Monday, March 26, 2007

Freedom and the Strong-willed Child

I just know that my dad (Victor) is going to love the title of this entry. I remember him mentioning the term "strong-willed" whenever we saw a child who wanted their way no matter what. I'm not saying at this particular time if Sydney falls into this category, but she has displayed moments of the so-called strong will lately.

Here she is a few days ago, being inconsolable for what seemed like hours (more like 10 minutes). She wasn't hungry or tired, her diaper was being changed, and Mom and Dad were giving her attention. Even Ellie was concerned.



Here she is getting a wee taste of freedom in the kitchen. (We are in the process of finding some gates to block her off, but in the meantime have used the coffee table and the high chair to do the trick. Yesterday she stood at the coffee table and cried for about 15 minutes while I was cooking dinner and Brian was in the computer room doing homework.)



Sydney is perfecting her raspberry (thanks, Grandma Joe). Here she is spraying away. We tried to stop her but it's hard to when we're laughing.

And of course, Sydney has to pick the most unopportune times to be fussy, like last night before bathtime, when we could barely hear the dialogue of Adama and the new Cylons as they found Gaius Baltar "Not Guilty" on Battlestar Galactica over her crying. Geez, baby, how insensitive!
Speaking of bathtime, here's our nudie cutie checking out the water temperature:
And finally, here's the getting-stronger-willed-every-day Sydney after her bath:

How can something so sweet make such a fuss?

3 comments:

vj4worldxn said...

OK guys......If Sydney is showing signs of having a strong will child syndrome, you may need to call in Super Nanny if this behavior gets any worse. It seems that the problem lies with the parents. Tsk! Tsk! this modern generation is too accomodating to the culture of Dr. Spock!

We will send you a rolled up newspaper and a copy of Dr. Dobson's book on disciplining your child.

Perhaps a day or two with grandpa and grandma will help Sydney appreciate her parents more and obey their counsel.

Of course if these comments are made known we will disavow any responsibility to these remarks.

vj4worldxn said...

Mom and I really laughed our heads off at your comments and pics of Sydney. Amazingly, we are seeing similar behavior patterns with Maddie also. Hmmm, we thought the Quan family females were head strong. Do we see any correlation here?

Unknown said...

I love it! I love it! I love it! Sydney is following our hopes perfectly! I can barely restrain myself from using the term "payback" and evoking memories of a sweet little girl who cried for 45 minutes before falling asleep and having a person knock on our door and ask, "Did you know your child is crying?"!

You guys are just learning the first fact of parenthood: there are some things you really can't control! Just remember how good you guys turned out despite everything!

Tell Sydney to keep up the good work and continue perfecting that raspberry!

We love you!