Pom In The Spotlight

Time to be the detective mama again, time to talk about my kids as they emerge and morph and pay attention, slow down and notice who they are. I like taking the time to do this because it helps me record and acknowledge their growing idiosyncrasies, and pleasant turns of habit and interest. We all change, I sure have...its fun to play the watcher and see what is new with those we love and what is enduring still.

Little Pom is three and full of energetic personality. He is a pretty fabulously active and alive kid and has shifted from the incredibly sunny and placid baby to a ball of fury caulked with ambition and zest for life. He's hilarious and infuriating and has tried a good number of my "well-tested" and organized theories and sent them sailing out the window. He has sent me back to my stack of books and the staggeringly helpful world of The Internet more than any of my kids. Part of this is me (I'm increasingly trying to grow and learn and figure things out) and part of it is him. He's a true frontiersman.

Pom Loves:

1. Dialogue: Like none of our other kids this boy plays scripts and conversations non-stop. Maybe he's a writer or a therapist or a really in-touch with relationships kind of a guy...who knows! Everything talks if he's left to himself for a minute. His seatbelt talks to his shoelace in the car, his fork talks to his plate at the table, his Batman figure talks to his pillow...everything is conversant. He also adores figures and plays with stuffed animals avidly which none of his brothers cared for at all. He plays relational stories and his brothers all played objects. (building machines and constructing towers etc.) He loves his toy car collection too but, guess what....they all talk!!!! That's his favorite way to play with them!
2. Wearing His Hood Up: A couple of his brothers had aversions to hats at various stages and pulled anything off their head that ended up there....he freaks out if he finds out that I've whisked him out of the house in the sweatshirt or jacket without a hood. He's a hoodie kind of a dude. Cover up. 
3. Baths: He will swim and play and splash to his heart's content by the hour. I love that its a simple, happy and wholesome way to entertain him or wind him down at the end of the day. None of kids have loved baths as much as he does....although, come to think of it, we have lived in a house with insufficient hot water for five years. That might have something to do with it. 
4. Halloween Costumes: This boy talks incessantly about all the things he can think of to be for Halloween and they are pretty much all out of the box and challenging sounding. His latest big dream is that he will dress up as Jabba Of The Hut and I will be Leia..."But don't worry, Mommy...I will be a nice Jabba Of The Hut."
5. Vulgarity: We are stepping right into the most urgent stages of potty talk. He's all about the poop and fart jokes and anything to do with private parts in general....all the taboos at once. 

Pom Loathes:

1.  Going To Bed: He freaks out almost every night now and I have decided to give up the naptime battle too. It doesn't matter how late he stays up its missing out to cash in his chips and go to sleep! Who does that?!?! I get it, kid. I still struggle with this. Sleeptime FOMO. 
2. His Embarrassing "Baby"Car Seat: He hates that he still sits in a big carseat with all the straps and padding and the big orange buckle between his legs. He's really been very clear with us that he is big now and that he would like to ride on the seat itself with an adult seatbelt like his parents...we are humiliating him, its not fair, nobody else has to ride this way. Its a battle pretty much every time we get in the car.
3. Meat, For The Most Part: He will occasionally enjoy fish or like some roast chicken but mostly he doesn't want anything to do with the meat and will just eat the veggies and fruit. He doesn't even like bacon! 
4. Inspector Gadget: I tried to show the kids this cartoon recently and Pom had a total meltdown because it was scary...he still tells A and I from time to time all about how "bad and scary" that awful show was. Hard for me to tell why it hit him so wrong. He's not one of the touchiest kids about scary shows and there wasn't anything particularly unusual or alarming that I noticed. Odd how things happen sometimes.
5. Having His Shoe Laces Untied: Its the best....some kids can't stand to hold still to have their shoes tied and he will often come running up to me to tell me to fix them instead. Old ladies love this....he is their fantasy child. He is ALSO worried that he might trip!