No-nah
Last week, Jonah turned two. Not chronologically, but developmentally.
No!
No!
No!
Appropriately, he also calls himself Nonah ("dzh" being a difficult sound to make for a toddler).
Ever see one of those cartoons where the big cartoon character is being chased by a little character (e.g, Tom and Jerry or Foghorn Leghorn and the chicken hawk)? The big one -- say, Tom -- stops and turns around, picks up Jerry, and Jerry is trying desperately to punch Tom and keeps kicking his legs as if running in mid-air? That's what Jonah looks like when we pick him up to change his diaper or bring him in the house for dinner, etc., and he's not in the mood to have his diaper changed or stop playing outside. Maybe not the punching, but the running legs bit. All quite amusing. The first time.
We're not entirely sure how this happened. One moment, he is playing happily with his toys, near Noah who is playing happily with his. The next moment, Jonah picks up a toy car or block, toddles over to Noah, and klonks him on the head from behind. We've given Jonah more time-outs in the past two weeks than Noah had in the run-up to Jonah's birth (perhaps an exaggeration, but I don't think so).
Not that Noah was (or is) always an angel, but I don't recall him being purposefully violent. It's rather distressing. Hence the new book I bought, "Hands Are Not for Hitting." If only we could get Jonah to sit still and listen to it (he loves his doh-dees -- stories -- but not this one. Hmm, I wonder why?).
He also clearly knows when he's doing something wrong -- either he'll get an impish look on his face immediately before throwing a toy (or grabbing one), or he'll adamantly refuse to say "Sorry," or both. Of course, I recognize that forcing a child to say "Sorry" when he doesn't mean it isn't the best lesson to teach, and I guess his obvious contrition and willingness to go up to his victim (usually Noah) and give him a nice pat and a hug should count for something, but I'm still worried.
Should be an interesting couple of years, I guess...
No!
No!
No!
Appropriately, he also calls himself Nonah ("dzh" being a difficult sound to make for a toddler).
Ever see one of those cartoons where the big cartoon character is being chased by a little character (e.g, Tom and Jerry or Foghorn Leghorn and the chicken hawk)? The big one -- say, Tom -- stops and turns around, picks up Jerry, and Jerry is trying desperately to punch Tom and keeps kicking his legs as if running in mid-air? That's what Jonah looks like when we pick him up to change his diaper or bring him in the house for dinner, etc., and he's not in the mood to have his diaper changed or stop playing outside. Maybe not the punching, but the running legs bit. All quite amusing. The first time.
We're not entirely sure how this happened. One moment, he is playing happily with his toys, near Noah who is playing happily with his. The next moment, Jonah picks up a toy car or block, toddles over to Noah, and klonks him on the head from behind. We've given Jonah more time-outs in the past two weeks than Noah had in the run-up to Jonah's birth (perhaps an exaggeration, but I don't think so).
Not that Noah was (or is) always an angel, but I don't recall him being purposefully violent. It's rather distressing. Hence the new book I bought, "Hands Are Not for Hitting." If only we could get Jonah to sit still and listen to it (he loves his doh-dees -- stories -- but not this one. Hmm, I wonder why?).
He also clearly knows when he's doing something wrong -- either he'll get an impish look on his face immediately before throwing a toy (or grabbing one), or he'll adamantly refuse to say "Sorry," or both. Of course, I recognize that forcing a child to say "Sorry" when he doesn't mean it isn't the best lesson to teach, and I guess his obvious contrition and willingness to go up to his victim (usually Noah) and give him a nice pat and a hug should count for something, but I'm still worried.
Should be an interesting couple of years, I guess...
posted by Monica aka "Chef Hertzman" at
3:27 PM
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