Little Jack's CornerThe Life & Times of Jack-Evan and Family

Whew.

There comes a time when all parents throw up their hands and feel like running, screaming, naked through the night.

Who knew my time would come only 16 months after giving birth to this perfect, quiet, beautiful angel??

Jack-Evan, over the past 2 months, has finely tuned the art of the temper tantrum.  He’s in his terrible two’s – and not even 2 yet!  Sometimes I can’t blame the poor fellow though.  Growing up is hard to do.  After all, he is just learning to walk now so his physical abilities have yet to catch up with his desires (crawling just does NOT cut it in the speed department anymore).  He’s also testing out all of his new found skills, and sometimes they find him instead, such as when he attempts to unbuckle his seatbeat but just. can’t. mash. it hard enough. (Cue high pitched scream). And woe forbid should Mommy take 2.1 extra seconds to change a diaper or wash a face or arrive at his side. (Cue 6 more high pitched screams.)

It seems like my whole life right now is one giant scream and tantrum.  Every 5 minutes it’s something else.  Just tonight, after Jack completely melted during my attempt to wash his face, I asked him, “Why on earth can’t you just be normal for one day?!”  Then I remembered (for the 50th time), that he WAS being normal.  Normal for a toddler that is.  (Cue high pitched scream…from Mommy). Frustration and lack of communication ability rules his life right now.  Earlier today he was so mad, he literally turned red during his tantrum, had both fists closed in a tight ball, and was shaking….HARD.  It was quite a new addition to his tantrum repretoire and I hope he doesn’t remember to do it again tomorrow!  Thankfully he didn’t shoot his head backward at rocket speed like he normally does during a tantrum.  Just as long as he doesn’t connect the turning red / fist balled up / head thrown back dots, we may survive this stage.  I suppose his brain is just so active now that it carries him much further than his physical abilities allow him to truly go.   He understand what we say to him, yet when he tries to convey to us what he is thinking, or when he tries to do normal “adult” things,  it just doesn’t quite work the same way.  (Cue another high pitched scream). It makes me wish like crazy I would have taught him sign language the moment he left the birth canal.

Thankfully, I am noticing more words erupting each day.  He currently says: Mama, Mom, Hey, DaDa, Papa, Dog, Duck, Juice, Bubba (my uncle), Nurse (our word for breastfeeding), Go, I love you, Stop, No, and Yes.   He has said “Hey Mama” and “Hey Dada” and “I love mama / dada” but other than that he hasn’t put 2 words together yet.  There may be some more individual words, but I can’t think of them at the moment.  Within the past 2 weeks I’ve also noticed him becoming more adept at pointing at something when he wants to communicate.  I really do enjoy this new stage we’re entering now that each day means we communicate better and better.  It’s just so heartwarming to say various long things to him and have him understand completely what we have said!   It still amazes me when I ask him to do something he’ll go do it without any physical prompting (Go find your truck, Where is your duck?  Get your stroller and we’ll go for a walk!, It’s time to eat, Papa is coming in the door, etc).

And mentioning trucks and strollers!  Whew.  Besides temper tantrums, he is one active little boy.  He hardly ever stops to rest, unless it’s to climb up in my lap and ask with pleading eyes “Nur??  Nur??”  (Nurse).  I’ve been trying to wean him from daytime nursing for the past 2 weeks, so that is taking a toil on Jack as well.  (Cue extremely loooong high pitched, totally devastated scream). Otherwise, he’s always on the go, pushing something, pulling something, and climbing.  He doesn’t care for TV much, unless he’s the one pushing the buttons (he’ll stand in front of the TV and change channels all day if we let him!  He’s obsessed with pushing buttons!  Both on the remote and on the TV front).   That’s mostly due to the fact that we don’t watch much TV though.  I do hope he becomes interested in Seseme Street or Sid the Science Kid sooner or later.  He does enjoy Mister Rogers and will almost sit through an entire show, but unfortunately our PBS took it off the air! (Cue extremely high pitched scream from Mommy).

All in all, Jack-Evan is coming into his own little personality with the dawning of each new day.  He’s a very vocal, extremely strong-willed little person who believes he’s 10 feet tall – and becomes easily frustrated when the world shows him he isn’t.  He adores animals, meeting new people, and impressing the ladies.  He’ll do anything for a cheer & handclap, tends to be shy around groups of kids his own age (but loves one-on-one time), and is determined to make it on his own in this big, wide world.  However, his biggest confidence boost seems to come when Mommy is close by cheering him on, so as long as Mommy is waiting in the wing when it’s finally time to snuggle and nap, the world is a fine place to live.

But enough with the temper tantrums.  Those can go ASAP.

( Yeh, right, who am I kidding?  Welcome to parenthood….Tantrums and all.)

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Note:  This was written 3 days ago and I just remembered it was in my draft folder.  Would you believe that since then, a miracle seems to have happened!  Thursday morning, I felt like I woke up in an alternate universe.  Surely my real family was desperately searching for me somewhere! See… Not only did Jack-Evan make it through 2 full meals that day using very polite manners (AND without throwing anything on the floor) but he made it all day with only one tantrum!  Perhaps God does feel pity for haggard and harried Moms after all, because he certainly has been smiling down on me lately. haha!