We're currently at age 4 (and one month), and the barrage of "why" questions (the "trippy" ones that you describe) continue on, ad nauseum. Oh what I would give if a little regression would happen in my house (the kind you mention, which is silent, and doesn't resemble the very LOUD infancy we also experienced). I have actually had to tell my child to please close her lips, stop asking me questions, if I hear one more random, unanswerable question, my head is going to explode and then who would drive the car the rest of the way home!?
Holy jebus man -- propped up against a park tree? In a swaddle? Quietly observing? Please tell me you do housecalls for this too. Any beer you like.
This is one of my favorite posts of yours, ever.
i'm seriously starting to question why we banned the binky to night-night time only. people think it's so cute how pnut chatters away, but seriously, some days it's enough to make you want to stab your eye with a rusty fork. last night my husband said "it's nice that we can understand her demands now, but i'd like an off switch."
oh the whining, the whining. thank god i can counter the whine with wine. and beer. and, now that summer is here, pina coladas.
I think when she found the change in the sofa cushions and decided to go buy herself a pacifier, she officially became smarter than a dog. just kidding... also very impressed that she knows the word "swaddle".
I love the picture set at the top. It kind of reminds me of the pictures of Trixie (from trixieupdate... I think I actually found you from them a while ago) when she was 2. I think it's the dramatic expressions maybe?
None of our kids have been regressers, except our now four year old. Unfortunately he does think babies are loud.
My daughter still says things like that at six years old. But than she also gives the sweetest huges and can say things like " You're the best daddy EVER!"
Great post
Not regressing here yet (I think that will come if we have the "You're having a WHAT???" conversation with her) but I get the imperious orders to stop talking, not touch her, no singing, etc. all. the. freaking. time.
We also get SCREAMING if we fail to immediatey respond to her commands, or dare to have a conversation with each other to the exclusion of her.
Thank God (or, you know, Chthulu) that they are so. freaking. cute. and interesting at this age too or we'd be losing our damn minds. I love listening to her talk, love learning more about how the world looks to her. And things like the other day: We were in Target ad she askd me to give her a hug, and then proceeded to snuggle against me and inform me she loved me and I was the best in the world. Given that she'd not slept more than 8 hours in the last 48 at that point, I know that kept me from fleeing to a deserted island at least once in the last seeral days.
They are clever, aren't they?
Very cute. Reminds me of my nephews. At 2.5, little Max decided that he's a little baby and had the need to be carried around and cradled and he is no longer Max. Like, I say, "hi Max" and he would say, "no, not Max. I'm a little baby." Similarly, his twin brother, formerly known as Sam, is now Kitty. As in "meow meow-meow-meow Kitty." Last time I saw them, Sam wouldn't talk to me, he'd only meow for the first two days we were together. I think it's tapering off now that Kitty and Little Baby are almost 3.
Entertaining, anyhow.
Ditto what everyone else already wrote. Now what about that chair? (nice Nelson clock, too, by the way).
What a great post -
Your daughter sounds like such an amazing kiddo.
I can't imagine swaddling a 30-month old. The mental image of her swaddled and propped against the tree is priceless. And several diaper-free months? Dude, you could make a fortune with house calls...like Cryitout said.
Oh, those pics? Look like they are out of some over-priced catalog! FABulous!
"...the world's smallest psychotic cannibal out for fresh air in her little chariot..." made me laugh out loud really, really hard. I'm so glad I work alone.
My son has gone through baby phases, too - he wants to be fed or rocked or whatever, but he gets bored quickly because there is running! and jumping! that could be done.
Juniper sounds like so much fun.
Oh I love love LOVE that chair that Juniper is sitting on.
In the middle of throwing a tantrum a few months back, my husband stepped calmly over Max's prone body on the floor and asked me, "What's wrong with the baby?"
Tantrum stopped instantly. Max sat up and bellowed at his father, "I am NOT a baby!" and then resumed kicking and screaming.
Yeah, two is really fun, isn't it?
I was the designated swaddler as well. It's a good job, if you can master the technique.
And my boy once informed me that I wasn't his Papa any more when I denied him some sugary snack or other. Funny how they know how to twist that knife at such an early age.
The photograph is fantastic. The colours, the props and the action. I love it. Well done you.
So much that was hilarious in this post. The psychotic cannibal part, esp. I also loved: "It strikes me as somewhat disingenuous that her fantasy of infancy is this pantomime of quiet, reflective observation, whereas the reality of her infancy was anything but."
Juniper thinks babyhood is like being a franciscan monk.
I just finished putting my nine-month-old daughter Alleke to sleep before reading this post.
Your thoughts reminded me that even though putting Alleke to sleep is hard work (the bouncing and singing and putting her down and picking her up and putting her down again), very soon I won't be holding her cradled in my arms like I do now.
I will miss that.
Okay, so this is the very first time I have been afraid of a post. Only because you have just put on to the internets the conversation that is in my head daily. I wish that Toddler would like to be swaddled, and I am seriously rethinking this binky taking away we did....if that gets the pie hole shut for a little while, and the "I AM TALKING TO YOU!! LOOK AT ME!!" To stop I will buy diamond encrusted ones!!
Beautifully written! My son does a lot of the same things: wanting to be babied, telling me I shouldn't sing, gives great conversation...
Sounds like your babyhood memories are similar to ours -- lots of crying and wishing for sleep!!
Ella is 3.5 yrs and recently started thinking up creative insults: "A whale should come and EAT YOU UP!" Also there is the ever-popular, "I want a NEW MOMMY you are NOT my MOMMY ANYWAY."
Nice.
When we look at baby pictures of The Squad (ad nauseum) Claudia says, "Oh! I was such a sweet baby!"
best. fucking. post. ever.
"t must have looked like I was taking the world's smallest psychotic cannibal out for fresh air in her little chariot."
=
brilliant.
I love the pictures of Juniper at the top of the post. The colors are great and she is as cute as ever.
Awesome post. Hope I didn't freak you out too much when I recognized you at Eastern Market on 7/14. Does it happen often that strangers so quickly connect you with your website? It has to be weird when they do.
I wish I could tell you the whining gets better as they age, but I am not finding this to be true. They become more opinionated and soon enough they want to do everything themselves and they start talking like you to the younger ones.
lovely.
i think you are picking the right battles to fight.
the end.
Thank you writing this post...we thought our 2.5 year old was the only one currently obsessed with seeing her own baby pictures and discussion of 'pacifiers.' She has taken everything in the house that looks even remotely like a pacifier (although she too screamed through infanthood and rarely tolerated one then), shoved them all into her purse to be carried EVERYWHERE so that she can convince EVERYONE in the family (stuffed or human) to suck on one from time to time. She also thinks it's funny to pretend cry 'Like when I was a baby, Mommy!'
We didn't like it then sista, we don't need it now.
Great post.
uh oh...reminiscing and trying to remind self of the bad parts of infancy...time for a new baby!
our #2 arrived on 7/14 and we're being reminded hardcore about the not sleeping thing. but he's really sweet.
My daughter Allie never liked pacifiers. It was a major disappointment sometimes when we really needed to "cork" her. But now, I'm glad because I can only imagine how difficult it would have been to take it away from her. She also regresses upon seeing infancy pictures.
Commenting by HaloScan
