Mommy love. Or not.

As I said in my previous post, we are extremely lucky to have such a great kid.  Jayden is, for a two year old, extremely patient and even-keeled.  But he's still a two year old.  And you can still only expect so much from him. 

Recently he has been extraordinarily fussy with me.  I know it's because he knows he's safe with me and because he knows I'll take care of him, and honestly, because I am extremely patient and because I won't give in to him every single time.  However, it takes its toll at the same time.  Jayden has started looking to Carmen more and more and wanting to be more "wike Daddy." 

For instance, Daddy bought Jayden these cool orange Lebrons, and Daddy bought himself matching shoes (except Daddy's are not bright orange).  Daddy does own bright orange shoes, though, so on Tuesday both Daddy and Jayden had to wear their bright orange shoes together.  Jayden now also wants to wear his bright orange shoes to bed every night and I have to explain to him that we don't wear shoes to bed for numerous reasons, no matter how badly he wants it.

That makes me a little sad, but also in some ways a little relieved.  It takes a lot of pressure and responsibility off of my shoulders.  But the problem arises when Jayden asks for Daddy because he thinks he'll get what he wants more easily.

For instance, last night he pushed every single one of my buttons.  He decided he didn't want to go to bed, so he laid down on the floor in his room.  I was not going to give in and rock him some more or lay down in his room with him, so I let him pass out on the floor of his room.

He then woke up at 4:45 am.  He wanted to rock, then to go potty, then to do anything but go to bed.  I refused.  I told him it was dark outside, it was the middle of the night (sort of) and that it was time to lay down and close his eyes.  After 45 minutes of me refusing, he came to his door and said "I wan' Daddy."  I told him "no, Daddy's asleep and you need to be asleep too."  I laid him in his bed, he gave a half wail and he passed out until we woke him up at 7:30.  I of course spent 45 minutes sleeping on the floor outside his room to prevent him from leaving so needless to say I was a mess this morning.  But my point is that Jayden knows.  He's a smart kid and he knows that he can get away with certain things with Daddy that might not be possible with me. 

Another example: this morning he had a toy with him while eating breakfast.  I don't usually let him do that because his yogurt gets everywhere (and I mean everywhere, his eyebrows, his hair, his elbows, etc.).  So I asked him to put it down while he ate.  He looked at me and said "Daddy said yes!"  I then asked Carmen, who thought I was asking him something different and didn't give me a straight answer. So Jayden ended up getting to keep the toy with him, even though for the past two months he's not allowed to keep the toy with him at breakfast.  So it's going to be a challenge over the next few months as Jayden detaches somewhat from me and shifts to Carmen to be consistent and to not let Jayden get away with whatever it is he wants.  I like saying "yes" to him as much as possible, but sometimes it's just not possible and there is nothing wrong with him having some limits.  I just hope we can keep him rested, because he's so much more pleasant and has so much more fun when he's not suffering from exhaustion.

Oh parenting.  What a challenge.