My Little World-Changer

I'll just come out and say it. Tommy can be a very difficult child. He's unbelievably strong-willed and doesn't back down easily when he wants to do something. Or doesn't want to do something. Dean likes to say he just has a world-changing personality. Meanwhile, this world-changer is two and somtimes makes his mamma crazy!

We had a play group at Jen Simmons' house yesterday morning and we started by Tommy not wanting to change out of his pajamas. Or change his diaper. Or put on his shoes. Or his jacket. He would scream, arch his back, throw himself on the floor and hurl whatever I'm trying to put on him across the room. I should've just given up, but I really wanted to see Jen and Amy, so I pushed through, singing silly songs as we went.

While at Jen's, he made the two little girls (about a year old) cry at least once each, pulled toys away from the other boys a number of times, and was in timeout twice. Probably should have been in there more.

Then when we got home (after he fell asleep on the way but woke up when I was carying him into the house), he had lunch and then freaked when I told him we were going to go read now (code for "and then take a nap"). I tried everything I could for 2 hours to get him to go to sleep. I was supposed to have a make-up piano lesson at 3:30 so I needed him in his room and sleeping at that time. Well, it didn't happen and I wound up freaking out about it, just about on the brink of tears. Nothing frustrates me more in life than Tommy not sleeping when he should. I finally put a Thomas DVD in the computer and put it in his room, keeping him in his crib so he just sat behind the bars and watched it like a 31 pound inmate. My piano lesson never showed, so I read my Beth Moore study and prayed for patience and forgiveness.

I know I need to chill about his sleeping habits (or lack thereof), and maybe I'll even have the creativity (and patience!) to do what Ainsley did yesterday. In the meantime, as I sit here writing this, he's snuggled up to me on the couch in his flannel Christmas PJ's cuddling his elephant and blanket with a pacifier in his mouth. What a sweet boy...