Hi! I'm Almost Two!

This darling little boy will be two in a few weeks and holy cow does he make that apparent lately. Just a mere three weeks ago he was the best behaved child on the planet. Meek, sweet, cuddly, and just perfect. I recently told G that I loved running errands while Buddy was at school because I had my little sweetheart with me but he was so easy, it was like I was alone. It was the best case scenario.

And then the crib incident happened and I guess through that experience he learned he can control us. This household has not been the same since.

I am totally baffled about this switch in his personality.

Lately he's extremely busy (that's not new actually) and gets into things constantly. He doesn't listen to anything anyone says. He refuses to share. And by refuses, I mean no amount of punishment, distraction, anything will get him to share something he wants possession of. He torments other kids. He pesters Buddy to the point of Buddy actually losing his patience occasionally (which is saying something). He has to do EVERYTHING Buddy does, and I mean everything. He throws temper tantrums, although in his defense not too often. He knows he's more effective if he uses the old standby (pouty lip and big tears). He refuses to cuddle. He throws food on the floor. He rips up books. He colors on every surface in this house and that includes walls, bed sheets, couches, tables, people. He climbs on the counters and throws things on the counter onto the floor. He runs away when I need him to come. He breaks things. He is terribly stubborn. He acts, well, like a 2-year old.

(I know everyone that has seen me parent this child since his infancy is giving themselves a high-five at this point since up til now he's been too good to be true. I know you've all been jealous of that. )

Here are some highlights to the last few days so you can see what I'm up against (And no I still am not over putting him back in his crib 50 times every single bed time for 10 days straight. It'll be a long time before I get over that. And I'm going to keep bringing it up until I recover.)

• Sambo wants to do everything Buddy does, so he thinks he's old enough to go potty on the potty like a big boy. Except I have a strict policy against potty training a child who isn't ready -- and by ready I mean unable to go without accidents or me asking him every five minutes if he needs to go. Sambo is not by any means ready. First of all, he doesn't speak, so he'd never be able to communicate his need to go (although I did do a google search for a potty sign, which I've started to teach him.) Secondly, he's only 23 months, for crying out loud. He IS NOT ready. However, if I had all the time in the world, he'd be sitting on the potty all day long. He is obsessed. I've told him that if he wants to wear underwear (and he does) he needs to tell me if he has to go but that's never happened. As a compromise, I sit him on the potty before bed and in the last week he's peed 4 times. However, when I get him off and try to put a diaper on he gets upset.
  
• He yells "GO!" when he gets impatient in the car. And sometimes he'll yell it for 15 minutes straight. A backseat driver already.
• The other day he climbed up in a stepstool in my bedroom and was fiddling with the light switch, which had the cover off because I've been painting. I told him to get down. And just as I got up to remove him, he got shocked. I could hear the jolt and of course he cried immediately. Luckily he was totally fine, but when I reached him I got a shock too and I noticed the top layer of skin had been burned off on two fingers. Not 30 seconds after running his hand under cold water and consoling him, he was back on the stepstool playing with the lightswitch again.
  
• The other day I was throwing a diaper away in the garage trash and I noticed Buddy's Nike shoes in the trash. They are new, so there was no reason for them to be thrown away. I knew the culprit right away. I wonder what else will turn up missing around here. And I still can't figure out when during the day he was out of my sight long enough to sneak into the garage by himself.
  
• He's still a big eater and can open the pantry, so he tries to help himself to snacks all day long. I do not allow this, so yesterday while he was on Buddy's watch, he took advantage of us both. I was desperate to get some housework done and had pretty much every article of clothing we own in a pile in the hall. I was upstairs folding some of it and the boys were watching a movie. Every 2 minutes I'd call down the stairs, "Is Sambo doing OK?" and every time Buddy would answer "Yes!" After awhile I came down to find Sambo with a pile of crumbs all over the couch and a half-eaten box of Triscuits and Cheese Nips. I had fed him a snack right before my laundry break, by the way. Of course I scolded Buddy for allowing this, and he said, "You asked if he was doing OK. He's doing great!" I'll remember to be more specific next time.

You know what, though? All this and more has added up to more reasons to love and adore our little boy. G and I go to sleep every night talking about how much we adore his personality and how richly he has blessed us. For the first 23 months of his life I've often said he came out just perfect. And now that he's got some spunk to him, I think he might have even gotten more perfect.