Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Attention Hog

My boys are only 18 months apart.

Everyone use to ask, "How do you do it?" when they were little.  I, honestly, thought it was easy.  Both of my boys were such good babies and toddlers.  Never fussy unless there was a reason to be fussy.  Slept alright.  Smiled and cooed at everyone.  Hit all their milestones early.  Really, it was good.

Ask me that question today though and I'd look at you with a crazy look in my eye.

You know what is the hardest?  Corbin needs attention, all the time.  It's who he is.  He's an extrovert.  He wants to talk to you every second.  And when Brian is having a meltdown Corbin doesn't put it down a notch, in fact he ups it.  I swear.

This morning it was time to leave for school.  For some reason this upset Brian.  He started crying.  He wouldn't tell me why he was upset (not that he ever does) and Corbin decided it was a great time to take pictures.  Here I am sitting on the stairs with a crying Brian on my lap, trying to calm him down, so we can get out the door and not be late for school and Corbin keeps yelling, "Show me your face Mom!  Show me your face Brian!  One of you show me your face- I need to take a picture!".  The last thing Brian needs when he's trying to come down from a tantrum/crying fit is increased noise.  Corbin hasn't seemed to figure that out yet, no matter how many reminders I give him.

Then....

This afternoon we're leaving the grocery store where Brian decides he's just going to bolt out of the store to our van without holding my hand.  I'm chasing him with the bag of groceries in one hand and Corbin yelling, "Mom, Mom, Mom, want a Naruto massage? Mom, Mom, Mom!  I'm talking to you Mom!!".  I'm trying to talk to Brian to reprimand him and be firm about the hand-rule in parking lots. "Mom! I'm asking you a question Mom!!"

I whip my head around, "NO! I do not want a massage right now Corbin!! Can't you see I'm busy?"

Plus how do you give a massage while we're walking in a parking lot?  And what the hell is a Naruto massage?  He's just making up something to get the attention back on him.

I feel bad that sometimes I need to block out Corbin so I can deal with the tantrum or behavior of the moment but it has to happen.  But honestly, when he does it, it really irks me!  Probably because Brian's moment is already putting me over the edge and then add on the constant nagging....really, can you blame me?

4 comments:

Accidentalexpert said...

I don't blame you a bit.  My twins are very much like this.  My son is the one melting down, running away type and my daughter needs tons of attention.  It gets to you.  And that's OK.

Karen V. said...

I don't think he made that up.  He must be reading a sign.  I have it different because I only have the one but because he is verbal he is always talking enough for two!  They love you mama!  And they will grow out of it and hopefully be close to each other because of their ages!  :)

Karlatrx said...

I had a similar experience last night (and many other times). my two youngest are 23 months apart.  We were at the store and they were both mommommomomomomoming and then my 17 year old was trying to get my attention to ask me if I thought some twinkies were the wrong color. SERIOUSLY?!  Who cares? I thought me head would explode.  

Christina said...

OMG I have these same feelings with Aurora and Alex.  Aurora is always trying to get in the middle of everything and I feel bad when I have to shut her down sometimes just to let Alex get a word in edge wise.