Life at Five

What’s up with Connor these days? Oh, just the usual- a constant struggle for control in any situation. He would argue with me about how to spell his name if the topic came up- it is constant. Not just with me, but with his dad and his sister too. I’m all for giving a kid some choices so that he doesn’t feel his life is totally out of control. But I’m the adult, and I’m not going to negotiate with a five-year-old about every decision that is made in the course of the day.

This leads to our other problem, that Connor seems to have no respect for the fact that we are his parents and what we say goes. He is learning that lesson the hard way, with swift consequences when he crosses the line, but that just leads to other problems of the “you’re-mad-at-me-so-you-must-not-love-me” variety. Sigh. Parenting a five-year-old is exhausting!


There are great things about it too, of course. When he’s happy and enjoying himself, he’s a lot of fun. He’s mature enough to really communicate, to get jokes, to be helpful. He’s also strangely patient and generous when we have guests in our house. The toy he just spitefully took from Chloe becomes something he wants to share when Delaney comes by. There’s a gentleman in there, even if sometimes he is hidden away from the immediate family.

Another mostly fun thing is that Connor is still a mama’s boy. Although it can occasionally be annoying I remind myself that it won’t last forever, and I stop and bask in it. He had the opportunity to spend the three-day weekend in Nashville, just him and his grandparents, and he didn’t want to. He just wanted to hang out at home with us. Then he resisted Saturday night at Grammy’s- he wanted to be at home with me. I noticed this morning that at school they did a “wish on a star” project, and inside Connor’s glittery star it says “I wish that I could play with Mom more.”


Before you give it too big of an “Awwww,” it’s important to note that Connor has become very greedy lately- more has become one of his favorite words. If I am giving him and his sister some M&Ms, he wants just oooone more, just so he can think he got more than Chloe did. That means "play with Mom more" really translates to “Mom plays with me more than Chloe.” I appreciate the sentiment, though. I wish I did have more time each day to play with both of them. I remind Connor that the reason I stop playing to cook dinner is because I love him and want to take good care of him, and it helps a little bit. As long as I let him choose what he’s having to eat.