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| 13/52 When a boy with a face as sweet as this one pulls you by the shirt, you follow ;) And yes, that IS a screwdriver in his hand. He's handy. |
"A portrait of my Avery, once a week, every week, in 2014"
As Avery has stepped so gracefully into his role as big brother, he has also grown into his own as the almost-two-year-old that he is. He has become so much more vocal and is very adamant about getting what he wants.
Sometimes all he wants is to simply be understood, other times he just wants to watch Elmo. Right now. The most heartbreaking for me though, is when he wants something from me that I just can't give him at the moment. Maybe he wants me to carry him down the stairs when I'm already toting his little bro and a basket of laundry. Or he pushes a marker in my face and demands I color with him right when I'm in the middle of changing Cullen's diaper. Avery seems to know the moments when my hands are already full and those are the moments he 'needs' me the most.
I do my best to give into him as much as I can, but he's definitely learning a hard lesson in patience as I learn a hard lesson in surviving temper tantrums. (Most days I think he's this dealing with this better than I am!) A new friend gave me some great advice to help understand the behavior of baby #1 when baby #2 comes home; she said to remember that 'Avery didn't ask for a little brother'. It's such a simple statement but is so helpful to repeat in my mind every day when Avery demands my attention at the most inopportune times. He's used to being my one and only and has never had to deal with competing for my attention. He's doing his best to adjust to a situation that is completely out of his control. Becoming a toddler is tough enough, but being a toddler and having to learn to be a big brother at the same time is double tricky. (Being a toddler, big brother and cutting a few teeth and battling a cold all at once? It's been quite the week. Thank goodness Justin has been around to romp around with Avery during the day!)
At the end of the day, the sweet moments always trump the stressful ones and we are all settling into our new life quite nicely, despite the learning curve. I'm so proud of how well my big boy is handling his brother's arrival and I'm happy to say that it's true what they say: A mother's love truly does multiply with each new child - who knew I could ever love this much?!
Linking up here
I am so glad Justin is home with you for a bit. When does he go back? Oh the tantrums....I forgot they were just starting for you. Definitely a power struggle and, of course, always when you are trying to do something (like get groceries or diapers or eat, right?!) but, soon you will be such a pro at handling two kiddos that everyone will be asking YOU for advice! ;)
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I'm certainly not equipped to be giving any advice right now, but I will certainly have some experiences to share! :)
DeleteJustin has already been back to work for part of this week, but has been working shorter days. Next week, he has a pretty big project scheduled for one of his stores, so he will likely be gone more. I'm pretty nervous, but we will just take it one day at a time and hope and pray the weather turns around soon so we can get OUT of the house (without having to load them up in the car... I may never gather the courage to take them both grocery shopping. Yikes!)
My world totally changed once Edwin could push a little cart at the grocery store. I was like "hallelujah!" I totally bribe him with cookies and samples from the bakery whenever I have to...and I NEVER go without a list. Sometimes we will go on a Saturday night for our family outing when there is no one else there and Nick can go with me. ;)
DeleteI hope you are going easy on yourself during this transition...it took me a good two years to adjust just to having Edwin around! I expect you to adjust MUCH faster than that, but don't forget to give yourself time to heal...even though you are sort of a pro at this now. ;) You will do great next week. And, yes, warm weather will be so great for everyone!!!!
I'm sad and disappointed to say that our grocery store doesn't have little carts! Boo! The only thing they have is the carts with the cars on the front but they are like driving a bus through the aisles and Avery never stays in it the whole time. Maybe I'll bring my own mini cart, I bet Avery would love it as much as Edwin does!
DeleteWe are definitely not well adjusted yet, but we are getting better. I'm pretty sure God is testing me in a big way with this whole motherhood thing this week. Teething toddler, sick toddler, sick mama... Thank goodness Cullen is the calm baby he is, he just might not survive otherwise!
Oh girl you know I know how you feel!!!!!!!!!!! Remember "this too shall pass", and I love your quote "the sweet moments always trump the stressful ones"... YES!!!!!! THAT! Oh and, I have STILL Never gone to the grocery store with both my boys by myself yet... and Sawyer is 13 months old! So don't feel bad!!!!!!!!!!! You are doing awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and my Bennett loves screwdrivers too!!! LOL! My GOODNESS your boys are CUTE.
ReplyDelete*But I cheat... my sister-in-law lives with me... otherwise i'm quite certain I couldn't have made it this long without taking both buddies to the store!
DeleteOh, I KNOW you know how I feel. It's times like this I wish we could get together to let the boys play and swap stories over glasses of wine!
DeleteI did break down and took both boys to the grocery store today, only because Justin was the next lucky recipient of the nasty stomach bug going around our house and we were out of Gatorade. I made it a really short trip (I ran out of room in the cart!) but we all survived!
Thank you for the encouragement, I'm pretty jealous of your live-in sister-in-law... I've been trying to convince my sister to move to IN for years!
Someday, who knows, maybe we WILL get a chance to let our boys play while we drink a glass (or 3) of wine together! Sounds lovely :) And good work on the grocery store trip!, but a bummer that it was to get more gatorade... :( Stomach bugs ripping through households are no fun at all... I hope Justin feels better soon!
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