Phases

One thing that is really sad about your kids growing up, is how fast they grow out of phases.

When one of my kids gets upset, I usually screw my face up at them indicating I'm not happy that they are fussing. Well I think Ammon took this to mean that when he's upset, he needs to twist his face up to illustrate his unhappiness.

And thus, the phase (that unfortunately he's already grown out of) of face-twisting-when-upset was born.

First it starts out just like this, calm happy, normal.

However, you can soon tell that he's getting antsy and wants something new.

Then when he doesn't get any help, he resorts to face pulling to display his unhappiness.

It's usually accompanied with lots of whining.

And flailing of arms.

And soon it looks like he just sucked on a sour lemon.

This is the face that he makes when he's at his breaking point.

You want to pick him up after this face because after this, he just loses it and starts screaming. "Why have you just been LAUGHING at me instead of TAKING CARE OF ME?!"

It's pretty dramatic. I miss those sour faces.

I was upstairs getting ready, and I heard my Grandma laughing harder at Ammon than I have ever heard her laugh before. When I told her I hadn't heard her laugh like that she said, "Well I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

Now my boy has moved onto clicking his tongue, or flapping his arms like a bird while being fed - only to be distracted by his hands and start playing with them instead. He also enjoys waving at himself and staring in awe that his fingers can do something like that.

Those types of phases are what makes being a parent fun. If only we could skip the tantrum or potty training phases.

Yeah, that would be nice :)