It's just going into summer here in New Zealand, and I play club cricket every Saturday. There was no game this weekend, so Kate and I took the opportunity to switch places for the day - she headed off to town, and I spent the day with Joey.
Joey and I have a lot of fun together - he loves getting out and about, and the more boisterous the play the better. But it's a huge challenge at the moment, too. Joey is 2 years/3 months old, and he's very much in the 'terrible-two' phase of life.
Particularly, he's really struggling to understand the idea of patience - he just can't grasp that sometimes you need to wait before something happens! This could be anything - getting a cracker from the cupboard, putting his shoes on for him when we're getting ready to go somewhere, or holding a pile of stones for him while he grabs another 5. He's getting there, but I don't think he understands the concept yet - and it's making for some interesting little battles.
Sometimes - and it's not all the time, but it's regularly enough - all I need to say is a gentle 'Just wait, Joey, we'll do such-and-such in a moment, when we've finished this', and his face just changes. His bottom lip drops, his eyes well up, and he just explodes into a teary mess. It's actually extremely cute - the expression on his little face is priceless :) But, the cute face doesn't actually help solve the issue...
I never know what the right thing to do is - tough out an argument until the bitter end, hoping the lesson gets across even if he's a sobbing mess...or just hurry up and give him what he wants immediately, and move on so he doesn't get upset, hoping that he'll understand eventually.
Is there even a right answer? I guess every kid is different, so probably not :)
Very keen to hear any similar experiences you've had, though, and how you've dealt with them!
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