Naughty on purpose?

Ok, so here's how it goes in our house:

Mummy: "No", removes baby from that thing she is not supposed to play with (eg power cords, dog biscuits, clothes rack etc.)

Baby crawls back reaches out hand with big smile on her face

Mummy: "No", removes baby

Baby crawls back and grabs

Mummy: "No", removes baby

Baby crawls back and grabs, by this time she is laughing, thinks it's a great game.

Totally frustrating for Mummy. By the 5th repeat the voice is very gruff, bordering on yelling and Mummy is all flustered and over it. So is Baby being naughty on purpose?

Gorgeous, curious, cheeky little monkey

Some days my day looks like this over and over again in various different forms (change table antics are particularly 'fun'). Between that and the current clingy stage, or massive protesting about having a nap (and then not having one) I'm ready to take offers from the highest bidder. It's the price for having the most gorgeous, curious, cheeky, little monkey. I'm glad she's willful because it bodes well for her resilience in future... but OMG it's frustrating some days. The clash of wills :)

It finally occurred to me the other day that she is not actually trying to be naughty on purpose... she just doesn't understand what I'm trying to communication. Sure, I'm trying to be consistent with my voice and facial expressions and not rewarding her by smiling back when she smiles at me when she's doing something I don't want her doing ... but she just hasn't got it yet. She even smiles and laughs when our dog growls at her while she's pulling his hair ... doesn't understand that growling means upset, and upset means stops (Note, of course parental supervision of dog and baby is always present).

It doesn't make sense to me that a Baby would deliberately goad her primary source of food, warmth, comfort and entertainment to the brink of frustration. It doesn't make sense from a survival perspective. And if someone was trying to tell me something using language and body language that I did not yet understand I wouldn't "get it" either. I suppose I just wanted to believe I had this super amazing intelligent little offspring who could understand me and was trying in turn to communicate....One day, in her natural timing, when her language and understanding increases she'll get it.

So until she "gets it" I have the keep her safe at the same time as staying sane. The simple realisation that she doesn't understand has dropped my frustration levels to the point where I was thinking logically about the problem rather than emotionally. As a result we did some rearranging. She wants to be around me and have my attention occasionally and then go off and play with things in between. So we moved my desk and Ella's play space into the same area, fenced it so she can't wonder out of it and made absolutely everything in that space at an Baby-reachable height something that Mummy wouldn't need to say "No" about.

I'll keeping saying no and trying to be consistent, but I'm loving our new set up and my new attitude. I love that she loves to expore her world, and I love that after exploring for a while she wants to climb up for a cuddle.



Please note: I'm no expert, I'm simply sharing our Baby journey. Your child and your family is guaranteed to be different to ours. We always love hearing what works for your and your Baby, so we'd love you comment with any relevant stories from your journey. Hopefully by sharing we can get great ideas from each other :)