Who's the boss?

As usual, Aaron's development keeps me on my toes all the time. I do enjoy this constant change even though I get dragged down sometimes by that little energy draining being. Part of growing up must be the development of increasingly challenging behavior to make sure that your parents are constantly tested.

One of the latest roles that Aaron has taken is "Guardian of Mama's Belongings". He's still very amicable about this and will diplomatically retrieve my cell phone, or my remote control, or my used plastic bag, or whatever it is that the other person has taken. And by the way, he thinks EVERYTHING is mine :) Its kinda cute and not too hard to deal with.

Next is the Exclusive Rights he thinks he has on me. Yes, I know he's used to having my undivided attention but now, he's started to 'complain' when I have conversations with other people. If I happen to be sitting on the floor at his level, he'll turn my head to face him only. And if I still continue the conversation, he ends up saying "No whatever-the-name-of-other-person, Mama talk to Aaron". Talk about jealousy reigning its ugly head! This one is a little tougher to deal with because its of course not just the talking to other people. Its the doing of anything else that doesn't involve him.

As some sort of extension to his 'Exclusive Rights', I'm now considered the only person that can do anything for him. If I'm not in the room its fine but if I'm there, nobody else is allowed to lift him up into his high chair, change his shirt, brush his teeth, wipe his mouth, take him to the bathroom, feed him, get him a drink, you get the idea. This one is really tiring. Have to nip this one in the butt soon!

I titled this post "Who's the boss?" but really, nobody is. I am not Aaron's boss and I don't want to be. I'm sure he isn't intentionally acting 'bossy' and is just learning about boundaries and where he can assert himself. I suppose each disappointments or frustration he faces will teach him that he isn't the boss either. There are no bosses in this house. Having said that, we still need some sort of order and balance on who gets more say. The balancing act in parenting huh?