The Trying Two's

I apologize for the lapse in posts but I just couldn't think of anything blogworthy. Not that everything I write is profoundly interesting but I at least try to keep you entertained for the brief time you're reading. This post should provide you a good little chuckle or two, or perhaps a little bit of sympathy or compassion for me, the mother of a 2.5-year old! No one said this job would be easy!

Up until just recently, turning 2 was pretty uneventful in the behavior department. Just like any other parent I had heard such horror stories about the "terrible 2's" that I feared that day like the plague. But that day came and went and nothing seemed to happen. That is until now. The stories, the blatant disregard to directions, the overuse of the word "no", the throwing, the fake crying...you get the point - it's begun.

Perhaps it's a rite of passage since all toddlers seem to go through the phase at some time or another but why? How do they know they're supposed to look you dead in the eye and blatantly do what you just asked them not to do? I suppose they come programmed to test their (your) limits and push the boundaries. Unfortunately for Colin, he's run smack into a brick wall that doesn't give. He's spent more time in the "uh-oh" box (his time-out) in the last week than he has in the last 6 months. It is so incredibly frustrating to tell him no and have him smile at you while doing it anyways. This is one instance the cuteness doesn't play a role.

Apparently throwing toys is fun. We've managed to get that under control here and really hadn't had an incident for a while. Yep, just to keep me on my toes, he does it again - at school! Here's my angel of a child, looking precious in his new duds, and he decides to misbehave at school. He gets an evaluation sheet each time and it tells how he ate, slept, diapers, and behavior. Well the "great" smiley face was circled but later marked through and the "good" had been circled instead. There was a nice note beside it that said he got put in time-out for throwing a toy. As a parent, it's both upsetting and a little embarrassing. I know the teachers don't think any less of me but I just feel like it reflects poorly on my parenting skills. When I talked to him about it I told him why we don't throw and that we don't throw at home or school or anywhere for that matter. He couldn't look at me but in the most pitiful voice said, "Mommy, I'm sorry." Um hello, melt my heart! I told him he didn't need to apologize to me but to his teacher. Oh and don't be fooled by the sorry line, he's used that numerous times at home to get out of trouble from purposefully pulling the track apart on his train. Can't be fooled by his devilish antics!

His new outfit from Buff:

How could you get mad at that face? Man I'm a sucker!

I'll leave you with a funny (it wasn't particularly funny at the time) story from the wee hours of this morning. Colin decided 4:30am would be a good time to wake up this morning. He yelled from his bed that "he wanted to come get in MommyDaddy bed," followed by a series of "Dadddy" calls. I was all about letting him cry it out again like the olden days but apparently Wes wasn't game for the ongoing yelling and crying. To make a long story short, he went in twice and told him to go back to sleep. Each time the silence would last for about 10 minutes before the beckoning would begin again. The last time he decided to switch things up a bit and call for "Mommy, " hoping for better results. Now typically I am a softy but not so much when it comes to my sleep! I let him talk for a while until I heard, "Mommy? Are you there? Mommy? Are you there?" I had to laugh out loud. I marched in there no-nonsense style and told him I was asleep, it wasn't time to get up, play with your animals, and I'll be back when it's time to get up. That was it, no more calling out. I'm not sure if he just needed to make sure we were both still there or what but that seemed to appease him.

This picture was taken tonight when he desperately wanted to wear my boots. Please disregard his non-matching outfit - it was a snow day here and those are his pj's with an a sweatshirt on top. Please also disregard my boots from 1997. Again, snowy = not so fashionable. After he got the boots on and demanded me to zip them up, he declared it was "perfect" as he attempted to walk in them. He's a hoot. Thankfully we have more laughs than hair-pulling episodes. I'd be worried for his safety if it were the other way around!