Back to Your Regular Scheduled Programming
Posted on January 28, 2008 - Filed Under Kids |
Ok, the drama of being hacked has played out for entirely too many posts, so I´m going back to normal blogging. 
Dante is turning into a little boy. It´s weird how that happens. One day you have this cute little baby sitting in your lap and the next he´s a fiercely independent little thing, trying to imitate his big brother and moving on to bigger and better things than Mama´s lap. I hate to admit it, but Dante spends entirely too much time with my in-laws. And they spoil him to death.
See, the idea for Guatemalans is to simply give a child everything they want, encourage them to hit people and such and then let them figure out for themselves that the world is cold and harsh and doesn´t give them everything once they hit school age. So if Dante peeps, everyone runs to see what he wants. And then they give it to him. They hold him and fawn over him the whole time he´s there and when he comes back here, even after an hour, he is a regular little brat!
Dorian never went through this, mainly because I was way too uptight to even consider letting someone else look after him for more than five seconds. He spent his infanthood close to me, in his bouncy seat, tied to my back as I washed dishes or sitting at my feet while I crocheted things to sell. He is a total Mama´s boy, but I kinda like it that way. Poor kid. I´m sure he´ll turn out completely warped because I´m smothering him.
Dante, on the other hand, came along so quickly after Dorian that everyone assumed I couldn´t possibly handle two children. They didn´t factor in my work because no one here actually believes that I do anything besides play computer games and ignore my children. (because only a very neglectful mother would let her children play outside in the sand and get their shoes wet in puddles, you know). Anyway, they would take Dante for me and leave me with Dorian. Which didn´t do anything to dispell the whole Mama´s boy thing. 
My two boys are very, very different in many ways, and part of it is because I´m so much more relaxed with Dante. He didn´t have problems at birth, so I think that helped. With Dorian, his entire first year, I had this awful feeling that I might lose him and I couldn´t bear to let him out of my sight in case something happened to him!
Ok, I´m done. How´s that for another rambling, mundane post?
Comments
6 Responses to “Back to Your Regular Scheduled Programming”
Leave a Reply
In many ways, the ‘In-Laws’ can be soo helpful… But then again, they can be such a bother! I am sure that the intentions are good, but I am not for picking up a baby the second it cries, as it tends to mean more work for you later on… By all means go and check to see everythings ok, but settle and leave.
I always thought that playing in sand, kicking in puddles was dangerous as well, shame on you for allowing them to do such things…
What about letting them use chalk on pavements to draw, or wait, I used to play cricket (an aussie sport) on the road, and go to the local creek and catch tadpoles! What would they think of that? 
Cricket? I think that would be considered child abuse! As for catching tadpoles . . . well, anything to do with water offers the threat of dying of pnemonia, you realize.
It is good that the in-laws will help even though they may do things differently. The culture is so different from here. Do they have preschools for 2 and 3 year olds where you are? It would seem that they do not want the children to become independent too soon. When do kids begin school. Here in Connecticut, USA most kids start some kind of nursery school program at 2 years old.
Julie
Enjoy that mama’s boy while you have him! Somewhere between three and five, they start to become daddy’s boys. Right now I still have Grant on my side, but Grayson tells me very plainly he’s daddy’s.
I think we’re all less obsessive with our second child. Imagine if he needed you as badly as Dorian how crazy your life would be!
I’m with you on the in-laws, too. Mine are great, but Grayson used to come home from their house acting like a holy terror. Not to mention they would let him eat nothing but fruit all day long and he would have diarrhea the whole next day. The boys don’t see them as much anymore, so it isn’t as bad when they do.
It’s not mundane. I enjoyed the post. I long to be a mother and even posts like this does not scare me. Haha. It’s helpful to get insights, though. Any kids would love grandparents. With mine when I was young, I could get away with ice-cream and chocolates between meals and then after meals. Life was so good. Haha!
my son Eddie is 7 and he’s still a momma’s boy!