Baby Boy was overcome by a monster. Multiple times a day we were commenting that he was acting like a brat: tossing food, whining for things, hitting us over and over, ignoring anything we told him, refusing to sleep on his own and so on. The kid was becoming intolerable. For a week it just wouldn’t go away and we were getting worried. Was this more than a wonder week? more than a temporary bad day? was our sweet little baby boy turning into a monster toddler???
I blamed vacation: we had been without a schedule for over a month now (and still had two weeks to go).
I blamed too much attention: a month of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and lots of friends ogling over his every move.
I blamed not enough attention: Mommy had morning sickness, and evening sickness, and all day sickness, and the last thing she had patience for was Baby Boy’s shenanigans.
I blamed the travel, the tiredness, the new foods (read: junk food), the jetlag, the change in cribs.
You name it, I blamed it.
And still, I was distraught over my Baby Boy turned Baby Brat. Had I done this? And more importantly, how could I fix it?
Once we were settled at our last vacation destination (the beach!), I started to try to get Baby Boy back on a schedule in anticipation of our near return to reality. Then, after working at it for a few days, the kiddo slept the whole night and got two naps. Miracle of miracles my precious bundle of fun was back! The smiles, the laughs, the attention-seeking funny business, and (one of the things I love most about this kid) the ability to make almost every stranger crack a smile! My baby! Oh, how I missed him!
The mystery was solved: over-tiredness made my kid a brat.
