The title of this post is an actual WhatsApp message I sent to my wife this morning.  The little guy had a really bad night last night.  Whining, crying, whimpering in his sleep.  Then, when he finally woke up and I was in the room (on what felt like my 20th trip in there in a 20 minute period), he did not want me.  He wanted mom.

So, my wife took him and he calmed down, then fell asleep.  But when she put him down he woke up and freaked out, so she brought him to our bed.  And since they are both the world’s most restless sleepers, I headed out to the sofa for the night and slept like a baby, ironically.

The WhatsApp conversation in reference above was after my wife was on her way to work.  We were theorizing about what could be the problem.  Teething?  probably.  Can he sense our upcoming move and is he weirded out by the fact that some things are disappearing from our flat? (tv was sold yesterday) – maybe.  A little off his rhythm because my wife was with him for our holiday and the days after was Easter holiday?  Possibly.

Then, finally, my wife asked, “are you worried?”  To that, I responded, “No.  He’s a toddler.  They are weird.”  And I truly mean it.  They are fun and crazy and wild and happy and sad and excited and devastated and genuine and fake and full of love and full of disinterest  – all at the same time.  They are opening their eyes to the world; seeing so many things for the first time.  Experiencing things for the first time.  And it is this that gets processed by them and is sometimes turned into all their weirdness.  Like how my son tries to put on shoes on top of the shoes he is wearing, or how he today took a jar of body lotion and acted like he was doing his hair while I was doing my hair.  He’s just trying to figure out how to exist in the world, and sometimes it happens in the less-fun ways (like last night), and sometimes a little one just needs a hug and to be close to their mom.

I love my son, and I really enjoy being around his tiny little toddler friends.  And they are all tiny little crazy little weirdos, just trying to figure it all out.  Sometimes they have an off day or night, and just like how we shouldn’t make a big deal about it when they fall, we shouldn’t make a big deal about it when they have an off day.  Things will find their balance.