NO!
When kids turn two, or sometime in the months preceding their second birthday they enter the adorable stage of the Terrible Twos. This is a joyous time of tantrums, frustration (theirs and ours!), amazing breakthroughs, and a whole lotta "NO!"
Ryan is charmingly hitting this stage.
He will get frustrated and literally throw himself to the ground and just lay there. To mad/sad/frustrated to do anything. He's just a giant miserable flop. This happens at home, at school, and sometimes even when we're on a walk. Adorable. (NOT)
When this happens I make sure to not give in. If we're at home I just walk away. If he is refusing to walk when we're out I just pick him up like a football (no dignity or coddling!) and carry him until he asks to be put down so he can walk.
He did it at school the other day when it was time to leave. He was mad (for a reason I don't recall - something trivial) and had flopped down, fully dressed (jacket and backpack on) and put his head on a shelf of a bookcase, refusing to move. So I headed for the door and told Colin to come with me, saying "Goodbye Ryan" figuring he would realize and follow after us. What I didn't expect was Colin's intervention.
"NO! Mommy, no! We can't leave Ryan behind. Don't do that, we have to go back for him. Please, Mommy, PLEASE!"
None of the teachers could believe it. They were quietly laughing, trying to keep the boys from seeing, and one of them quietly told me that when she was a child if her mom had threatened to leave a sibling behind she would have been all for it. Not my Colin! Apparently my ongoing lectures about taking care of his brother had an impact.
But the thing that totally blows my mind is Ryan at diaper time. When I go to change his diaper he is fine while I take it off, but when I go to put a new diaper on him, he begins to shout "No-no-no-NO-NO!" while flailing wildly with both his arms and legs. As you can imagine, it is literally impossible to get a new diaper on him when he's doing this.
I was getting really frustrated, then he pointed down at his boy-parts and talked. "PAH-DEE"
WHAT??? "PAH! DEE!" Do you want to go potty, Ryan? "YEP!"
I let him down, he ran into the bathroom, grabbed a stool and put it in front of the toilet, stood there for about 2 seconds, then closed the toilet saying "all done." And that was that. He didn't actually go, but went through the motions like he sees Colin and Hari doing. Once that was done we washed hands, and he was happy to let me put his diaper on.
I have no idea how he came up with this idea, or what prompted it, but I plan to take advantage of it. This week I bought a potty seat, and am encouraging him to sit (which he likes to do pretty much every time Colin goes to the bathroom). We haven't had any "action" yet but I'm hoping it is just a matter of time and then, it will be a potty party in the Sharma household!
Ryan is charmingly hitting this stage.
He will get frustrated and literally throw himself to the ground and just lay there. To mad/sad/frustrated to do anything. He's just a giant miserable flop. This happens at home, at school, and sometimes even when we're on a walk. Adorable. (NOT)
When this happens I make sure to not give in. If we're at home I just walk away. If he is refusing to walk when we're out I just pick him up like a football (no dignity or coddling!) and carry him until he asks to be put down so he can walk.
He did it at school the other day when it was time to leave. He was mad (for a reason I don't recall - something trivial) and had flopped down, fully dressed (jacket and backpack on) and put his head on a shelf of a bookcase, refusing to move. So I headed for the door and told Colin to come with me, saying "Goodbye Ryan" figuring he would realize and follow after us. What I didn't expect was Colin's intervention.
"NO! Mommy, no! We can't leave Ryan behind. Don't do that, we have to go back for him. Please, Mommy, PLEASE!"
None of the teachers could believe it. They were quietly laughing, trying to keep the boys from seeing, and one of them quietly told me that when she was a child if her mom had threatened to leave a sibling behind she would have been all for it. Not my Colin! Apparently my ongoing lectures about taking care of his brother had an impact.
But the thing that totally blows my mind is Ryan at diaper time. When I go to change his diaper he is fine while I take it off, but when I go to put a new diaper on him, he begins to shout "No-no-no-NO-NO!" while flailing wildly with both his arms and legs. As you can imagine, it is literally impossible to get a new diaper on him when he's doing this.
I was getting really frustrated, then he pointed down at his boy-parts and talked. "PAH-DEE"
WHAT??? "PAH! DEE!" Do you want to go potty, Ryan? "YEP!"
I let him down, he ran into the bathroom, grabbed a stool and put it in front of the toilet, stood there for about 2 seconds, then closed the toilet saying "all done." And that was that. He didn't actually go, but went through the motions like he sees Colin and Hari doing. Once that was done we washed hands, and he was happy to let me put his diaper on.
I have no idea how he came up with this idea, or what prompted it, but I plan to take advantage of it. This week I bought a potty seat, and am encouraging him to sit (which he likes to do pretty much every time Colin goes to the bathroom). We haven't had any "action" yet but I'm hoping it is just a matter of time and then, it will be a potty party in the Sharma household!
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