My sparkly son

It's been a lot of pregnancy and birth stuff on this old blog lately. How about I write about my first kid for awhile, eh?

The Boy has had a rough time adjusting to his little sister. He loooooves her madly, but Oh.My.God. the acting out! The tantrums! The whining! The pushing of parental buttons! The competitive wailing! It's been a stressful few months.

Sleepless nights with a newborn? No problem -- the Boy trained us to handle that.

Having a new baby in the house? No big deal, really. She's a mellow little girl and is working up to being a pretty good sleeper (although it will be nice when she stops making loud snorting grunting what-the-heck-is-she-doing noises all night).

Post-partum hormones? Not really an issue after the first few weeks, thank god.

But a jealous 3-year-old? Exhausting.

We've been working on changing our disciplinary approach, which is a big challenge for the Mister and I, creatures of habit that we are. I've been reading the Love & Logic books and then coaching the Mister, who has his own unique approach to raising kids. Some days it works, some days we end up yelling at each other about it. Eventually, we'll figure it out.

In the meantime, we're able to keep the Boy relatively peaceful by indulging his girly side. He's in the middle of a huge princess phase. HUGE. He loves Angelina Ballerina most of all, with Cinderella running a close second. He has demanded (and his loving parents have purchased) at least three magic wands, one pair of pink glittery shoes, a tutu, ballet shoes, and last weekend ... a big poofy Easter dress.

The Mister grimaces a bit each time a fashion demand is made and met, but he's pretty much the opposite of a guns-sports-trucks-or-nothing kind of dad, so we're going with the flow. The Boy's preschool teacher is delighted that we're cool with it -- apparently, some parents are very rigid with their 3-year-olds when it comes to fashion and traditional gender roles.

And just look at how happy he is! How could we deny him the fun of a twirly skirt and shiny shoes? (Sorry for the blurry pix -- it's a wee bit difficult to catch him standing still these days.)

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Comments

[Almamay]

I'm so pleased to hear your boy loves his femine side because I have a boy who does as well. He still does the ram around breaking things boy stuff but he loves my necklaces and insists that I put make up on him on the rare occasion I put some on. We figure that if we forbid these things (and we aren't the type to do so but if we were) then that in its self causes a problem. Some jewlery and makeup isn't going to hurt anything!

[Kelley]

My best friend is a huge proponent of the Love and Logic books, they've helped her rear two great kids. I agree it's a great philosophy. It also has come in handy at work dealing with so many different personalities. Funny how dealing with adults isn't that much different than dealing with toddlers.

[carrie]

I was going to suggest Love & Logic. I just discovered it within the past year and ADORE it! (And yes - it's great to use on adults, too! Pull it out when you are fighting with your husband sometime!)

[Rachel]

Just wanted to say that this post definitely made me smile. I'm so glad that you are letting your physical little guy explore his feminine side.