Apparently, shortly after my darling dearest child wrote the last post, he turned into a monster. Maybe it's the full moon, maybe it's the sniffles, maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe, just maybe, I came really close to listing him on ebay this afternoon.
Grrrrr... do you all know what I'm talking about? The non-stop "No!". The evil little smirk that appears right before the "No!". The need to say the opposite of whatever you say. The defiant laugh that makes you want to bang your head into wall. All of these things have been my child times 100 the past two days.
So, free to the highest bidder - time with my child, the current evil one. He is guaranteed to be a charmer to you, unless you are in the the doctor's office and ask him to come over to you so you can wipe his nose. Then, he'll run away, around the bead table so you can't catch him and give you that defiant little laugh. Oh wait! No, he won't do that to you... just me. I had "that" child today at the doctor's office. My child was the child that the parents kept their kids from playing with. I didn't even get the "ohhh... that poor lady" stare. I got the "MY child would never act like that". It was awesome.
And for those of you that have been there done that, how in the heck do you discipline your child in public? I tried to distract him, I tried to redirect him just to avoid having to resort to something time-out like. Nothing worked. It's not like I could pick him up and leave - he needed his flu shot. I ended up taking him out to the parking lot, talking to him and after he told me "No!" about 90,000 more times, I put him in time-out on the curb. He cried for, oh, a minute and then realized it would be totally cool to slide his behind back and forth on the curb. I, of course, told him to sit in one spot and what was his response?!? (Come on now... it's not hard!)
"NO!"
So, time out continued. And here I am wondering if I'm missing my stupid appointment! Thankfully, I didn't. Anyhow, we survived that, got our flu shot and came home. Daddy had a nice chat with him when we got home and he turned into a charmer. I know the past two days have been rough on him and long because of doctor's appointments, which is why I haven't yet listed him on ebay. Yet. If this weekend is anything like the past two days, you'll find me in the hot tub with a bottle of wine.
Okay... enough complaining (for now). So, the big Andrew news is that he needs glasses. Not to correct his vision - he's got great vision from what they can tell. It's to correct a tidbit of crosseyed-ness he has going on with his left eye. His left eye comes inward when he is focusing on something. In theory he'll need to wear glasses for quite some time but they should help strengthen the muscles in the eye. We actually found this out a while ago but needed to send his glasses back to get smaller ones.
He did great wearing them last night and all day today. On the way home, I heard "I broked it!" and I turned around. He had pulled the rubber ear piece off the glasses (the thing that goes behind the ear). I took the glasses from him but didn't think to take the rubber piece. It dawned on me later that I didn't have it so I asked him where it was. He pointed to the window. I didn't understand how he could have thrown it out the window because it was never open. My ingenious child shoved the rubber piece down into the window track. Ohhhhh... I'm so not kidding. Thankfully, enough was sticking out that I could jam my key in there and pull it out. And this is only Day 2, people.
Below are some pics of my little devil. I decided to post them just in case one of you decides to be the high bidder this weekend. He is awfully cute. I say this weekend because Andrew and I are going to have "bonding time" while Keith does some server stuff for a customer. Hopefully the full moon or the sniffles or whatever it is that's causing the terrible 3's goes away before then!
Fall fun in the leaves!
Look at me! All dressed for school pictures with my new glasses!
And THIS is one of those looks that I mentioned above.
I believe this is the "Yeah right, I'm not doing that!" look.
More later my friends! Thanks for the venting session! I know that this too shall pass...
Becky
P.S. Just in case anyone is really concerned, I wouldn't sell my kid on ebay. :-)
24 comments:
Oh my goodness he looks like such a smarty pants with his glasses on!
I have the same problem as Andrew, although more severe. When I got my first pair of glasses I kept pulling them off so had to have them tied on with a ribbon behind my head. Oh the shame!
Hoping you win the battle with cheeky Andrew! I'll be checking back to see what tips your fellow parents have (for future reference).
Oh my, the glasses make him even cuter, which I didn't think possible.
Okay, I'm a mean mommy, but I would have been really tempted to march him right back into that office and say, "Just for that, you're getting a SHOT!" :)
Me! Me! Me! I want to be the highest bidder!! Although, I am going to be spending some quality time with him this weekend as well, so I can't be too selfish in the bidding. I do, however, have a great solution. If he were MY child, I would just stick him in the crate with Mason until he behaves - HA! Juuuuust Kidding!
Love the glasses! He looks so adorable. Wish we were going to be in town this weekend so we could help you occupy the munchkin this weekend...soon though we will get them together again.
Mine is doing the stuborn sit/fall on the floor in protest and crying for anytime he doesn't get his way.
Sorry Becky, days like that just plain stink! The worst in the brings out the worst in us sometimes. I haven't a clue on what to do when in public and needing to discipline, but what you did sounds good to me! Hang in there!
I do public timeouts if I have to and have picked them up like a football to keep them from running. I dont give a shit what people think of me. My kid has to know that just because we are in public he/she cannot get away with stuff I dont allow at home.
You are cracking me up. Love it.
I told mom recently that I think the "Trying Threes" are much harder than the "Terrible Twos."
NANA & Grandpa will take him! We hate leaving whenever we see him. He looks soo cute in that outfit and his new glasses. WE know he's a good boy...he's just testing you. It'll get better, I know it will.
