Wanting to be the best parent I can be

Little Bit was having a rough day yesterday. He would go from hyper, laughing, spinning around in a circle with his arms out, to crying and whining. I said to DH, "Tell the truth -- how much sugar and caffeine did you give him?" DH laughed and denied it. Maybe Little Bit is teething. I gave him some Motrin, but that didn't seem to help.

Unfortunately, I was having a rough day too. I had very little patience. I so want to be patient and loving all the time, but I'm human too. Little Bit has been my first experience with newborns and now with toddlers. When growing up, I didn't have younger cousins or neighbors around. DH thinks it's very endearing how I have diligently "researched", starting from when I was pregnant. I have read many books, trying to gain some insight.

Overall, I think DH and I are doing pretty well so far. Little Bit is very loving and secure. But, like any toddler, he doesn't have the words yet to express all the big emotions in his little body. I didn't have the patience yesterday, but thankfully, DH did. I took out one of my new books last night, called Positive Discipline, to remind myself of what I strive towards. As the author says, mistakes are a great opportunity to learn. Once, when the author's toddler was whining so much that she felt like spanking him, she instead crouched down and gave him a big hug. He got the attention he wanted, and they both felt better.

Xmas loot

Little Bit on Christmas day with all his loot, including the new pony.

Mom, there's a pony in the living room!

This year for Christmas, Santa brought Little Bit a rocking horse. He first saw it at the Cracker Barrel store about a month ago. At the store, he patted its head and even rocked on it gleefully with my hand steadying him. However, come Christmas morning, he held onto my leg and pointed, saying, "Shuu-shuu!" (Shuu-Shuu is his favorite phrase. It can mean many things. "What's that?" "Go that way." "Look over there.")

He seemed to be saying, "What's that?! There's a pony in the living room!!" He clung to my leg, not wanting to go into the living room. With encouragement, he ventured in. He still held onto me, as we approached the pony. Dear Husband (DH) and I tried to get him to ride it. Nope. He'd rather play with the cars and car garage that came from my parents, thank you very much!

DH realized this morning why Little Bit was suddenly shy/scared of the rocky horse. Last Friday night, we went to some friends' for dinner. They have two very big dogs. Very excitable dogs. Who proceeded to try to play with the new creature who was just their size. DH and I tried to keep the dogs away from him, but they scared him a few times into crying.

Little Bit probably associates the pony with the dogs since it's also about his size and has four legs. He's a pretty fearless little boy, but I think it will take awhile for him to warm up to the rocking horse. Yesterday morning, holding onto my finger, he did pet the pony. That's a start.