pushin and shoving

why does my sweet little angel have to be the one at toddler yoga who wanders around pushing other little angels on their bottoms? GRRR? if bells are not heard around the globe.....are shotguns?

why instead of tree poses and breathing exercises does my precious bundle of energy insist on frisking and taking down the other precious cargo? ca boom.....

lord...i ended up leaving early just to catch my breath! between taking pictures for work (the class is organized through my employer) and reffing take downs....it was exhausting!

is it normal for 14 month olds to act like this? or is my son destined to be a bully? the other moms said it was normal...and some of theirs even bit! thank goodness that's not on my list of problems right now! its pretty devastating to see the child whose sweet side you see on a regular basis be another parents worst nightmare! i realize some of it is grant enjoying cause and effect...i push you fall and cry....but is that all there is? i sure hope so. i must admit...i am almost completely winging it on parenting and discipline. my DH swears thats the best way...but im not so sure. I feel like I am in an unfamiliar wilderness without a compass sometimes! i need a compass and fast! but like the saying goes...parenting doesnt come with a manual (although there sure is a vast array of parenting books out there so im not sure that cliche still applies)

of course i dont swat or spank yet...surely he wont grasp the meaning (bc i cannot explain it to him for one reason) and he will just end up hitting other children by imitation etc (which he is totally into right now. and just the fact that sometimes when i am frustrated and exasperated...i do want to swat at him...is reason enough for me NOT too! it would be completely self serving...and wrong in my opinion...and the expected and hoped for outcome (that he ceases performing that action) would undoubtedly still not be met! OOOOHHHH...the frustration.

so is this just a phase that will end before i spontaneously combust? please do tell your parenting wisdom.

as a final note...my son is adorable! im not kidding. upon arriving home tonight he played alone with daddy's socks for at least a half hour and then another half with the kazoo! im telling you....he is really spectacular unless he is around other midgets. i told my DH tonight that maybe our family is complete with just one child :) to which he replied: bravo.

Happy 13 months old Granto

Fridays visit with the Naturopath was FRANTIC, CHAOTIC & downright MISERABLE for old mom. See....Grant had decided this was the perfect place to fight for his right to party. Someone must have told him anarchy was cool (sarah swan you are in trouble). i was sweating bullets by the time we walked out of there and in need of a good cry...which i promptly allowed myself once in the safety and relative soundproof capsule of our van.

Unfortunately all the questions i wanted to ask escaped me as i ran around after grant...keeping him out of the potted plants, from shredding the fancy scrolls and zillions of thick books that doctors read. Instead of being coherant and poised, i was either listening to a screaming child (bc i was holding him) or trying to keep him from typing on the keyboard. Turns out this office was absolutely NOT child proof and not even child friendly i am afraid. The Dr was very calm (unlike the tickin time bomb that i became)and was fine with grant playing with his books ...but he did say that grant seemed very hyper and that was most likely from allergies.

I will say that grant is a very industrious child...but he isnt as hyper as he was in that cage of an office very much. He was on fire!

SOOOOO...what my $155 got me was a naturopath dr who says he would like to investigate what is at the root of my child's health challenges. He thinks most likely (and hopefully) it is food based allergies and intolerances. Even reflux is caused by allergies in his mind. First place we stop on our investigation is blood allergy testing. Whats cool is he has his own lab and does the work in house. He doesnt feel comfortable taking grants blood though (left it up to me) so we are going elsewhere for a pediatric nurse to do that. What i need to decide is whether i want to pay the $330 fee for him to do it or try and go in network and have a similar test done elsewhere. UGH. I wish oh wish that we had avoided the silly scratch tests and just gone straight to the blood (for more accurate if still not perfect tests). The exciting part is that maybe we can start to get a clearer picture of whats going on with little guy...and start avoiding these all to frequent respiratory challenges! I just need to make an informed and educated decision. My heart is telling me to stick with the naturopath all the way...but my wallet is saying HELP.

After I recoverd from the madness of the dr visit.....the weekend actually became quite lovely. Grant, dad and i were super close and loving and had some fun. We even managed to make it to the kansas city art museum which has been on my to do list for 3 years!

Grant is really not a beast. However, I did start implementing a time out. Any recommendations for what to do when a 13 month old (today) does not listen to no, does not accept distractions, and laughs when i get down on his level, look him in the eye, takes his little hands in mine and say "grant this is a no no, lets go to plan b etc)???? well i have started putting him in time out for 1 minute. i have yet to see if this actually works at all...but it is a start. i really just dont know what to do....he cannot play electrical plugs and outlets...and like i said ....distractions usually dont work...he just makes a bee line back to the "no". using other words hasnt helped either. he doesnt need to be "naughty' for attention thats for sure so whats your opinion?

Parents coming in today. Going to visit with us and attend the amazing entertainment that we call the Leavenworth County Fair hehe. Sounds like a lot of sweat, stink & yee haws to me.