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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...

My little man turns 3 in a couple of weeks. He entered the "twos" late, and the last few months have been trying, to say the least. The whining is only outdone by the crying that ensues when he doesn't get what he wants. Some days he has been an absolute monster, surviving by the skin of his teeth by showing me a few minutes of loveliness in an otherwise horrible day.

As I'm on mat leave right now, he and I have been together almost all day, every day. This, although counter-intuitive, has led to his being VERY clingy. "Mummymummymummymummymummy" is a common whine in our house, as I've written about before.

I'm being slowly worn down. The whining grates on my last nerve every day and I think my teeth will be smooth nubs from gritting them by the time we're out of this phase. I was explaining my frustration to Mr. Awesome a few days ago and he said "Remember, one day he'll go through a phase where he doesn't want you around AT ALL. Just try and keep that in mind."

Ouch.

One day my little boy will be a pre-man, filled with teen angst, hormones and attitude. I like to live in a dream world and tell myself he and I will have the ideal mother-son relationship where he can talk to me about anything (within reason). I know that this will likely not be the case, at least for some of those years. I hate this knowledge. The thought of it makes me cry.

And that is why I take a deep breath and tell him one more time WHY it's not okay to slap mummy, or climb the bookshelf, or eat Shreddies for dinner, or climb into the warming drawer. And that is why when he's clinging to me and screaming for me so loud that I can't hear the timer go off to say dinner is ready, I tell him that I love him and that it's okay.

Because one day I will long for that level of need and one day it won't be there.

Yes, the thought of a 20 year old man clinging to his mother is more than a little disturbing. But for now, I just want my little cling-on.

(Remind me of this when he's screaming at 6am tomorrow morning.)

4 comments:

  1. It's tough being a mom. It just is. I hear you on both counts! My four year old is very clingy, but my 6, almost 7 year old doesn't even like my hugs and kisses anymore! He thinks he is too big for that mushy stuff. sigh.

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  2. Oh Toddleritis. Toddleritis makes normally sane, together moms yell, `quit calling me Mommy` or `if you do that one more time...` filled with a blank because you don`t really know what you will do. Toddleritis makes you think that maybe my husband will come home and I will be crying on the floor smashing fruit against the wall whilst my toddler is eating crayons. Toddleritis makes you want to crawl in bed with your toddler at night and snuggle them up, like when they were babies, like before they could talk back. Toddleritis makes you want to sit your toddler down and say, `quit being an asshole so that I can enjoy you`. Toddleritis thankfully is not a chronic condition. The best remedy for this ailment is red wine after bedtime, lots of it.

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  3. This may be the best definition of "toddleritis" I've ever seen. Thanks Mombshell! :)

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  4. My daughter just turned three and started the terrible twos. Guess I can be glad she held of this long.

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