2 Weeks May Have Been Too Long

I have -M- back today. I'm amazed at the difference in him. When I first started having him, he was a bit clingy and whinny...to be expected the first few days in a new environment. After a few days though, he had adjusted and was such a good baby! He would play in his walker, on the floor and in the pack-n-play. By the time Christmas break rolled around, we had a routine going and things were great.

Fast forward to today....

-M- is right back to where we started...and even a bit worse. He was great while I took the girls to school. He was great when we got home and I got him out of his coat. He was fine when I put him on the floor to grab a diaper and wipes...for all of 2.5 seconds! The minute he wasn't in my arms or his carseat it was all over. I was moving as fast as I could, grabbing the stuff to change him (mind you, it was litterally 3 steps away from him), sat on the floor with him and got down to business. Apparently, no one changed him before they brought him over this morning....he'd peed thru his diaper and his undershirt was wet. That meant I needed to change him into clothes before he ate breakfast. Grrrr.....he's a messy eater and they never send a bib. Nothing I could really do but change him, so I did. I know he's a baby, don't get me wrong....but this is a totally different baby than the one that I was watching! He fussed and cried almost the whole time! He's never been this way. He has had a cold before and was cutting teeth and wasn't this difficult! After I finally managed to get him dressed, I popped him in the pack-n-play to watch a little bit of Barney while I regrouped. Yeah, right! He screamed and cried the whole time! No amount of toys, talking or TV would settle him. It was a full out temper tantrum! For those of you who know me...you know how well I took that. For those of you who don't know me, I have 3 kiddos of my own, have babysat forever and worked in a daycare. I NEVER put up with or give in to tantrums. I feel that if you do, you're showing the child that they can use that to get their way. I really couldn't handle it today, so I picked him up thinking maybe I missed something and there was an issue. Yeah, the issue was that I wasn't holding him! He clung to me for dear life....like if I put him down he would die. I decided to take him into the kitchen and go ahead with breakfast. He was fine playing with the fridge magnets while I made his cereal. I brought him back to the living room to feed him...he ate fine and has been playing great for the last 15 minutes. *sigh of relief* However, as I am typing this last littel bit he's fussing again. I'm going to make him a bottle and try to get him down for a nap. I'm guessing that he got way off schedule like the rest of us during break. Hopefully a nap will restore some form of normality.