3

I've been having a lot of conversations with other moms lately - conversations about 3-year-olds and what to do with them! It seems everyone's child has suddenly hit a period where they whine, talk back, throw extreme tantrums and at times simply act like a brat. We all have been saying, where did my child disappear to? It seems for Declan the height of this period was right during the holidays and the arrival of Tate. At first I thought it was simply the sibling issue but as I talk to his friends' moms I realize it's also partly the age. He is realizing he is not the center of the universe and is definitely rebelling! I desperately started reading all sorts of books about discipline, child development and parenting styles. Things have calmed down lately, and Declan seems back to his cheerful self and also seems to have forgotten that there used to be no little brother. But it was a rough couple months - it has been interesting to compare to the challenging parts of the newborn phase. I guess every stage has its delights and it's troubles. :)


That said, Tate's arrival has surfaced a lot of memories about Declan that I had plain forgotten about and I want to capture them here:

*All babies have periods of "active" sleep where they rustle around and Tate is no different. However, Declan's version of active sleep often involved flinging both legs straight up into the air (while in his swaddle) and then slamming them down. It was quite distracting.

*Dirty diapers - Declan had them often and they were LOUD. It sounded like a volcanoe was erupting every time he had a bowel movement. We got a lot of strange looks when it happened out in public.

*Declan used to hate when I wore my hair in a ponytail. When he was a baby he'd cry if I came into his room and my hair was up, I'd take it down and he'd instantly smile. As he got older he'd tell me "no hair mommmy" and make a big fuss until I took it down. I don't know when he got over that but Don reminded me the other day about it and we had a good laugh. God knows why that was such an issue.