Sunday, January 31, 2010
Four is proving to be as difficult as three so far.
Three was difficult because of the defiance thing and that got old pretty quick. Four is proving to be difficult so far due to the testing thing. The testing thing is Natalie doing things that she knows that she shouldn't be doing (and definitely at her age knows she shouldn't be doing) but does anyway.Very shortly after she turned four (and mind you, just getting her to SAY she was four took two weeks itself, she did NOT want to be four, she wanted to be three), she cut her hair. Now, her hair had been in braids and some of it had come out of the braid. That was what she cut. Fortunately, it wasn't too much but I did have to play around with it and the bangs look a little goofy now near the part. I'm going to have to deal more with that at some point but it's not a huge deal when her hair is down, in fact you can't even see it then.
Not too long after that, John and I are in the bedroom where John is rubbing my back when Natalie comes in crying and freaking out. She had stuck a bead up her nose and couldn't get it out. At first, you couldn't even see the bead. Now, we are not in a situation where we can just pack her up in the car and take her to the doctor (one reasons why I'm really getting sick of living here). So, I had to try and get the bead out myself. I had her blow out the nostril the bead her was (blocking the other one). Fortunately, she cooperated and the bead started making it's way out. It took several times and I went looking for tweezers to help get it out while John continued working with Natalie to blow out the bead. She finally blew it out on her own without needing the tweezers which was good because I couldn't find them (thanks to John putting them away somewhere) and other than a little bit of a bloody nose, she was none the worse for wear though I kept warning her that the next time we may have to take her in and the doctor may end up having to use a vacuum like the one I saw did when I stuck a bunch of paper up my nose (yeah, this is obviously karma getting revenge on me for doing the same thing to my mom at about the same age).
Later on in the month, Natalie had a playdate with a little boy (the daughters weren't available). The two had a blast playing with dinosaurs and cars (she's almost more into those than she is into dolls and stuff) and when he and the mom were getting ready to leave, Natalie gave him a hug. Aww, so sweet. Well, when I went to get our things, she also kissed him. Not long after that, I got an email from the mom relating to me the funny story of how her son then thought he was married because my daughter kissed him. Too cute but John didn't think so. He was NOT happy about his daughter already kissing boys (though this was not the first time, she was kissing boys well before this back when we were going to LLL meetings, well, one boy anyway) and I tried to explain to her that she should not be kissing boys because Daddy didn't like it. To which she replied, "I am NOT going to stop kissing boys!" So I asked her WHY she liked kissing boys.
"Because they're cute!"
Oh boy! She is going to be a handful in about ten years!
She's settled down a little since then but I do worry that she's going to be difficult when the baby comes. She still does a lot of whining and is prone to temper tantrums at times. She's also not always willing to dress herself or wipe herself or things like that and expects us to help her all the time. I'm doing the best I can to prepare her for the baby and we talk about the baby quite a bit. She'll ask questions about the baby and I do my best to answer them but I know that it's not really going to sink in for her until the baby is here. She did get to see the baby a little bit when I got my ultrasound and hear the heartbeat but that's been about it so far and I know how I was when my little sister was born which is why I'm really working hard to prepare her. I'm hoping that not having had a big brother or sister herself, she won't be as confused as I was when my mom was pregnant.
We finally got up to Ilsan last week and she got to see her friends for the first time since October. She enjoyed that a lot. We also used that as a chance to have a little birthday party for her. Nothing major but we got a cake and her friends all got her a present which she enjoyed a lot. It was a Winnie the Pooh doctor kit. One thing I do have to say about her is that she does play very well and gets along well with the other kids. She's not perfect about sharing or waiting her turn but at least she doesn't hit kids upside the head like I did at her age so there's hope for her yet. lol She had a blast though, spent four hours playing with her friends before we finally all decided to head home. She was very good on the subway too though it helped that I had put The Lion King on my MP3 player. The only problem we really had was that she did NOT want to give up the player when we finally got home (the ride is two hours long).
So, while she may be a challenge at times and not the easiest kid to put up with, she's still a good kid most of the time, bad jokes and all.
Hope to update more and even add some pictures in soon (been neglecting that with all the pregnancy exhaustion).
| posted by Janeen at 8:48 AM
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One Christian Mom had this to say:
Our kids must be the same age, because we are at that stage, too. My son is 4 (turned 4 in october). He, too, didn't want to be 4. Although he didn't stuff anything up his nose, he did cut his hair. Also, he all of a sudden "forgot" how to do things himself. I think it's a regression stage, and pray for it to be over quickly :)
God Bless.
Shellie-
Janeen had this to say:
Oh thank goodness! I was beginning to worry that it had to do with the baby coming. Makes me feel a little better that it's an age thing. She turned four the end of December. Unfortunately, it's probably going to get worse for her before it gets better because once again, her life is going to get turned upside down with another move (back to the states) and a new baby, all before the end of this year. Poor thing, I really hope we start to have a more stable life eventually!
