Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Strong Willed

Well, this may not be a surprise to any of you, it's not to any of us... Jimmie seems to be very strong willed. If you know Rachael OR Justin you'll know that Jimmie is genetically inclined in that direction. Rachael and Justin are 2 of the more strong-willed people I know.

Jimmie is now very loudly asserting his will when it gets violated. The other morning shortly after he woke up he was walking down the hall just as Justin was walking out the front door. Justin shut the screen door as Jimmie was trying to follow him out. Rachael said the result was a huge screaming fit!

Over the weekend Jimmie was playing at my house and he went into Cole's room and tried to take one of Cole's "softie" blankets. Jimmie LOVES soft blankets. Well Cole decided that Jimmie already had his own blanket and did not need to take over his. So Jimmie threw himself down on his little butt looked right at my mom and started screaming like, whaaaaaaa, you better take care of this!!" He was comforted when Rach brought him his own blanket.

And there is the constant fight over not getting into the cat's water and food bowl. Literally every minute or two Rachael has to pull him away. She's finally just putting it up out of reach. The dog bowls at both sets of grandparents are always a problem.

Justin had the dehumidifier out in their living room the other day and it has a big tempting button. Jimmie figured out how to push it and turn it on and off. Rach told Justin she wasn't going to fight that battle with Jimmie and as far as she was concerned it should be put out of reach. As she left for work Justin was saying how he was going to fight the battle and teach Jimmie better. Rach was like, "okay, good luck." When she got home the dehumidifier was gone. LOL!

This was a cell phone picture Rach sent of Jimmie in the toilet paper.


Jimmie has also taken to screaming at his toys lately. They frequently misbehave and do not do exactly as Jimmie wants. Rachael explains it like this, "Jimmie has very definite ideas about things and what he wants and how he wants them to go."

The good thing is that Jimmie is very busy and easily distracted from whatever is upsetting him. So if you redirect him his fits don't last too long. Rachael knows that his strong personality, his loud voice when things don't go his way and the fact that he clearly has his own agenda are all wonderful developmental signs. Jimmie is a normal toddler. Well I would argue he's an extraordinary toddler, but I may be biased. (-:

He is so little and still quite young to be so independent. He is a little force to be reckoned with for sure. He is also seriously the strongest kid I have ever seen. He'll try and pick up things like, a 5 pound bag of potatoes, a really heavy back pack . . stuff that you think there is no way he'll be able to pick that up and then he does and staggers along with it, or drags it a long the floor.

Remember back in the NICU the nurses and our family used to call him, "Small But Mighty" . . . Well that still applies. He won't always be small, but the "Mighty" part will always be true!

Go Jimmie go!

Love,
Amber

3 comments:

  1. I love hearing about the "normal" things that Jimmie is doing! He is quite a kid!!!!!

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  2. Our first was little and very active like Jimmie-the original "Strong-Willed Child" We bought the book shortly after his birth.

    We made sure we won most of the battles, and now (at 28) he is still strong-willed, but a really good guy. As he grew up he learned how to disagree respectfully, but still submit to authority.

    I believe these kids have great leadership potential,and are not easily led astray by peers. :-)

    It's great that you all worked so hard for him to be this healthy little bundle of energy!

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  3. Jimmie is quite the kid.

    April O.

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