Sunday, October 10, 2010

Absence Makes the Kids Grow Cuter

A friend recently gave me a good piece of advice. She said that everything your kids do to annoy you today will, at some point, be amusing. I couldn't agree with her more.

A few weeks ago, Alec was in a phase where he would randomly say "Mommy" and then not have anything to tell or ask me. It would go something like this:

Alec: Mommy?
Me: Yes Alec?
Alec: Mommy?
Me: Yes Alec?
Alec: Mommy?
Me: Yes Alec? 

I think you get the point... And to answer your next question, when I didn't answer him, he would just repeat "Mommy" over and over. I'm sure you can imagine how annoying this routine became. But now I find myself looking back and laughing at it.

Little innocent Chase isn't excluded from these annoying phases either. Right now he is in a "squealing" phase. And by squealing, I don't mean happy squeals. I mean warning squeals, as in "somebody better pick me up before I have a serious meltdown" squeals. And the longer I let him go, the louder and more high-pitched the squeals become. As annoying as these squeals are, I know that in a few weeks, or maybe months, I'll look back and say to Chad, "remember those cute squeals that Chase used to do when he was getting tired of something?"

I find that this same advice applies to times when I'm not around my kids. I can have the most frustrating day with them, only to be out to dinner with a friend that night laughing about it. Heck, I don't even need to be out of the house. It could be when I'm getting ready for bed. I don't know what it is, but the second I'm not around my kids they don't annoy me at all. In fact right now they're upstairs playing with Chad, and I'm finding it hard to remember why I was annoyed earlier today when for the 5,000th time, Alec went over and grabbed the toy that Chase was playing with and said "I want this." Isn't that just adorable? And isn't it great that I now have my "sharing" speech memorized since I've had to repeat it for all 5,000 times that this happened?

So what am I learning through all this? I guess you could say I'm learning some form of patience (I'm not a very patient person, as I'm sure Chad will verify). But I'm learning that every annoying phase is only as annoying as I make it, and it doesn't last forever. So whenever one (or both) of my kids is adding to my collection of gray hairs, I just take a step back and remember that some day I'll be able to laugh at their behavior. And sometimes I even turn my head to the side and let a small giggle escape right then.

My next Mommy's Always Write Topic: Liar Liar

2 comments:

  1. I hear you! E is going through the squealing phase and it totally drove me crazy last week. The best part was that we got to have some one on one time later that week and got things ironed out between us. Amazing what being one on one with someone can do. :]

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  2. Alec: Watch my show?
    Mommy: Not tonight, Cutie.
    Alec: Watch my show?
    Mommy: Not tonight, Alec.
    Alec: Watch my show?
    Mommy: No.
    Alec: Watch my show?
    Mommy: NO!!!
    Alec: Watch my show?
    Mommy: Ma, do all kids keep asking over and over when you say, "no?'
    Ma: Only if they think that they can change your mind.
    Alec: Watch my show?

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