February 9, 2002 - Saturday
Maybe it's because he's with her so much more these days, but Harry is really working on being two around his mother. Among other things, we're in the getting-him-to-come-when-called phase of parenting now and Harry's mother is finding this particularly infuriating. When she calls, Harry runs away. She calls louder and Harry just laughs and runs some more. When she's dressing Harry, or bringing him to his bed or bath, he slouches and laughs. She tells him to sit up and that it's not a game and he laughs and slouches some more. But to Harry, the whole thing is a game, or, more likely, an instinctively high stakes game for independence and his mother just isn't convincing him that she's serious enough.

Harry tries similar stuff with me, but I seem to have less trouble turning things around.. I'm stronger than mommy is I suppose and can lift him up pretty quickly and startlingly, but since she is still much stronger than he, I tend to doubt that enters much into the equation. More likely, it's because I have a much louder bark. Harry's mother is generally a soft spoken person and not terrible efficient, with Harry at least, when she tries to act mad. Or, maybe it's the lifetime of nurturing and loving tenderness that Harry just doesn't see turning against him. Either way, she/we need to figure a better solution than me showing up as the enforcer. I guess that's not an uncommon role for a father, but it's not one I crave and Harry needs to listen to mommy, too.


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