Honeymoon is Over

It is safe to say the honeymoon is over. Stuff has gotten real. After what I thought was a breakthrough, Big J has been challenging us every step of the way. On Monday, we had a huge meltdown at gymnastics. Which lead to me carrying him kicking and screaming to the car. Followed by more inconsolable screaming.

He has been asking more for his "Grandma" and wanting to go live there. I have to admit it is a visceral pain to hear your child call for someone else. We try to validate how he is feeling, that he misses her and gets sad. We tell him she loves him and misses him, but wanted him to have a mommy and daddy who would take care of him forever.

Big J is so jealous of little J. We try to explain that little J is littler, so some things will be different but we love them the same. I feel like some of the aggression is coming from jealousy.  He missed some of that time being taken care of as a baby.

Sometimes when I think we aren't making any progress, he says something so insightful. Last week, we has our nanny come over for a trial period. Big J said, "Next time you go to work, I am going to dump something out!" I said, "So you were mad?" He responded, "Yes! Like the sheep!"
(We are reading a book entitled Marvin Gets Mad, about a sheep with a temper.)

Yesterday, he was having a little snack as I was getting ready for my 1st day of work. His little voice says, "It's ok. You can go. I'm not gonna be mad."