In Which I Gripe

Jonah has been going through the typical difficulties (and I say this at risk of sounding like a "Parenting Magazine Mommy", which I am totally not) learning to control and appropriately express emotion. Obviously, this is a long road, but it starts at birth. Kids are generally pretty vocal and dramatic with their emotions and eventually, they've gotta learn a little self-control. And it's hard.

In the last couple of days, Jonah has tried both pushing and hitting me when he's angry or frustrated with me. He did NOT get away with that. So today, he tried a less tactile, but still volatile tactic.

He flings his hands toward me and flicks his fingers, kind of like if you were flicking water on someone. And for emphasis, he adds:

"You are MEANIT!"

Those are some... uh... strong words.

All summer, he's had free range to play outside and be a kid. And now, the weather has turned icky and we're cooped in the house together and we're already getting on each other's nerves. I don't know how I will survive the winter. Sure we do fun things, and we do preschool and we go to storytime. But we're still together all. the. time. And he considers me the primary entertainment committee. The poor kid-- he doesn't have anyone to play with. And "playing" is really not my thing. Play is a child's work-- and death by boredom for me. He can be quite good about playing by himself, especially with trucks and tractors, but those times are usually short-lived.

Today, for instance. I was finishing up the website project I've been working on. I spent a lot of time on the computer. I made sure to read him some stories, build him a traintrack, do schoolwork, let him help me make food, but then when I worked on the computer, he was right. there. all. the time. Either sitting/climbing on me, or begging, "Mommyreadabook! MommyI'mhungry! Mommyplaywithme! Iwannawachavideo! Iwannaseethatpicture! Where'smytraaaaaactor? Iwannnaaaaa..." ARG! So then I get short tempered and impatient which leads to snapping which leads to the finger-flicking scenario described above. Sigh.

I'm just gonna get this gripe off my chest really quickly--

It SUCKS that he is an only child.



I know.

Thankfulness.

I AM thankful. But today I'm also a little crazy.

I know others who would be so thankful to have what I have, and yet I complain. Not usually, just right now. Not that that's any excuse.

And I know that even if he had a sibling to play with, that would bring other difficulties and I would probably still complain.

Sigh. I'm just a whiner.