I am not sure that Jonathan has an understanding of the idea of presents, he has just turned 2 years old and we gave him a birthday party. He loves tearing the paper off the packages, but there is no added value to the gift itself, after all, from Jonathan's point of view, he owns the entire world anyway, especially his mommy...
Possession is a simple concept for toddlers, what they are strong enough to take, is theirs to enjoy! This is true for games and toys (shoving other kids out of the way in the grabbing process) and for food (anything mom or dad or grandma eat is legally the child's property and is immediately confiscated by said child, and indeed given up by said parents/relatives).
This is doubly true for mommy – a toddler has exclusive ownership of their mother – at least in their eyes – and siblings and cousins are irrelevant! Climbing on my back at any time, pulling me about so that I will join him in any part of the house or any activity he is undertaking is all routine to Jonathan. Grabbing at my glasses or my clothes and shoving items under my shirt (and fondling me when trying to then pull them out) is all normal daily activity to him – after all, as a first child, “we are the king!”.
I admit I enjoy his climbing escapades and allow them. I try to put some limit to his peeping under my shirt and absolutely forbid him to hit me (which he does under protest, like all toddlers) so we do have some borders. Even though I am his! From his point of view and to be honest also from mine (his daddy however definitely does not share this opinion...).
My sister has just had a baby, a daughter who is now two months old. At last an opportunity has come, in which I am not too sick (a true Winter problem for parents – always a running nose somewhere in the family) and I could hold my new niece in my arms. I sat with her on my lap, just this last weekend in a family get-together. I enjoyed the new baby smell and the baby's mom enjoyed a break. The only unsatisfied party in the room was Jonathan.
As long as my niece is in her baby pen, Jonathan loves to look at her and instruct everyone to be quiet in her vicinity (finger to lips and shushing noises). But as soon as the “little startup” has dared to invade his property, and locate herself on HIS mommy's lap (actually the little baby was a passive party and I was to blame for this scandalous location) then all is fair in love and war!
While I was trying to encourage Jonathan to stroke and cuddle the baby, which he did, and to say “baby” in Hebrew, which he did, he was continuously pulling at the little girl's sleeve, trying to literally remove her from my lap. I naturally did not permit this and hence we were in a curious pulling war for a few minutes – Jonathan pulling at the baby and I pulling his arm away from her.
My sister, concerned for her new baby offered to take her away – I insisted at first that she remain where she is, after all, Jonathan should learn to accept other babies on my lap – or his future siblings (whenever they come to the world, and no, no plans or little secrets to hide) have no chance of a little TLC. If he cannot learn on a mere cousin, what will it be like with a sibling?
My older sister said her boy was just as jealous when he was two (said boy is now 8 years old). After all cousins and babies of friends are the “good guys” because they are temporary disturbances in the toddler's world. Its all over when one returns home alone with mommy and daddy! Yippee! Its the siblings (siblkings?) that are a constant problem (hence the so called“bad guys”) and which cause true and sometimes violent jealousy attacks.
Eventually I decided to end the training session and gave the baby back to its mother. My lap was now empty and everything in Jonathan's world seamed to have returned to normal. He was however not happy until he came and gave me a big hug, immediately after the baby was removed from me – testing 100% that the space is indeed free again. His so obvious relief at this new found space, and his staying in a hugging position for some time, all contributed to our glee at the irony of the entire situation and my sisters, mother, and I had a good laugh. Jonathan's sigh of relief was the cream on top of our cake....
Showing posts with label toddler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toddler. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Jonathan's Latest Tricks
As Jonathan learns to know his world better he becomes more skilled at imitating it, hence his newest tricks.
Just recently I wrote that I was so proud of Jonathan going to bed when asked. Such an obedient boy! The ink is not dry on the paper which I printed of that blog entry (I print each entry as part of the documentation process this blog actually is...) and Jonathan has taken to resisting my request of going to bed and after he is in it to stand and even dance in his bed, when he does not want to go to sleep. This new tendency is the base of my fear of buying him a new bed. A pregnancy in the family is the catalizator of changing Jonathan's bed, and moving him up to a “big boy's” bed. The problem then is that he will be able to get out easily. Today if does not want to sleep he can stand, and call us (whining) but he cannot get out! With a bed for older children that option will become a possibility. Ahh, parents will do almost anything to maintain the peace achieved each evening, after the children are all in bed... but eventually we will have to allow Jonathan to sleep in a bed suitable for children and get him out of his crib...but I try to postpone this day as much as possible.
I have to give Jonathan credit that he does not call me to his bed in vain. He either wants me to bring him a drink (he likes to cuddle with his bottle and drink before he falls asleep, a result of not taking a pacifier...) or he may want some company (someone to sit with him a bit) or he calls us to announce that his nappy is full, and then he will clearly point to the changing table in his room, telling me what my nose has already guessed! It took me some time to recognize and understand he trick of gesturing towards the changing table, but once I got it, I was very proud of my clever little boy!
