I don’t know how many of you have read ‘The Wonder Weeks’–a book that posits that major bouts of clinginess, crying, crankiness, bad sleep, etc. can be tied to mental leaps that kids are making at different times in their first 2 years. Some people dismiss the idea as a crummy way to pigeonhole kids, some people think it’s the bible.  I tend to forget about it for months at a time, until he starts getting cranky and clingy for no good reason(!) and then I look it up again and go “Oh yeah.  Yup.”

We’re at #10.

Sigh.  Everything I ask him to do is a battle unless I distract him by making him laugh.  The answer to every question is ‘no’, even if he really wants something.  (And why can’t ‘Yes’ be a favorite word? Why? Why?) He wants to be in charge of everything–but he also wants constant attention and when he can’t get it, he fusses, fusses, fusses!

Though, incidentally, my strict insistence on politeness is paying off in ONE way–namely when he really wants something (like an audience for coloring, or playing with blocks, or…) he begs with signs and with the word, “Peas?” as well as this adorable, imploring look.  Big brown eyes, doing his best to ask the right way… hard to say no to that, which is something he’s ALSO learning (ie: how to get around Mommy.)

And the glory of a 7:30am wakeup seems to have been lost in the mental shuffle as well.  6:30, and he’s UP.  Naps are still ok, and nights have been ok, save for an habitual 11pm wake up.  But oh dear, I miss my complacent, complying little boy! Mealtimes are a battle now–he wants sweets, but nothing else, and since that aint happening, he’s not eating as much as I’d like him to (even though I know he should start slimming down right about now, it’s still hard to break out of that ‘feed the baby and celebrate each pound gained’ mindset.) We’re still holding onto about 4oz of warm milk before sleep, simply to buy us some peaceful naptimes/bedtimes, but I know I need to get back to getting him off even that.  I just hate that he won’t drink milk any other way.  It’s hard getting him to eat protein of any kind (though he does love loose peanuts–thank heavens he’s not allergic!) He’ll eat some dinners but not all of them–and I can’t necessarily guess which ones he’ll like & which he won’t, though fish seems (*knock wood*) to be a favorite.  But even the dinners he likes aren’t any good if I offer them to him two days in a row!  Sigh.  So I’m letting him feed himself with a spoon more often.  Messy, but it holds his interest where being fed does not (even though I think he actually prefers being fed, it’s boring and he is at a point where he does not like being bored.)

Of course adventurous, chattering boy is fun, too.  He’s learning to open the door, and he LOVES knocking on Daddy’s office door.  He climbs the stairs holding onto the handrail instead of crawling up (yikes!) and he’s a master of standing on boxes/blocks/cushions/books to test his balance.  He’s definitely experimenting with more sounds.  There are times now when I don’t actually know what he’s trying to say (and I used to be able to decipher even his more abstract approximations.)  But he’s trying, and he LOVES the praise when he gets a difficult sound right.

I think it’s also been hard that while this has all been happening in his brain, there’s a ton of snow outside, and Mommy’s been too lazy to put on the snowsuit for what is usually only about 10 minutes of snowtime before he gets tired of the novelty.  It’s too cold for the playground, and this is the library’s ‘break week’.  No one (except us!) showed up to playtime last Thursday, because of the big snowstorm=nasty road conditions, so it’s been a while since his ‘fun things to do’ schedule has been the way he likes it.

But we’re doing ok with all the changes his little brain is exposing him to, and it continues to be fascinating, watching him interact with, react to, and demand change from the world.

Now if I could just get him to sleep past 6:31 we’d be all set…