Grayson's pet peeve

I wanted to document this before the phase is over & it becomes a too quickly forgotten memory.  Grayson has this pet peeve.  It's babies.  Anything having to do with them, the actual babies themselves, etc.  He does not want me to have any more babies {"Just one-Beckham, because we already have him."}, doesn't want Taylor or anyone else to have anymore {really working on him being positive about Kelsey's}, and just has an overall dislike for them.  It's been about a six month ordeal or so.  He says, "Babies are mean.  I don't like them.  They are dumb."  Of course he gets reprimanded and scolded, but I often have to laugh under my breath.  When I ask him why he doesn't like them he says, "They always want to be right by me, take my toys, and play with my stuff."  Crazily enough, this is true.  Everywhere we go now, I've noticed that babies are drawn to him.  They come right up to him and he gets so uncomfortable & does not want them around.  He gets really protective of his stuff & sometimes says mean things right in front of them.  Of course the babies don't mind, they just want to be by him.

For the life of me, I couldn't understand why he was acting like this.  Then I started thinking about it and putting pieces together.  First Jaeger entered his world {if only a couple times a week} & he was forced to share his limelight.  He did relatively well with that.  Then along comes Beckham.  Now he's got to share it 24/7 at home, too.  Then Lucy & Lyla are born & their are more baby cousins competing for the spotlight.  Lyla practically lives at G&G Cleaver's and I honestly don't think we've been over there since she was born that she wasn't there, too.  So I think he associates her with losing his grandma's attention or something?  Then Rhett {Hartley} started going to Taylor's on the days my boys are there.  So he kinda lost his aunt's attention to a degree too.  His anger seems to mostly be targeted toward Lyla and Rhett, so I started piecing the puzzle.  The other day though, we Skyped with Ella & afterward he said, "I want to Skype with Ella again, but not if baby Wren is there!"  Haha!  {Amber obliged & they had their own Skype date later in the week}.  I would tell him that there are a few things in this world we have to always be kind, gentle, and loving to: plants, baby animals, and baby humans.  He would begrudgingly oblige while listening but then mutter under his breath, "I don't like babies.  I don't like Lyla or Rhett.  They're mean."  Everytime he came home from Grandma Wendy's he'd say, "Why does Lyla have to live there??" Haha!  I was being kind of hard on him till I thought how hard it would be if I was in his shoes.  To share all the people I was used to having to myself.  So I get it now.  I understand.  Of course we are still working on reconciling the behavior, but I'm not so hard on him anymore.

And guess what?  Since he turned four {I kid you not, it was practically overnight}, he hasn't been saying it as much.  And, he's completely done a turn around about Rhett.  Today he came home from Taylor's saying, "I wish Rhett was at Taylor's for a long 3 minutes.  I just love Rhett!"  We were cracking up at this turn of events and I tested him later throughout the day.  "Tell Daddy how you feel about Rhett."  "I just love Rhett now, Dad!"  I think he's seen his value as Rhett can now play with him.  Oh Grayson, you are definitely your own little man with specific feelings & aren't afraid to express them.  I hope you can always harness that stubbornness toward things that are good in the future.  We sure love you-baby lover or not!