Nice pajamas, huh? Clearly Mama was not responsible for bath and bedtime the night before. Unfortunately the behavior being exhibited in this household the past couple of weeks is quite like these pajamas. BAD. Anyone recall the red headed kid in Problem Child? See any resemblance? I remember the days when I would see other mothers struggling with children acting out and think "thank god my child is so well behaved, polite and cute". Evans has always been exceptionally well behaved in his 22 month existence and I've never had any trouble taking him along with me for my adult errands. Until he started emitting a low decibel sound, otherwise known as his whining, on very frequent occasions. The whining is driving me insane. Something about the tone of it makes me want to strangle someone (obviously not him!). We are also having severe sharing issues. Recently we have befriended our across the street neighbors as they have a little boy Evans' age. Last week Evans and I invited them over for a play date. It was interesting to say the least. And not in a good way. The only toys that Evans wanted to play with were the ones that the other little boy was already playing with. Over and over and over. Then the whining started. I was pretty sure we would not be getting another invitation to play anytime soon. Surprisingly, we were invited to attend a little toddler class at the school around the corner on Monday. Evans was the ONLY child that would not follow the directions. My friend tried to make me feel better by pointing out that the directions were in German and perhaps he couldn't understand them but I'm not operating under the illusion that he would have followed them any better in English.
Germans are definitely a rule following society and the children are no different. At the end of the class everyone sat in a circle and quietly sang a song with hand motions before each getting a gummy bear. I wouldn't have expected Evans to know the German song (duh) but I would have hoped for better. I spent this time wrestling to keep Evans in my lap or chasing him out of the equipment closet where he wanted to play with the "ball-ccchts".
My new neighbor friend could not be more kind. Even after these two "little incidents" she STILL picked up the paper work from the German kindergarten for me to apply Evans. Apparently there is a very long waiting list and for us to have a chance at getting him in when he turns THREE we have to get on the waiting list now. She helped me fill everything out and today walked with Evans and me up to the school to hand deliver it to the principal. It was really a horrible scene. It was raining, my other neighbor very stupidly let Evans out of his stroller after he was already strapped in (which of course resulted in his refusal to get back in, thus having to walk with him holding my hand - yeah right). I'll spare the details except for one. On our way home Evans decided that he only wanted to walk in the wrong direction. He freaked when I picked him up and went all wet noodle on me so that he slithered out of my arms and on to the ground. There, he proceeded to kick and scream, while lying in a PUDDLE and bonking his head on the concrete. I just stood there. When I asked my friend if her son ever did this I was met with a very calm, "no". My how the Germans are perfect.
Did I mention I am taking a 10.5 hour flight with Evans in the morning?
5 comments:
The boy needs some interaction with a bully.
Your street needs a bully.
Toddler tip of the day: If you don't want to go, drop to your knees. Let your arms go slack. Commit.
Hope you don't mind an older lady chiming in, but, um, your child sounds quite normal. Especially for his age. Good luck. My older boy was the same and the doctors told me he was a "challenging child." He is now in the A.F. doing well.
I was going to say, too, that different nationalities have different temperments. I lived in Germany and am now among German-descended people, and they are quite calm and unemotional and stoical, and of course, their children would inherit this temperment. These are not bad things at all. Just the way they are. Hope your trip went well.
Post a Comment