I've had two moms at the playground (on two different occasions) tell me that, after 6 months, it just gets better every day. In my charming "glass half empty" kind of way, I asked when it stopped getting better every day. Clearly, after seeing lots of 12 year olds at the mall telling their moms that they're stupid, I believe at some point it stops getting better and starts being quite trying. The moms both had the same answer for me. It stops being completely blissful around 18 months because the temper tantrums start. So what do you think? Is that about right? Just wondering how much longer Jack will be so completely awesome.
I don't know - on the one hand, there's always something going on that will drive you crazy. On the other hand, I have to say that the tantrums/meltdowns are pretty bad. Still, we didn't get to them until four, so I guess we're lucky? Everyone is always saying that "3 is the new 2" or "it's because he's 4," so who knows.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm pretty sure that Jack will be completely awesome forever. Except for the inevitable surly teenage period.
18 months, huh? I don't know about that one. That's when Johnny started communicating verbally, which is pretty freaking awesome. I really like this age. I can take him to parks or indoor play areas and he'll play there. Or if I'm making dinner at home he'll play independently for fifteen minutes. But at the same time, he's still little and needs me. I think Jack will always be great, but he'll have his obnoxious quirks like every human. :)
ReplyDelete"completely blissful"? those moms have never had a nipple bitten!
ReplyDeletei can't weigh in yet about 18 months, but seeing the stirrings of tantrums at 12 months, i'm not looking forward to the full blown screamfests. the stirrings of verbal stuff is, indeed, very awesome though.
Well I agree that I started being more relaxed when my daughters were 4-6 months. It was stressful for each daughter at different times (my oldest was kind of destructive - lots of photos of her with marker all over herself, on the walls, torn up bedroom at "quiet time", etc., but she was easy to understand and temper tantrums were pretty short with her. now my younger daughter is tenacious but neat. She likes order, but also likes to get her way & holds on to a tantrum like no other.) I think that it got easiest once my girls were 4 & 2, because then I could leave the room & they would play with each other. I could actually cook dinner without constant interruptions. At 7 & 5 now, they still love to snuggle, read, play games and understand cause & effect pretty well. I'm sure sometime around 10, we'll start to see more & more attitude, but for now, I love where we are.
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