Mr Grumpy

This post is a little later than originally intended. The reason is staring you straight in the face. To be fair, it wasn’t Dylan’s fault. He was unwell during the night so I had to work from home in case it was a bug and I set it on its merry way round the office, but it’s delayed everything. So, excuses out of the way, it’s time to defame the poor little monkey with an upset tummy…

He’s been such a mardy little thing lately and I’m not sure why. I know that the so-called terrible twos start earlier than their name suggests and go beyond the third birthday too, but he’s getting on for three an a half now and has suddenly started acting like a sulky teenager.

He remains a lovely little lad most of the time, but he’s capable of being a miserable little sod for sustained periods. He regularly answers us back and tells Xander off for doing things that displease him. In fact, he told me off earlier. I was sent to the naughty corner and made to count to 100. In my defence though, he IS a poo machine…

We went to see how he’d been doing at pre school the other day. On the whole, it was good stuff and it seems he reserves the charm he is more than capable of displaying for the teachers there. But there was one little anecdote that stood out.

Apparently, a little girl accidentally flicked a bit of sand on him at the sandbox. By all accounts, he was quite affronted! He impressed the staff by not shoving her or crying, but I cringed when they told us what he did. He told her he was disappointed with her behaviour and proceeded to remind her at regular intervals that he wasn’t happy with her.

His teachers were amused and said he’d shown great self control in not flying off the handle, but I’m embarrassed. Not by him, you understand, but by the fact that I can see myself in his reactions. As a kid, I always held silly grudges about small matters and could be quite pompous in the things I said. He may well look like Kate, but there’s no doubting the fact that he’s a mini me.

So I guess I owe him an apology for the grumpy gene he would appear to have inherited. Sorry, Dylan, but thanks very much for the CD you and Xander got me for my birthday. I love The Smiths too and think that Morrissey’s lyrics are inspired.