Last year, Mitch was the sweetheart of the 2 year old class. Nearly every time I spoke to his teacher, she'd gush about how sweet he was and how polite, and I'd walk away beaming, inwardly smug at what a fantastic job I'd done raising a gentle, well-mannered young man.
Well, if his adorableness was my doing, I must have really screwed things up since then, because lately, my darling Mitch has been usurped by bizarro-Mitch, an evil twin I like to call "Gritch." Here are just a few of the not-at-all-polite phrases Gritch has uttered over the past 2 months:
"If you say that again, I'm going to mess up this whole place" (to the Target employee who warned Gritch he might pinch his fingers in the check-out counter's conveyor belt if he didn't put his hands down)
"I don't really feel like it" (to Mommy when she reminded him to say thank you to a little girl who shared a toy with him)
"I think...nothing" (to the teacher assistant at the preschool open house when she asked him what toys he liked to play with)
"If you do that to me, I'm gonna walk out of this house" (to Mommy and Daddy when they were explaining to Owen what being grounded meant (because he asked, not because he was grounded))
"I don't want it" (to the kind jewelry store lady who tried to give him a small helicopter toy)
"........." (to the kind jewelry store lady when Mommy reminded him to say "thank you anyway")
"No, sir! That's not for you" (to the boy at Owen's soccer practice who tried to use Gritch's dinosaur stompers but had them rudely snatched away)
"If you say that again, I'll spank your bottom" (to Mommy when she told Gritch he had to eat his sandwich before getting any chips)
Bottom line, the boy is the anti-sweet right now. I'm fully expecting this message on the answering machine tomorrow when I get home from my morning meeting at school:
"Hi, this is Gritch's teacher. Can you come get him? He's become completely insufferable kthnx."
But maybe, just maybe, the phenomenon of "good for everyone but mommy" will descend upon Gritch and magically transform him back into the giggly, happy, charming boy he once was, at least during school hours. Cause I have a feeling the seasoned Mrs. J isn't going to fall for Gritch's standard response to getting in trouble, pictured below:
Oh, good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteI suggest the love and logic books. It's got some good advice for nipping that sort of thing in the bud.
I wonder what changed?
I don't know what changed except that he turned 3 and a half, which was a rocky age for my first, too.
ReplyDeleteBaby sister is much more of a presence in the house these days, too, now that she's crawling and babbling and being called adorable at every turn by friends and family.
Maybe Gritch is just being the middle one? The "pay attention to me" one?
Three is the pits. (But funny....!!!) You are so pretty - love it!
ReplyDeleteThe half ages seem to be the hardest around here too.
ReplyDeleteLove the stories about Gritch though...:D
LOVE the cartoon. LOVE IT!
ReplyDelete3 is the terrible that they warn us about at 2...but 4 is my absolute favorite age. Just you wait...at 4 he is going to be your heart (your blog is so funny that I will remind you of this in a year or so).
ReplyDeleteIt's hard when the sweetness gets replaced by the anti-child. I know this phenomenon ALL too well!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the little blond boy is back soon!
Such a LATE comment, but wow, you have described my 5 year old. It started around the time he went to his 1st year of preschool & we had the new baby. It must be the middle child syndrome. I blame it all on that! My son is also a witty little boy, but he is very shy around other people, so he won't say the things he does to me to them.
ReplyDeleteWe will get through it somehow!