My DS2 is almost 6. From the day I brought him home from hospital he's often been an enigma to me.
He was born by emergency Csection after about 12 hours of natural labour. He got distressed hence the section, and was born covered in merconium. Not a nice way to enter the world.
He never liked being cuddled all that much, he would stiffen his whole body. He was happy to be left alone in his crib at night to fall asleep on his own with no real fuss or crying. He fed well and regularly in the early weeks and he's been a pretty good eater since. He's slept well since a baby and once he's asleep we don't hear from him until moring. In short, straightforward and easy.
He's always had a short 'temper', ie you'd better work out what he wanted as a baby quickly otherwise the volume of crying would increase rapidly.
Nowadays he's a very tactile child, he likes cuddling me and his family, he loves it when I massage his feet or back or scratch his back over his clothes. He loves giving kisses and hugs. But on his terms, which I suppose it healthy as he won't kiss or cuddle someone on demand IYSWIM.
He still eats ok, bit fussy, but more like he knows what he likes and what he doesn't and I go with that. eg he'd rather have pasta than potatoes but will eat meat and veg freely. He has a sweet tooth.
He's not settling at school (y1) and I'm not sure he's actually accepted that he has to just accept it and get on. We've (the school and at home) have tried really hard to help and support him with work and socially.
Before he started school we attended pre-school activities with his older brother and he tagged along as a baby. Then when he was older and DS1 was at nursery we went to the same things together but he never really enjoyed them and we ended up letting everything go, despite giving it a good couple of terms before admitting defeat.
He still has never got in to anything in particular - and I KNOW he's only 5 - but I worry that he never sees anything through and I feel concious that's because I never pushed him. But hey, he was just 3 or 4, and how far to you push a child of that age when they are clearly not having fun.
But now I worry that he is thinking that if he doesn't show enthusiasm for school I'll just stop taking him. Which will clearly not happen.
He is on the whole a good boy, he has his moments, like all of them. He can spin off into a bad mood at the drop of a hat and argue about anything if the mood takes him. We try to be clear with boundaries and I think he has a good idea of right and wrong.
He was so lovely two days ago, really polite and helpful with out any prompt, hence I believe he knows what's right and wrong. But yesterday he was just so grumpy and aggressive which is his alternative state.
It concluded with him having a paddy at bed time. I told him that if he could calm down we could have a nice story and a cuddle and go to bed but he was going to bed. Or if he continued to cry and moan there was no story and it was straight to bed. His brother was allowed to stay up a little later as he had asked and had behaved well since he got in from school. So he wanted to stay up, but I explained that that wasn't possible because his behaviour had been not good. He continued to paddy and therefore got no story and continued to cry for 30 mins after which time spoke to him again, explained the above again and told him to remember how he was yesterday and what happened as a result - he got a treat for being so lovely.
He often explains his bad behaviour by saying the 'man in my head' made me do it. I don't remember ever suggesting this idea to him but it's often the reason. Is he clever? Using an 'imaginary friend' to blame?
Gosh this is a rant, sorry. I suppose my question is 'is he normal?' which in itself is a subjective idea. Please could you swap stories of reassure me?