The Digger and His Softer Side

Well, it has happened. My son has learned a new trick - digging. I don't mean his nose - he already had that mastered a long time ago - I mean digging his chin into his sister when he doesn't get what he wants. I thought biting would come next, which thankfully, it hasn't. When he wants something she has, he will lift his little chin, plant it firmly in one of her appendages or in her back or sometimes her head, and bear down with all his might. It hurts, believe me! He's done it to me just on a trial basis only. See above, I have proof. In this instance he wanted to climb over her and she wouldn't let him. Imagine that! So of course she just sat on him, which makes perfect sense.

He's all things little boy, but he also has a tender, sweet side too. The other day I was lying on the bed waiting for my husband to finish dressing Rachel for bed - Benjamin was already finished - and he body-slammed me. As I was not expecting it, it did not feel good. When he saw that it had hurt me, Benjamin said, "Oooh! Oooh! I sorry!" He then bent his little head to give me a kiss to make it feel better. Now, how sweet is that?!

All the things he does to Rachel, while yes, he wants his own way, he does most generally so that he can be just like her. He adores her! He loves to dance with her - and I have proof! (Where would I be without my trusty camera. I have great blackmail shots for later!) His little eyes light up when she comes into the room. And when Joel, Rachel and I were gone the other day when he woke up from a nap, my mother informed me that he went around the house looking and then came back to her asking, "Where's Rachel?" I don't think he even noticed that Joel and I weren't there.

He has a softer side with his parents too. He LOVES his daddy! His little eyes light up when Joel comes home and he runs to where his father is to hug and kiss him. He gently pulls at Joel's whiskers and whispers, "Whiskers!" as if they are magical in some way. He also LOVES his mommy! He freely gives me kisses all the time and will at times even cup my face in his little hands while he tells me that he loves me and then kisses me. He's utterly precious!

The other day we were taking a walk along a path at a local park. He and Rachel were in front of me holding hands as they walked along the path. He turned his head and called, "Mommy!" just to make sure I was coming with them. He's just so sweet at times! My digger, my bopper, my son!

My Sweet Girl

I admire my daughter. She is beautiful, sweet and kind with a wonderful sense of humor. All this and she is only 3 years old. Amazing, I know! She has her moments, of course, pulling her brother’s hair when she wants to move him away from the things that she wants or pushing him out of her way so that she can get to the TV first. But it is my daughter who will try her hardest to make her brother laugh when he is sad or to cheer him up when he is crying. She will even sit beside him to “wait it out” when he throws a temper tantrum. Maybe all children have this in them, I don’t know. But I happen to think that my daughter is special (of course I’m not biased at all).

The other day my daughter was sitting at the piano “playing” it and my son walked in and wanted to “play” the piano too. I told him that he would have to wait his turn. He immediately looked around and fell to the ground in a tantrum (you have to understand that he makes sure that he has a soft place to land, after all he wouldn’t want to hurt himself). Since he was so mad and screaming about not getting to play the piano, Rachel immediately hopped off the piano bench and said, "Here, Benjamin, you can play piano."

He got up from the floor, crocodile tears still running, and got up on the piano bench and started "playing" away. Rachel stood by with a grin at making her brother happy. As she stood by watching, I watched as her face changed rather quickly into a frown realizing that she no longer could play the piano with him sitting on the bench.

She got a determined look on her face and pushed at Benjamin hard, "Okay, it's Rachel's turn now!" While Benjamin didn't exactly fall off the bench, it did catch him off guard quite a bit. He overcompensated by flinging himself toward her to steady himself and ended up hitting her on the head with his own head. Both of them turned around and looked at me rubbing their heads with their hands with stunned looks on their faces.

I took that opportunity to suggest that we close the piano lid and "play" another time. They took that invitation and scrambled to be first to enter the other room. I listened as my sweet girl, the one who had willingly given up her time at the piano, screamed at her brother, "No, Rachel's first!"

*Sigh* Oh, well, none of us are sweet all the time...

The Battle Between Princess Grumpy and Princess Happy (hint: Princess Happy wins!)

I like to try the art of distraction for as long as it will work. That’s my motto, “Distract them well and distract them often!” Sometimes, however, distraction just doesn’t work. My children can often be distracted into obedience. Somehow I’m able to distract them into thinking that whatever I’m asking them to do is their idea or a game or some such. As they are getting older and more often than not these days though, it doesn’t work.

When my 3-year-old decides that she will not be obedient no matter what I say, I have no choice but to take action. This morning after one long continuous tantrum of which I was not able to bring her out of with my usual routine, I told her to go to her room. Princess Grumpy’s eyes widened and she threw her head back and screamed, “I don’t want to go to my room!” So, of course, I opened her door and helped her start walking toward it. She promptly sat down on her bed and with red-rimmed eyes she turned to me and said, “I calmed down now.” How convenient!

Not giving into the manipulation of a 3-year-old, I sat down across from her and explained to her that she would need to sit on her bed and decide if she wanted to be obedient to mommy and be in a better mood. She also had the choice of being disobedient and grumpy, in that case I explained, she could just sit in her room by herself. I told her that when and if she decided to be in a better mood and be obedient that I would love to have her come upstairs and join her brother and me.

Well, she was down there for about 25 minutes crying off and on when I heard these footsteps in the hallway. She came over to me smiling and said, “I’m in a better mood now!”

“I’m so glad!” as I gave her a hug and watched her dance off down the hallway and around the corner to the living room.

The next thing I asked her to do was to help me pick up some toys, she jumped at the chance to “help” Mommy! Amazing what a little reflective time alone can do – even for a 3-year-old. My Princess Happy has returned!

Ear Plugs Are the Finest Gift to Give!

I have been blessed with great hearing, not just good, normal hearing, but GREAT hearing! I can hear my husband scratching his head from the other room with the TV turned on and two children yelling, "Mommy!" at the top of their little lungs. Again, I say I have been blessed. But, with that blessing comes somewhat of a burden - not being able to hear myself think in the midst of chaos. Now, I can multitask with the best of them, but sometimes, sometimes I just want some peace and quiet (and no, my toddlers' names are not Peace and Quiet).

My husband, thankfully, is a very quiet man. He's gentle, smiles and nods his head in agreement most of the time. However, when he comes home and I'm in the middle of fixing dinner with a 3-year-old screaming, "I don't wanna watch Baby Einstein! I wanna watch Cinderella!" and my 2-year-old screaming at the hem of my pants, "I wanna see! I wanna see!" and my husband says to me in his quiet, loving voice, "Is dinner almost ready?", I could backhand him with the greasy spatula attached to my hand!

I'm telling you, ear plugs are a mother's best friend! I can put in my ear plugs and it's like putting the world on soft mute. I can still hear everything that's going on, but the miracle of it all is, I can now hear MYSELF think. Aahhh!