Spirited Moms Please Help...Is My Child Spirited?

[*Kimberly*]

I am not sure where to put this, so feel free to move it if you want.   

I am not very good at those multiple choice tests, it is part of my personality, I tend to overanalize.  I have always called my son a textbook with some spirited, but now I am not so sure.

My lo is currently 8.5 months old.  He has always been an easy baby.  He has always hit the milestones (minus tummy stuff which was our fault) right on time.  So I have always called him a textbook.  However, he has some other quirks.  He is a pain to feed if there is anything else going on.  When we are out we can almost never get him to eat anything because he is much more interested in looking at everything.  He is a light sleeper, even putting my hand on him to check to see if he is breathing will make his stir and sometimes wake him up.  Lately, past couple of months or so, he has begun to have a harder time going down for his naps.  It used to be that I could do a five minute winddown and then leave and he would drift off to sleep.  Now it is 30-45min of crying or screaming.  Half the time it is not "something is wrong" crying.  He will cry out for about 5 seconds, then stop and chat to himself and then cry out again.  He does the same sort of thing in the living room.  He will cry out for no reason.  I used to think it was because he wanted to do something different but couldn't get there but now he is crawling and he does the same thing.  He also has a short attention span.  He will play with something for a couple minutes then he needs a change of scenery (he has always been like this.)  Also lately he does not sit still for his BE videos.  He will continue to watch them but he will crawl to a new spot or toy every so often. 

I am confused because I have heard some people say that all his fussiness is a stage and it will pass and my calm, happy baby will return.  But I am not so sure.  If he is more spirited than I thought then I am sure a lot of the things I am doing are not helpful because they are aimed at a textbook child.

Thanks for your help.

Kimberly

[* Paula *]

Kimberly,

Some of the things that you have mentioned in your post, sound like my DS to the T and my DS was a textbook baby.

I do agree, that at that age, they go through phases, of being grumpy, whiney, not wanting to go down to sleep etc.  The crying out, could be down to seperation anxiety, and that will pass.

The not being able to sit in one place is definitely the age - He has learnt to crawl, and now he knows he can explore and he can now get to things that are out of reach etc. 

The not wanting to feed when being out in public - as you can imaine, there is just so much that needs to be seen, and being out and about where there are other people can be very exciting as well as very distracting.

HTH

Paula x

[HeatherC]

I agree with Paula.  While I do consider some of the traits you described to be those of a spirited little one-bored quickly, yelling out (perhaps in frustration  ), to those of a spirited, they can also be just part of the age.  My dd is quite similar, and I consider her a spirited when it comes to her playtime, but different in sleep and eating.  Anyway-part of his trouble going down for naps could be related to the start of separation anxiety, or simply needing more A time.  He's getting older, so his schedule and needs are going to change rapidly in the next few months.
Furthermore-the need to change activities frequently probably has a lot do to with his need to explore this huge world around him, which before he has been so limited by.  And by having all of these new things to do and see, it can make lo's even more tired and grumpy, and thus probably harder to settle for sleep.
Sorry to ramble, but these are the things that came to mind.