I don't know why, but every morning this week I've woken up clueless with Drew. He keeps me on my toes and every morning becomes a new adventure trying to figure out what is making him cranky. Is he hungry? Is he wet? Does he need his medicine? Is he overtired? Is he bored? Is it a growth spurt? Maybe he's just not a morning person? And then today he woke up happy as a clam, what a little stinker! When I expect him to be cranky, he's not. I guess I should be happy, but I still feel on edge like I'm waiting for him to be cranky again.
Teacher note: I know as a parent expectations are a big part in how you handle your kids. If you have too high expectations, you are just waiting for them to fail. If you have too little than you aren't challenging them enough. I found this in working with preschoolers too. If I didn't expect them to help clean up, then why would they do it? As long as it was something that they are capable of doing, than I could have high expectations. At the same time, I couldn't expect them to pick up every last bit of applesauce on the floor without some help. I saw parents on both ends of the spectrum of expectations. Some that treated their three-year-olds like 1-year-olds (still did EVERYTHING for them), and some that treated them like 6-year-olds (wanted them to read already!). Both were disappointed a lot. It is hard to have the perfect balance. I think it is good to at least recognize the expectations that you are putting on your child so you can change them when appropriate.
So, today I expect that Drew will be exactly what he needs to be as a 12 week old: mostly happy and maybe a little bit cranky.
(Drew does have it against him that I know EXACTLY what a three-year-old can do if they try hard enough :) He's got three years to enjoy before he goes through Mom's Boot Camp! Just kidding, I'll probably baby him til college)
