bossy boots

bossy boots is what my 5 year old cousin used to call me sometimes when i was her full-time nanny that summer i was 18. i have continued to use the term bossy boots for the last 12 years and now, i've started calling my kid a bossy boots. what's with kids wanting their friends to do the exact same things as them? is it just the age (2.5yrs)? or is it the personality?

when friends come over, ben is constantly asking them, "want to play _______ with me?" soccer, golf, colouring, etc. if they say no, he's up in arms! he starts trying to pull them towards his activity which usually doesn't go over so well. at a birthday party last weekend, after the birthday boy opened a soccer ball as a gift, ben went off with the ball to play soccer. after a couple minutes, he was back, inturrupting the birthday boy's gift opening saying, "want to play soccer with me?" i had to drag him away from the birthday opening. when we have friends over, i feel like i'm constantly saying, "it's okay if your friend doesn't want to play the same thing as you!" he doesn't get it.

and it's not just friends - it's me. it's tim. it's grandparents. all day long - "want to play _______ with me?" when does independent play begin? i've tried all the independent play time strategies out there (yes - it's a thing that people write articles about). and some days are great - i can get him started and he WILL play. and usually those days, activities last 30 - 45min. those are great days. but it seems like the days where he runs from activity to activity and they sometimes only last 1 minute - these days are the whiny "play with me!" days. what is that about? you know i play plenty with him, right? is your toddler/preschooler ever like this? ben even said to me the other day, "i have nothing to play." WHAT? you're TWO! you're not allowed to say that! haha.

anyways, it's a bit rant-y but as i type this, i'm listening to ben ask tim to play with him and the fact that they've played 5 different things in the span of an hour makes me beg, "please tell me it's not just my kid and that they grow out of it!" and my mantra on these days is "soon, he won't want to play anything with you - enjoy this while you can." that usually keeps me sane. ;)