The Terrible Two's

Jack won't be 2 for a few more months, but the terrible two's have definitely hit our house recently. He turns on the tears the minute he hears the word "no" and telling him "no" or "stop" is just an invitation for him to continue what he's doing with a smile on his face. The most challenging time is meal time. This is the same little boy, who always ate every bite of baby food without a fuss. I remember telling his doctor at his 18-month appointment that I had yet to find a food he would not eat. Fast forward a couple of months and now I'm eating my own words!

He now eats in a booster seat at the table with us unless he's too squirmy and then I have to strap him into the high chair. Last night he threw his "poon" (spoon) at me. I corrected him and threatened him with timeout to which he answered with a grin on his face and then threw a chip at me. Timeout has been fun for him in the past until his teacher advised me to hold him in there the entire time if he continues to get up. So I'm sitting there holding him down in the chair while he squirms and fusses and then a smile comes accross his face, he puckers up, and kisses me right on the lips. Do you think this kid has learned how to play his cards?

After dinner, he and Travis are playing in the den. Jack picks up a piece of his train tracks and hurls it at Travis. A few minutes later, he goes to the bowl of potpouri and picks up a piece, which he knows is not allowed. Travis threatens to spank him if he doesn't put it back down, so Jack hurls it again at Travis and gets his hand swatted. Here comes Jack running to Mommy for sympathy, but instead I asked him what he had done to make Daddy spank him. He goes through the motion of throwing something and I give him a little talk. When he figures out that he's not getting the sympathy he wanted from either of us, he turns and punches the wall with a grunt! I couldn't believe it and could hardly keep from laughing!

Now there are still plenty of sweet moments to outweigh the bad. He can kind of sing parts of Old McDonald, which really means me singing and him filling in with animals and their sounds. It's always chicks or neighs. Every night before bed he has to tell his sish (fish) "nigh night" and he even includes the fish we've drawn on his chalkboard. The other day the whole family, dogs and all, went for a walk through the neighborhood. I pulled Jack in the wagon, but about halfway he wanted to get out and walk with his daddy. Each time we would hear a plane overhead, Jack would stop and request that we sit down and watch it then he would wave, say "bye bye" and blow it a kiss. He really is the sweetest little boy and I hate to write about our unpleasant times, but they are some of the funniest and most memorable!