Day 58 - Thursday, October 1st

What made me smile today?

Baby making his chicken noise when he saw the chicken in the meat section in Tesco...

Baby looking at the cauliflower I picked up in Tesco and then making his eating action and noise

Baby was sitting on my lap and then he stood up when I asked him to (he doesn't always listen! But maybe it is a case of not really hearing/understanding what I say rather than not listening)

What triggered me today?

Dinner time, again. This time it wasn't actually the mess. It was more his constant crying seemingly wanting more food, and not being able to wait. I think this would have been ok normally, except he'd been like that *all* day (crying and wanting food NOW rather than waiting til it was ready or doing all the normal stuff we need to do before we can eat)... so by dinner time my ability to deal with it was almost non existent.

What would I have done differently today?

Baby woke up crying at around 6 this morning. I usually let him cry until he falls back asleep but this morning he seemed to be crying quite a lot so I decided to pick him up to comfort him. But he didn't like that at all and did his thing where he wriggles and kicks himself out of your embrace, and so I not-as-gently-as-I-should-have grabbed hold of him again... difficult at 6am and half asleep, but I should have been more gentle. But next time I'll just let him cry - sounds awful but it is actually the best thing to do.

What will I try to do tomorrow?

Remember triggers, limits, voice, be gentle... and try to figure out how to get to the end of the day (or maybe just dinner time) and still have room for more crying and tantrums. He seems to be crying in frustration a lot more the past few days. I'm not sure if it's just stress from going back to nursery after his almost 2 week break, or if he's just entering the tantrum stage, or if his requests are becoming more complex so I'm not fully dealing with what he wants... either way, there has been a lot more frustration lately.

What am I grateful for?

Having the energy to look after Baby. I was sick twice in the last two weeks, bed-ridden sick, and it is impossible to look after Baby with the energy levels I had back then. It made me appreciate being healthy so much more.