Back me up May06 Babycenter mamas!
I think the politically correct way to say it is that I am not well-suited to deal with the difficulties of this age. The most negative attributes of this age are my biggest button pushers:
- Defiance. OH MY. This is my #1 button pusher.
- Arguing/back talking/sassing. Whatever you want to call it. It makes me want to scream.
- Not listening. I mean REALLY not listening.
- Twin escalation syndrome. This is perhaps the worst age for TES we've experienced. More on that below.
I keep reminding myself we are at the heart of age 5.5 and that this particular phase is needed for emotional growth. Joanna (who has recently started watching two 5.5 year olds after school each day) has been amazing at telling me that YES this age with two is really that hard.
Obviously there is unbelievable awesomeness is the craziness. And obviously I love my children and shower them with love, affection, and attention. And then there's this (prepare to die):
But I'm ready for a couple of calm, quiet days.
And yes I know I'll need to wait another 13 years for those days.
17 comments:
"I can't decide" lead to me spending 15 minutes in a hallway last night debating with Michael over whether we should take the stairs or the elevator. We ended up doing BOTH. He still cried. OMG!
And, I know this is wrong. But that picture immediately made me think of the Bloggess and "A hug is like a strangle you haven't finished yet."
Oh, the 5.5 stage! It stinks, to put it mildly. We went through it last spring, and it was as though aliens had invaded our children's bodies. Horrendous! With moments of joy sprinkled in :) But as mine got closer to six, it definitely got much better. It's so painful at times, but I think it does help to remind ourselves that these are stages that will end. They won't act like that forever. Hang in there, and stock up on the red wine and chocolate :)
Also, can you tell me where you got those great bathrobes? They are on my list for the girls this year and I can't find any that I like. Thanks!
My twins are 3.5 and you are scaring me. I thought the bickering was bad now!
Dang it, JTC always hits the peak of these stages just after Nate and Alex. Argh.
I have been noticing a lot of sneaky messing with his brother. I almost never actually see it, so it's difficult to punish him appropriately.
So stinking cute!
Now I'm really worried because we're only at 5.2 and it already sounds like what you describe, at least with J. Every thing he says he puts the sound "pwaah" in front of (I just told him today I can no longer hear any sentence with Pwaah in it). This morning at drop off when I told him he had blueberry all over his face he announced in front of all "My face is very clean!" as he stared in a mirror at his messy face. His teacher told him he was "full of business." And it's constant disagreeing with whatever I say and constant testing of limits. Please don't tell me it'll be worse in 4 months!
I'm with you. Elijah is going through one of the worst phases I've seen yet. Just crazy acting out in ways I've never seen before! He's usually such a calm, laid back kid, now all the sudden he's breaking lamps..and pumpkins. Poor kid lost ALL his Star Wars toys on Sunday as punishment.
OMG word verfication is "fatesses" and I totally read it as "Fat asses"
OMG, Laura, I am so glad you posted this! I have been feeling so guilty for being so super-duper-fed-up with my 1.5 year olds and their defiance, whininess, irrationality and general stinkiness. And I also have been feeling like "What am I doing wrong???" So it makes me feel so much better when Moms who I know are great, loving, attentive and smart are also struggling a bit. I hate that that sounds like "misery loves company" because that's not how I mean it at all. I'm not glad you're going through this! Just glad that you shared! Your honesty helps me -- it really does! When I pray at night that God helps me NOT drop my children off at the landfill, I will add you to my prayers. :-) Hugs! Hugs! (And so jealous of the hearing aid-trick! Niiiice!)
Okay, so what I want to know is gender difference, sibling order difference, etc. etc. because of course now that I say this, it will probably change tomorrow but Jadyn has been in an absolutely delightful stage FINALLY outgrowing the indecision, whininess and overly dramatic reactions to EVERYTHING. Meanwhile, Jake at 7.5 has been acting like a teenager with the sulking and the "not hearing me" and the "why do I have to do this".
And so far all of your responses have been from May 06 moms of boys, many of whom have younger sibling boys to bicker and fight with. Or as in the case of Joanna watching the neighbor friend or you, have two at the exact same age - BUT both boys.
Where are the 5.5 girl moms out there? I want to hear from you too.
And that picture? Melts my heart. Too precious. Look at whenever the ugly 5.5's come out.
It seems every half (.5) age has been hard... why is that?
Yesterday, I got something in the mail about "are you expecting." I looked over at my 18 month old running away from me and my 5.5 year old lying to me (again) and laughed out loud.
I'll add from teaching freshman as a voluntary career choice that I'm thinking of installing a valium lick at my front door in about 10 years.
Joanna- I may have to laminate that quote.
OMG! Why, why must you bust my bubble like this?!?!?! We're at 5.1 and having battles, I can't imagine what is coming my way. =(
Great, 4 1/2 is currently kicking my butt. I actually questioned whether or not motherhood was a good decision for me last week. It was BAD. I guess maybe it is just preparing me for next year. You are right there is so much hilarity mixed with the difficulty but some days it is just ROUGH.
Honestly this is one reason I haven't blogged as much lately...if you don't have anything nice to say and all that :) There are things I love about this age, but on the flip side...wow. We have had some battles over here. I'm not proud of every parenting moment over the past few weeks, that's for sure. The defiance, willful disobedience, constantly jumping all over his little brother, it's making me insane! Where is my sweet little boy? I don't know about TES but the interaction between J and the 2 yr old has been so hot and cold, one day they're best buds, the next day they're both fighting, usually with J as the instigator. He even has a maniacal little laugh that he does when he KNOWS he's being bad, yet keeps on doing it!! Come on, 6...
May06 Babycenter mama
Amen sista. I will add defiance with a side of lying. Teachers of course know more than we do.
Right there with you sister! William's favorite phrase of late is "Seriously?" Said with all the drama and effect of a teenage girl. Me: "William--it's time to clean up." William: "SERIOUSLY?" It's kind of funny but really not. The thing that is driving me absolutely batty is the deliberate ignoring. I ask him something five times and by the fifth time, I'm boiling. It gets me every time.
The not listening has been really getting to me here. We are also having tantrums when things don't go Michael's way. I expect them from my 2.5 year old but not my 5.5 year old.
We have the bickering here too. What makes it so bad is that Katie tells Michael that he isn't being a good listener, which just add fuel to the fire with him.
One can only hope this stage passes quickly.
We have girls, so I think the hard age is still to come. I always tell my husband that I'm leaving when they turn 12 and I'll be back when they are 16. The teen years with two girls just sounds worse than anything we've been through so far. I keep reminding myself that these are the easy days. It helps when they have really bad twin days.
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