Ramil and I were never the type of children who misbehaved to get our parents’ attention when we were growing up. I’m not saying we never misbehaved but we misbehaved for different reasons. Aside from seeing some evidences of this in some of our students, I never thought I’d find myself at the receiving end of the misbehavior. Most especially not with an 11-month-old!

Slowly over the past few months, I’ve noticed that Mateo would sometimes get really cranky and clingy whenever I’m doing something else. He’d get whiny whenever he’d see me on the laptop. He’d get clingy whenever I’m talking to somebody over the phone. He’d get cranky whenever I’m intently watching the TV. I found it amusing at first. My baby wants me all to himself. Flattering. But then again, it gave me less time for all the other things I want to do.

Then last week, I noticed a difference in the cranky, clingy, whiny baby that he’d usually morph into once he notices my attention on something else. After a few seconds of being cranky, clingy, and whiny, he’d start going for things that he knows are off limits. He’d play with the table centerpiece’s pebbles which he knew would solicit a resounding no. He’d pick up a pen which he knew would make me stop whatever I’m doing and would make me stare at him with an evil look in my eye. He’d sometimes go for the electric plugs which he knew would make me run to him as fast as I could. Hmm, the little devil is getting more devilish He is slowly learning how to get around some things and it’s making me go out of my mind. LOL.

After making these happenings, I told Ramil that I have finally personally experienced how it is to have your child misbehave just to get your attention. It was a small wake-up call for me. When I finally realized what he was doing, I closed my laptop, took his hand away from whatever it is he wasn’t supposed to touch, walked with him to the middle of the living room, and sat with him on the floor. I played with him and we spent quality time together. For a fleeting moment, I thought that maybe he’s getting too spoiled with attention or that he might consistently use misbehavior to get our attention. But then again, he’s barely a year old. For me, he can never get spoiled with too much attention, love, and care. He has proven many times that he’ll play and explore on his own if he wants to. There were times when he would walk away from me or when he would refuse to hold my hand so that he could walk on his own to whatever place in our house that he wants to go to.

My baby is growing up and he’s reminding me it doesn’t mean that I should pay him less attention. I’m glad for that wake-up call and I hope I learn to balance letting go and holding on while my son grows up.