My High and Low Kid
October 5, 2011
My first kid was pretty even tempered. Sure he had his moments, but he is pretty much the same relatively happy kid all the time. Parker on the other hand, is my high and low kid. He certainly makes things interesting!
High: Spontaneous ‘I love you Mama’
Low: Pulling out the 6th and last pair of clean underwear and pants for the day during potty training (and yes, the dryer has been broken for over a month…)
High: Excited exclamation from the back seat as Zach is driving past a speed reader “39! Mama, that’s 39!” (yep, the number on the reader was 39 – no clue how that happened…)
Low: Ear piercing screeching in public places while spread flat on his stomach (i.e. Olive Garden, Boston Museum of Science, etc…)
High: Happily playing with his brother for nearly an hour!
Low: REFUSING to let anyone except Mama comfort him (which is simultaneously sweet, but sad because this ‘phase’ has been lasting for over a year now…)
High: Getting closer to potty trained!
Low: Still going through 1-2 pair of underwear and pants every day (the shoes are slightly more problematic)
High: The mimicking is just so adorable ‘Have good dreams Parker’; ‘Have good dreams Mama’
Low: He figured out how to properly use the word nuts. ‘You drive me nuts Mama’ or (loud Parker sigh) ‘Them dinosaurs drive me nuts Xander’ (yep, it’s really tough to keep a straight face when he says this stuff)
High: Regardless of the day I’ve had, or the day he’s had, when I walk in the door at day care I am always greeted with a running hug and the biggest smile ever. Hand’s down one of the best parts of my day (who doesn’t love it when someone is happy to see you?)
He’s my high/low kid. The highs totally make the lows worth it and I wouldn’t want him to be any other way.
“I do it self!” is a phrase that we hear in our house many times a day now. Parker, right on schedule, has decided to exert some independence on his life. Sometimes, it’s fine. When he woke up yesterday morning and wanted to walk down the stairs by himself, I watched from the bottom, complimenting him and telling him how big he’s gotten. His smile when he reached the bottom was worth the extra three minutes it took to wait for him. On the other hand, sometimes those exclamations are not really useful, like when he wants to take off his clothes. Thankfully, I got to stay downstairs working on dinner while Parker exclaimed no less than 12 times last night that he would put his diaper on himself. Luckily for Zach, Parker could not hear me chuckling in the kitchen or I’m sure he really would have hammed it up 
As I think some of our good friends could attest to, kids at Parker’s age are on the verge of finally talking. They want to talk. They know what they want to say, but they just can’t find the words to communicate with the world. And that is indescribably frustrating. Parker takes this frustration out on the wrong toy you hand him when he flings it to the ground, or flinging himself to the ground when you just won’t do what he wants you to do.