A Different Child

Owen was extremely whiny yesterday morning. He asked for toys and then cried when I handed them to him. He wanted to be held and then cried because he wanted down. Everything we did was wrong and everything he touched hurt him somehow. By 10:30 I had already spanked him more than once and by 11:20 I just put him in bed. I think there were several factors inducing this behavior. One…he is teething. His first molars are most of the way in on both top and bottom but are still surrounded and even buried under a lot of gum so that’s probably still bothering him. He still hasn’t broken through with his cuspids yet either…as you can see from this chart he is way behind on these teeth by their standards but I’m not concerned about that. I just hate it that I can see swelling in his lower gums and nothing has popped through. I’m sure that bothers him a lot. Two…he just had his “Grand-Pappa” here which always makes for extra attention. When Grandparents leave or when we leave Grandparents it’s always hard for him to settle into just mom and dad again. Third…Kris has been home the past two days and yet, doesn’t play with him a lot. I think he has a hard time understanding why daddy doesn’t do flips with him and stuff when he’s right there…daddy doesn’t feel very well so daddy lies down a lot. All in all it’s understandable that the poor guy would feel a little frustrated…however…that’s no excuse to make mommy pull her hair out so before he even had lunch he was dropped in his crib to rest. It took him a little while to fall asleep but when he woke up he was a different child. I couldn’t believe the transformation. He was happy and playful and excited and cooperative and helpful and all the things you hope your kids can be. I enjoyed him so much I didn’t get any quilting done and played with him a little extra. He ate his lunch without complaint and then asked for more. He ate his dinner and completely cleaned his plate with aggression. He played and was truly happy all the way to bedtime and then still smiled when I told him good night. Oh…what a blessed afternoon we had. I even slept better.