Sunny Days

Eli's teeth still have not officially cut, but yesterday and today were a bit better as far as his pain. Either that or he's toughed up a bunch. Today had a few temper tantrums, but nothing major. In recent weeks I've made a real effort to see all of the good stuff that is happening with Eli (so as to distract me from the tantrums and whatnot). I found several things to add to the 'good' list this last week.

For starters, Eli rarely gives Lehr and I a hard time about holding hands in the street anymore. (I thought I blogged about this before, but I can't find it now. For quite some time Eli refused to hold our hands in the street. Our rule was either you hold our hand or we carry you. There was a lot of carrying for a month or so.) Today when we went to the park Eli actually reached up and grabbed my hand...I didn't even have to ask!

And tonight when Lehr and I were cleaning the dishes we opened the back door and let Eli play on the deck and in the kitchen. He never once made a move towards the alley (a no-no, obviously). It is amazing to me how consistency has paid off with him. The hand-holding I thought would never come. It felt like we struggled with that forever (real time: 4-6 weeks).

Another 'good list' item: diaper changes. Eli is going through another change-refusal phase, but he's learning that, as usual, Mommy will win in the end. When I go into his nursery after his nap, I always close the door behind me. Eli now knows that the door will not open again until his diaper is changed. Due to my increased fatigue I am not in the mood to fight with him over these changes, so for a week or so I've just sat in his room until he's ready to cooperate. (It's a lot easier than wrestling with a squirmy, strong 20-month old when a dirty diaper is involved.) Today he went around his room for about 30-minutes picking up various books and toys, asking me 'please' or 'help' for each of them. Every time I told him "Sure, but we have to change your diaper first." He totally understood me as he would slightly shake his head "no" and go find something else. Eventually he gave in and there was no fight. HOORAY!!!

One last thing: picking up toys. I thought Eli would be one of those tornado kids who came into a room and destroyed it only to leave dust and debris in his path. While he is one of those kids, he's finally starting to pick things up (when we ask) without a fight at all. Amazing to me given when we started out he wouldn't pick anything up, even if we handed him the toy and put him directly in front of the toy box.

For once, I'm really not trying to brag about Eli or his accomplishments. I get a lot of comments and emails regarding tantrums and other toddler issues from parents who are currently in the trenches. I offer this post as encouragement that 'this too shall pass'. Whatever your rules are, stick with them and be consistent. It might take a week (or a month, in Eli's case), but your hard work will pay off. I can't even tell you how many times I thought he'd NEVER get over his tantrum or defiance or whatever the issue-de-jour was, but with each of them he has (for the majority of the time anyway).