Another new trick - Jonathan has learned to drink our of a straw. Daddy thought him this and he is really quite skilled at it. He drinks from a bottle and from a straw, but when he tries to drink directly out of the glass or cup alone, he spills the contents. Drinking out of the glass calls for help from mommy and goes through without getting soaked only with the quantity of liquid in the cup is very small. Still whenever he sees adults drinking from their glasses, he want a sip too (Jonathan always liked to share food and drink...). Jonathan likes to practice drinking in the bath-tub – then he can get as wet as he likes.
The newest trick in the bath tub is to press the shampoo bottle, get some shampoo on his hands and then soap himself on the belly, imitating mommy soaping him up... I congratulate him on learning to use soap to get clean but am in ever angst that he will shove the soapy hand into his mouth and then start a tantrum following the bad taste...so far I have managed to prevent that from happening by continuously washing his soapy hands, he just dips them in more shampoo and soaps himself again, and I wash them again... and so on....
He also likes to wash mommy's hair. Pouring water from one plastic cup to another is his main entertainment when taking a bath. If mommy or daddy join him, he is happy to oblige us by pouring the water over our heads and helping us wash. The kindergarten teacher says that when they allow the toddlers into a makeshift pool (a necessity in Israels all to hot summer), Jonathan is quite a handful! He just loves water so much and splashes around and drives the caretakers crazy...
Imitating his surroundings becomes more and more prominent in Jonathan's actions. If we make funny noises, he will try to imitate them. A game is immediately created in that we will have a “conversation” of sounds. Mommy making a funny noise and Jonathan repeating it and vise versa...
We sat in a cafe this afternoon and Jonathan's daddy decide to have some fun by sticking a spoon onto his nose. Jonathan immediately followed suit and tried to do the same by grabbing a spoon and pressing it to his face. It was very cute to watch.
Just recently I wrote that I was so proud of Jonathan going to bed when asked. Such an obedient boy! The ink is not dry on the paper which I printed of that blog entry (I print each entry as part of the documentation process this blog actually is...) and Jonathan has taken to resisting my request of going to bed and after he is in it to stand and even dance in his bed, when he does not want to go to sleep. This new tendency is the base of my fear of buying him a new bed. A pregnancy in the family is the catalizator of changing Jonathan's bed, and moving him up to a “big boy's” bed. The problem then is that he will be able to get out easily. Today if does not want to sleep he can stand, and call us (whining) but he cannot get out! With a bed for older children that option will become a possibility. Ahh, parents will do almost anything to maintain the peace achieved each evening, after the children are all in bed... but eventually we will have to allow Jonathan to sleep in a bed suitable for children and get him out of his crib...but I try to postpone this day as much as possible.
I have to give Jonathan credit that he does not call me to his bed in vain. He either wants me to bring him a drink (he likes to cuddle with his bottle and drink before he falls asleep, a result of not taking a pacifier...) or he may want some company (someone to sit with him a bit) or he calls us to announce that his nappy is full, and then he will clearly point to the changing table in his room, telling me what my nose has already guessed! It took me some time to recognize and understand he trick of gesturing towards the changing table, but once I got it, I was very proud of my clever little boy!
Another new trick - Jonathan has learned to drink our of a straw. Daddy thought him this and he is really quite skilled at it. He drinks from a bottle and from a straw, but when he tries to drink directly out of the glass or cup alone, he spills the contents. Drinking out of the glass calls for help from mommy and goes through without getting soaked only with the quantity of liquid in the cup is very small. Still whenever he sees adults drinking from their glasses, he want a sip too (Jonathan always liked to share food and drink...). Jonathan likes to practice drinking in the bath-tub – then he can get as wet as he likes.
The newest trick in the bath tub is to press the shampoo bottle, get some shampoo on his hands and then soap himself on the belly, imitating mommy soaping him up... I congratulate him on learning to use soap to get clean but am in ever angst that he will shove the soapy hand into his mouth and then start a tantrum following the bad taste...so far I have managed to prevent that from happening by continuously washing his soapy hands, he just dips them in more shampoo and soaps himself again, and I wash them again... and so on....
He also likes to wash mommy's hair. Pouring water from one plastic cup to another is his main entertainment when taking a bath. If mommy or daddy join him, he is happy to oblige us by pouring the water over our heads and helping us wash. The kindergarten teacher says that when they allow the toddlers into a makeshift pool (a necessity in Israels all to hot summer), Jonathan is quite a handful! He just loves water so much and splashes around and drives the caretakers crazy...
Imitating his surroundings becomes more and more prominent in Jonathan's actions. If we make funny noises, he will try to imitate them. A game is immediately created in that we will have a “conversation” of sounds. Mommy making a funny noise and Jonathan repeating it and vise versa...
We sat in a cafe this afternoon and Jonathan's daddy decide to have some fun by sticking a spoon onto his nose. Jonathan immediately followed suit and tried to do the same by grabbing a spoon and pressing it to his face. It was very cute to watch.
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