Settling In

Today I dropped the little boys off at daycare for the first time.  It's a very nice daycare and less then two miles from the house. There was only one other child there today. They enjoyed their day, but when I arrived to pick them up they were ready to come home with me which is a good sign that they are settling in. The oldest boy is real sweet. The youngest one, bless is heart, is crabby. Even the daycare manager called him crabby. He has brief moments where the light comes into his eyes and he smiles, but he is mostly sober faced or crabby. He throws tantrums over everything. He hasn't learned to feed himself at all. He holds the spoon upside down and the food is spills everywhere.... but he won't let me help him. Literally. WON'T let me help him. He grabs the nearest thing and throws it.... tonight it was a bowl of applesauce. I rocked him and calmed him after a lengthy tantrum and we decided to try again. I gave up on the bowl and handed him one of those fancy applesauce packets that they suck the fruit from. He was mad that I had taken the bowl away and so he squeezed the packet in the middle and flung it across the counter. For a kid just over a year old I am amazed at his stubborn streak. Rather than gleaning comfort from me he fights me. Holding him in the night when he is scared is not helpful. He wants AWAY from me and throws a tantrum. He will ask to be picked up, but on his terms. He hits  and was put in time out for that today, too at daycare. So, we have our work cut out for us. I hope that it is a matter of bringing some nurturing  into his life and outlining some boundaries that will help him feel secure and happy. We'll see.

PS. Christina clued me in that this baby is throwing tantrums when I sit down with him because he wants me to walk the floors and bounce him around. Say, what? He's not a newborn!  He wants to be picked up and held.... but he throws a fit every time I sit in the rocking chair with him. So, we tried sitting on the exercise ball and bouncing. He loves it. Eventually he's gonna let me sit when I wanna sit wherever I choose!