Stubbornness is rearing its ugly head and my sweet little toddler is sometimes not so sweet when he insists on doing things his way.
The pattern of returning home from the day care is getting more challenging for mom as I try different trick to convince, cajole or even force Robert to head in the direction of home.. Of course he needs to show me many things along the way, the signs of the security company, where he points out the zeros and some letters he is starting to recognize (namely X and E ). Sometimes he just gets frustrated with something and throws himself on the ground which makes my patience and nerves fray.
Once we reach our gate he also has to take the keys from me and find the key himself to put in the lock. He normally takes his time, especially when I have a heavy load of groceries or when I am in a hurry to get to the bathroom. At least he learned now not to linger too long at the gate of our building because I always remind him that there is another key to turn at our front door. I have to think up new tricks and keep him interested and moving in the correct direction.
I am still learning to deal with this new toddler stage, and it is difficult sometimes to control my anger at my son’s unruliness. When he is frustrated, he sometimes gets into fits of anger, or looks me straight in the eye as he does exactly what I warned him not to. It gets hard sometimes not to respond with my own fit of temper, even when common sense tells me that it must be real tough dealing with the world from his perspective.
Today was another beautiful day in Cape Town, a welcome change after all the storms and rains. I wanted to take Robert for a walk and perhaps to the park, but we never really made it as far as the park. Once we arrived at the promenade he insisted on getting out of the stroller and pushing it. We did not make much progress because he would refuse my help in steering and then end up hitting the roadside or the garbage bins. Later he started collecting small rocks and pepples from the sidewalk and depositing them in the stroller, and of course this was the most interesting activity, and no amount of encouragement would convince him to move forward towards the playground. At sunset I took matters into my own hands and we headed back. I still needed some things from the shops and it normally gets cold once the sun sets.
Real shopping was done quite late because I made the mistake of going past the bookshop which had its winter sale, which meant that we arrived at home late and had to fast forward to bedtime routine.
The Loskop Diaries 