Stages. Right? Kids go through thousands of stages! Lots of them are actually super great, while some are just basic learning experiences, and others where I find I just need to try and keep my head above water until its over. As I’ve mentioned on here many times, my mom said to me when I was still pregnant with Dekker that I shouldn’t waste too much time trying to figure out each stage, because by the time I would make headway on that, the stage would be over. That being said, I’m learning that some of the things we’re dealing with in our house currently are not so much stages as they are life lessons.
Dekker is currently learning that he cannot have everything he wants the moment he wants it. He has been learning this very calmly since Laela has been born. He used to cry when she had one of “his” toys, as I’m sure the majority of kids do, but he’s come out of it beautifully, and even asks if he can play with a toy that Laela has put down. Its wonderful.
However, in the recent past, he’s been boycotting supper. Its been going on for a while, and we’ve been getting on him more about it now. The boy can’t live off of cereal! He just can’t!! With the ongoing boycott, evenings have been the part of the day that wears on me more than anything.
I got Dekker up from his afternoon nap, and Brady wasn’t home. I knew Deks would be hungry, but I had a tub running for Laela, so I figured that would distract him for a while. He likes to be around when Laela is getting a bath, almost to keep an eye on her and make sure she’s ok. Don’t forget! Baths are the worst thing in the world!! But upon entering his room, I was greeted with a curt request for his Life cereal. I commented that he wasn’t being very polite, and that before dinner, I needed to wash Laela. He kept saying “ya” as if he understood, but wanted to climb into his chair at the table. I told him many times that I was going to wash Laela first, but he insisted that he sit in his chair. So he did. And through the whole bath, he whined and whined, just saying “Life!” louder and louder. While I dried her off, he cried and cried. I told him he would eat soon, and that we were going to have leftover cheesy chicken and rice. Well, apparently that supper that he usually enjoys was just about as popular as bath time, so that began a HUGE meltdown. Finally, I put him in his room and said I would get him when he was done complaining.
Probably twenty minutes or more later, we brought him (still crying) into the dining room and sat him at his spot, when he continued to shake in anger and snot and tears and oh my gosh!!! Made me crazy, I’m not going to lie. We ate while he screamed, and fed him bites here and there when he was actually breathing. But not too long in, he screamed for sooo long that he began choking and choking. I wanted to lean him over the table but of course by that time he was just frantic, so I had to physically force him forward and shove my fingers into his mouth to fish out some of the chicken. Once the food was out of his mouth and I was certain he had nothing left to choke on, I put him in his room again. Partially because he was being sooo rude and loud and uncooperative, and partly because for the first time, I needed to be apart from him before I did something I’d regret. It was a truly awful feeling 🙁
Once I had calmed down, I went into his room and we had a talk and a punishment. He was then fairly reserved for the rest of the evening, and we put him down for bed about a half hour early. My gosh. I. Am. Exhausted. What an evening.
That story got considerably longer than I was bargaining for. I’m so tired from it all that I was counting on his being a shorter post. Apparently I needed to vent rather than rest. Interesting. On a lighter note, Dekker called himself Dekker Coffee Born today, which was pretty awesome. He’s hilarious 🙂 In the morning, anyway.
I hope you all had a much quieter evening than I did!