE DOES IS ADORABLE. She has this kind of growly scowly thing, I think she's mimicking Eleanor telling her off, where she lowers her brow and reels off this string of gibberish, she sounds like someone pretending to be the troll under the bridge, only she isn't saying any real words. It's amazing.
Or the other day, she was doing something mischievous and I've been trying to count to three with her, so I'm all *sternly* one... *more sternly* TWO... and then she cheekily pipes up with 'NINE!' and I just, I cannot with her little pudding face.
Anyway. She's at that fat, happy go nutty phase where she just bumbles around the room, picking things up and manipulating them and saying NOUNS and VERBS as they occur to her, and then in contrast here's ELEANOR with all her COMPLICATED FEELINGS and NEED FOR DIALOGUE and my heart breaks for her but also ugh this child.
So I haven't been blogging because I've been feeling some feelings. I worry about her, and I worry about me and whether I'm going to be able to hack this. I worry about when Geneva hits this age. I NEVER THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN TO ME because Eleanor was such a sweet little ham, and every other mom who was saying What happened to my lovely toddler, who is this wretched child, they are all laughing at me now for my presumption.
Feeling some feelings over here, is what I'm saying.
6 comments:
Not at all simple, but they are amazing, as are you. People are complicated critters. Hang in there, you'll all make it through.
But Raych, I love you, from all the way over here, and I know children are very complicated little beings. And I know you are alone with them for a long time each day.
So: thank heavens for pre-school and time out and watching a movie and when they are asleep.
(Also, don't forget that rewards for the good sometimes work faster than punishments for the bad.)
(Also, girlfriends and wine.)
You're doing a great job. A great huge job.
Hey, let me tell you something: I was a bratty child in middle school and now my parents are my best friends. Just know that this isn't going to last forever.
This time of year *is* hard. You're a good Mom and your girls are amazing. Hang in there. (In the meantime, a video of Geneva being a troll under a bridge would be awesome!)
Yeah, there's some hard stages. I'm with you on that!
I have a lot to say but nothing is coming out right, so I'll just look wistfully off into the distance and wish we could talk about kids over coffee instead of over FB or blogs!
I have this theory that this stage where kids start to seem not so cute to their own parents is mandatory to their development. If we continued to see them as ridiculously adorable, we would let them get away with childish behavior for much too long. It happened to me with all three of my kids somewhere around the age of 3 or 3 1/2, and I think it is worse when the child has been particularly precocious all along, because such children attract a lot of attention and the change is more noticeable. But at some point they have to get over themselves so they can get on with life among others. It does make you feel guilty, especially if you still have a child in the super cute toddler stage. But think of how some children who are exceptionally pretty well beyond the cute early years sometime turn out to be a$$holes and/or incompetent when they get older. (An extreme case where this developmental stage goes wrong is with child actors or performers.) My theory is that these feelings in the parents are necessary to the child's maturity. I also remember that it happens again at about age 8, when they start to go through a physically awkward stage. It can help spur the parent to treat the child like he or she is starting to grow up, which is important to their development.
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