Supermom Chronicles
Friday, December 08, 2006
"ANTSONME!"
This has been going on for awhile (ever since my kids came home to stay after spending 4 days/week at Nana & Icky's house while I was on bedrest)...
Cole is an emotional child. Faith has always been so even-tempered. She has been easy since the day she was born (ok, except for potty-training, which at 4 years of age she has regressed again to wetting her panties after James was born). Cole, however, is always on the extremes with his emotions. He is either extremely happy and cute as a button, or very emotional/sad/tantrum-prone. I think God has purposely made him extremely happy/cute at times or else we couldn't handle the other. Anyway, this fall whenever he wants to be picked up and held (which is often), he whines "antsonme". At first I thought he was saying "answer me". As my bilingual skills have grown with the mastery of "toddler" as a second language, it finally dawned on me what he was saying. He is actually saying "Ants on me." Nana & Icky live on 6 acres with an abundance of wildlife, probably the most abundant being fireants. Unfortunately, Cole would happen across these fierce creatures from time to time over the summer while he was staying there. Of course when he yelled "Ants on me!", Nana or Icky would immediately pick him up and deal with the situation. And hence the association between "antsonme" and being picked up. We've been trying to teach him to say "hold me" or "pick me up" for 2 months now to no avail...
Cole is an emotional child. Faith has always been so even-tempered. She has been easy since the day she was born (ok, except for potty-training, which at 4 years of age she has regressed again to wetting her panties after James was born). Cole, however, is always on the extremes with his emotions. He is either extremely happy and cute as a button, or very emotional/sad/tantrum-prone. I think God has purposely made him extremely happy/cute at times or else we couldn't handle the other. Anyway, this fall whenever he wants to be picked up and held (which is often), he whines "antsonme". At first I thought he was saying "answer me". As my bilingual skills have grown with the mastery of "toddler" as a second language, it finally dawned on me what he was saying. He is actually saying "Ants on me." Nana & Icky live on 6 acres with an abundance of wildlife, probably the most abundant being fireants. Unfortunately, Cole would happen across these fierce creatures from time to time over the summer while he was staying there. Of course when he yelled "Ants on me!", Nana or Icky would immediately pick him up and deal with the situation. And hence the association between "antsonme" and being picked up. We've been trying to teach him to say "hold me" or "pick me up" for 2 months now to no avail...
posted by Joey at 5:52 PM
4 Comments:
I must say it is with some relief that I hear Faith is "losing her potty training," because Anna totally did too at that age. I felt like such a failure as a parent. I tried everything - except for bribing with MnMs, but I was sorely tempted! Fortunately, the summer before kindergarten everything resolved, and she has been 100% since school started. Last spring, though, I wrote a post titled, "I am so tired of holding my sh*t together while my children are losing theirs..."
This year, on the week of Thanksgiving I actually removed the diaper changing table from the bathroom. It was a great day. Anna was thrilled with her new large bathroom, but Colin cried to have it back. He still occasionally frustrates us with accidents, but its still not enough to bring it back. I know you will be happy when that day comes to your house, too.
My pediatrician said that the smart ones are always the last to potty train. I found little solace in that!
I'm so relieved to hear Anna did that, too! Faith was "potty trained" 2.5 years ago, and she "lost it" when Cole was born 2 years ago, and again now that James is here. It's very frustrating. A big part of me thinks it has very little to do with James and more to do with a stage she's going through. I was the same way as a child ("accidents" at an older age), but I was an only child until age 8. So it had nothing to do with a sibling. I think it is the smarter kids that have this problem:)
Hey, your cool new template has snow! How awesome is that! Looks great; now we just need a new post to go with it (hint, hint). You're not doing anything at home with those kids except eating bonbons and watching Oprah, right?!?! --jennifer
Kids are so smart!
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