Guess what? We have praying mantis babies! Creepy?
In other news, Oliver has denounced me as the preferred parent. As proof, he spent the majority of yesterday telling me, “Mama, I don’t yike you. I yike Papa,” amidst a beautiful and delightful trip to the zoo during which I carried the villain on my back in the Ergo carrier while feeding him animal crackers and pushing the baby in the stroller and attempting to keep track of Milo as he darted ahead. After hugs and smooches and kind words, he would remind me. “Mama, I stiw don’t yike you.”
After picking him up and kissing his scraped knees after the fifth fall-down of the day, he hugged me and said, between heaving sobs, “YOU are NOT the best, Mama! I stiw don’t yike yoooooooouuuuuu!” But he still held my hand while we walked the rest of the way to the playground until Andrew was in his sights again and all was right with the world. Sigh.
I remember Milo pulling this treatment with Andrew at the exact same age and I thought it was hilarious. And now that Oliver is shunning me, I can totally handle it and be objective and realize that it is a normal stage of development, yada, yada, yada. Only, it kind of sucks to not be the favorite.
And yes, Milo went through his mean phase too, ensuing all sorts of hilarity and giggle-fits with the creative ways he would express his aggression toward us parents. Oliver is more tame with his insults, coining such phrases as “I’m gonna squirt you in the EYE!” and “STUPE!” (as he is not allowed to say “stupid,” he has shortened it in order to avoid a time-out but still get his point across- it’s surprisingly effective. You should really try it the next time you’re in an argument with your boss or spouse or two-year-old). But he often accompanies his tirades with blunt physical acts to enhance the anger, such as stomping one foot or slapping the wall. Oh, and he also likes to just yell “YAH!” “YAH!” “YAH!” very loud in your direction. Deafening and also quite effective.
And I know this phase will pass, as each phase does. So I’ll be here waiting with a hug and a kiss and an “I love you too” as soon as he’s ready to have it.
Also, here is the last time Oliver kicked my ass.
Oh no! I’ve seen this already a little. For a while W was all about ‘dada’ and then he decided to wean and suddenly lots of mama time sounded pretty good. Cuts pretty hard when they’re verbal though, hard to misinterpret ‘you are not the best’ 🙂 Harder still for the winning parent not to gloat.
My mom gets praying mantis’s (?) each year in these tall grasses in her garden. She loves them and thinks they’re gorgeous but they scare me a little!
The whole “stupe” thing is pretty dang genius. It’s as if you live with a mini-lawyer who knows exactly how far he can bend the law before it breaks.
Wait, this is supposed to be a phase?? I guess Jack hasn’t gotten through the whole “Dad is the best” phase then! I hopin to at least make a Mama’s boy out of Ben, but I doubt I’ll have any luck 🙂
Oh no! I’m sorry you’ve fallen out of his favor… That must be a little heartbreaking! I can’t even imagine the silly, mean things my little baby will say in the future. Last night I asked her for a kiss and she slapped me and laughed!
Just for the record, whenever I have the boys, about 10-20 minutes before it’s time to walk home from the library or playground, Oliver starts missing you bad. “I want mama. Where’s mama? I wanna go hoooome. I. Want. MAMA.’
I think he stiw yikes you.
Oh, thank you for saying that, Elisa! I was starting to feel like I’d lost him forever!
Oh my lord. I could just eat that little Oliver up! He’s too cute, and c’mon, you know he’s a mama’s boy at heart!
I love that Elisa can tell you the truth of the matter 😉
what a sweet sweet post. and those photos! your family is adorable:)
So, I followed a link off of Pinterest, and I found your darling blog. This is a crazy universe, because I have 3 little boys, and their names are Milo, Oliver, and Sullivan! So random! I just wanted to tell you that you have great taste in names 🙂