I didn't think it was possible for Andrew to be any cuter, but I think the glasses just might do it, WOW!
We had to get Liam glasses for the very same reason and we had trouble initially finding any that were small enough for a 2 yr old.
Did you get Andrews' glasses through Zenni? They look really similar to Liam's.
We do pretty good with wearing his glasses during mealtimes and if we're reading or doing puzzles. But the very instant he gets a little bored, off them come. And he does the exact same thing - strips the rubbery sleeve off of the earpiece! I've threaded those back on there at least 2 dozen times now - and I'm seriously thinking of putting a little dab of Super Glue on 'em so they'll be much hard to slide off.
They do look so grown-up and smart with the glasses, don't they?
Becky,
Yep, I feel your glasses pain! Typically, I take them off of Angelina when we are going on longer car rides. She just ends up taking them off, then I end up rummaging through the back seat looking for them while I'm still trying to drive. Good luck with them!
Andrew sure looks very handsome with his new glasses, thats for sure!
Adrian
I'll bid too!! Alligator misses Monkey!! I think it sounds like Andrew's Aunt Mandy may outbid me though!! Andrew looks great in his glasses and if it makes you feel any better I did a public time out in the hospital waiting room, complete with loud crying and calling "mama" loudly even though I was two feet from him. We also had an incident in the grocery the other night. I gave him the whatfor and actually got smiles from people! It must be the moon. Hang in there!
You are way too funny and your little man is soooo cute!
This too shall pass. Enjoying motherhood yet? hee. hee. Seriously, We're right behind other Grandparents & Aunt Mandy in the bidding. It's too funny, you are making me remember his daddy and uncles growing up. I don't care, public or not, I agree, either he behaves when you talk to him or small swat on butt and time out will let him know that behavior is NOT allowed. And don't worry what other people say or look at you like, You and Keith are raising Andrew, and if Alex is an example of what your parenting is like, everyone should follow your example, not the other way around. Children need to know boundries, it makes them feel safer knowing what they can and cannot do. Everyone has boundries. Even the President. Actions have consquences. And as for you, take time for that hot tub/glass of wine, you have to replenish yourself. Mommy needs to be strong and vital for Andrew and the whole family.
Love you.
Just now catching up with all of my favorite blogs. Wow. Andrew is so handsome. I can't believe how big he is! Love the new glasses too. Very GQ.
Aidan and Andrew sound like quite the 3 year old pair. We should get the two of them together. He was truly the perfect baby and 2 year old and last spring he ate a fussy worm I think and he hasn't been the same since. Do you think we can do a two for one deal???
Michelle
By the way. I let him scream. I look at him and loud enough for everyone around, I say: Sorry mr. Man, I have 4 kids, you are not the first one to scream. I continue to hold him and look like I don't hear a thing. I have left restaraunts with the older 2 before and stayed in the car so he got that he couldn't disrupt other's meal. I have been hearing that I need to stop explaining to Ariana and just give a firm NO like you do with your dog. (therapist direction) apparently I am too wordy..... go figure!
Becky- Great post! Oh, I bet I'm gonna be there soon... and I too agree the 3's are way worse than the 2's. (At least they were for my boys).
Andrew looks sooo stinkin' cute in those glasses! Especially with the outfit and vest! He is handsome!
Kids can be soooo charming sometimes. I haven't think about the ebay thing but I'm guessing I may be considering that option. Specially when your dear five year old decided that cutting her school uniform beyond repair was a good idea. But wait it gets better, she did it at school so when I arrived to pick her up... Surprise!
Andrew looks so darn cute with glasses on! Is is possible that he is even cuter?!
There are days where I would gladly switch places - our 11 and 8 year old Russian princes can be a handful too! It is about different things but I hear "no" a lot, a few Russian curse words - a habit we are still trying to work on with the little one. Ruslan still tells us in Russian that we are "not cool." They get through their "moods" very quickly, most of the time.
Keep up the great blogging - you are very funny!
Becky - The way you word things is hilarious! He is priceless!!! The glasses are so adorable on him!
Have a great weekend,
Teresa
Oh, girl, I feel you on this one. We also had screaming belligerence at a flu shot appointment this week, followed a couple days later by screaming belligerence at the auto repair shop when I had to bring in my car…both of which led to everyone staring at us like we were a train wreck in the making, and to me wondering who those monsters were that had inhabited the bodies of my sweet precious little boys. My older one is also all about “No!,” while my younger one is all about, “Bye-bye!,” as if he is saying, “Please leave. I do not care about what you have to say.” To answer your question about disciplining this, I just put them in time out on the spot (i.e. in the doctor’s waiting room, in the auto service center, etc.). Often this means the situation gets uglier before it gets better, but they figure out that Mommy means business. Sigh…this, too, shall pass. Right?
On another note, Andrew is so stinkin’ cute in his glasses and sweater vest!!
I would patiently wait in line behind Mandy and the Grandmas in the bidding as Andrew is just too cute for words:) I don't think I could keep a straight face during some of the activities of Andrew. Hard to resist that smile! Glasses just added to the cuteness!
Is it any wonder why I come back and read your blog posts? Girl- you keep it real, but with a sense of humor. Thanks so much I needed to re-read this!
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