Skip to main content

Paul Thomas: Things to Remember, Terrible Two's (aka Terrible Nineteen Months)

Does anyone remember the nursery rhyme about the girl with a curl in the middle of her head?  The poem went like this:

There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.

I've rewritten it to apply to LP.  Here's my version:

There was a little boy who had a big ol' bruise
Right in the middle of his forehead;
When he was good, he was very, very good,
And when he was bad he was horrid (and drove his Mommy nuts).

LP has either hit the "Terrible Twos" early or is giving us a preview of defiant adolescent behavior (or perhaps both).  The last few weeks have found me biting me tongue, stifling my impulse to scream and/or cry, and generally feeling very frustrated.

For the most part, I know I shouldn't really complain.  LP is still a very good little boy.  He's friendly, loves going to day care, and plays nicely with other children.  But man, when he decides to be naughty or gets in a cranky mood Watch the Freak Out (and feel free to replace "Freak" with an altogether different f-word if you feel so inclined- I do when I say it to myself)! 

Little Paul is now big enough to climb on the couch.  Which is great when he just wants to sit there and read his books.  Not so great when he climbs up there to torture the dogs, throw all the pillows on the floor, and tries to knock all the picture frames off the sofa table.

2010-06-03 18-04-35_0012

He's also tall enough to easily reach the counter.  Which so far has resulted in one broken plate when he tried to pull the drying rack towards him so that he could play with the lid to the blender.  Fortunately there were no injuries.

We're now training ourselves to use the back burners on the stove and to keep EVERYTHING away from the edge of the counter (particularly the knives).

2010-05-31 19-18-25_0034

While he used to go down for naps and to bed at night so nicely, talking and reading to himself until he fell asleep, more often than not these days he cries and screams and generally carries on until I'm afraid he'll make himself sick (which has been known to happen).  And that's after he's already dragged out the bedtime routine by throwing a fit when we try to change him into his jammies and oh-so-slowly making his way upstairs, pausing at each step to say "bye-bye," and "night-night" to Daddy and the dogs.

2010-05-31 19-16-33_0031

Now I know that all kids have their food issues and their picky stages (after all, I was once a toddler who would only eat croutons) but for me, meal times are the absolute worst.  I have a very hard time remaining patient and calm while he's throwing his dinner on the floor.  I've mostly given up on making him anything special as I'm certain he's not going to eat it and it frustrates me to no end to spend time cooking and then watching him toss it all off his tray.  He happily eats almost anything at day care and when other children are around but forget about it at home.  If it's not a banana, yogurt, cheese stick, or a cereal bar he pretty much wants nothing to do with it.  Apparently you can live (and even thrive) for quite a while on such a limited menu though. 

2010-05-31 19-11-02_0025

Little Paul has begun peppering his speech with a liberal litany of "no-no-no!!!"  He'll ask for a cup of juice and then throw it across the room yelling "NO!" after you give it to him.  He'll ask you to read a story and then, again, throws it across the room while yelling "NO!" if you try to open the book. 

He's also developed the ability to whine.  This morning when I dropped him off at day care instead of running to say "Hi!" to everyone he sat down on my feet and whined.  He refused to let me take his jacket off and wouldn't talk to anyone.  He eventually gave into promises of juice and waffles and I'm hoping that was just a one-time deal but he's been whiny at home too so I'm not holding my breath. 

2010-05-31 19-08-30_0017

Like the little girl with the curl though, it's not all bad.  When he's good he's oh so very good.  His new favorite word (after "No!") is "doin'?"  As in "whatcha doin'?" and he asks each of us many times a day what we're "doin'." 

2010-05-31 19-05-24_0005

And Little Paul continues to love "helping" with things.  This week he's into throwing things away (which has been great except for when I caught him trying to throw my cell phone away) and watering the plants in the back yard (This involves Daddy filling a bucket with water.  Then LP gets a tupperware container, dunks it in the bucket, carries it to the watering can, pours the water into the watering can, and then carries the watering can over to the plants.  Perhaps not the most efficient method but it sure keeps him occupied for a while!)

Yesterday I was even able to get some sewing done while he played in the family room.  Now granted, I had to put an Elmo movie on the t.v. to get him to stay in the other room but still!  I was able to keep an eye on him while he played nicely by himself AND hem a shirt I've been working on- yay! 

Here's hoping that we see a lot more of Dr. Jekyll than we do of Mr. Hyde

Comments

  1. OMG... I can so relate to everything you wrote here. I can honestly say the 18 month stage was WAY worse than the 2's. Then, at 3, it gets even more fun! :o) But, really, a year and a half is rough, and then you're in the clear until 3. It is so worth it, though!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Winter Looks Like...

(Welcome to anyone arriving here from Blue Zebra Photography !) (Oh!  And this is post # 500 on Ye Olde Blogge.  Wow!) I mentioned earlier that I'm participating in two different photography projects this year with other members of the Bloom Forum .   The second project I'm participating in are monthly photos that relate to a certain theme or word. For January, the theme is "Winter." We've had an odd winter so far here in Massachusetts.  Hardly any snow at all and over the weekend it was actually in the 50's which is pretty unusual.  We did have a brief snowstorm last week though and while LP and Eliza were cozied up on the couch together I wandered around and took a few photos of the scene.  I love how cozy it is in our house when it's snowy out and wanted to capture some images that conveyed that... From the Inside, Out: View From the Back Door: From here you can head over to Kelly Janssen's Photography

February: What Shadow Looks Like

  (Welcome if you’re coming from Suzanne O'Brien Studio in Northern California!) This month’s group photography theme was “shadow.”  I’ll admit, I had a bit of a hard time with this one.  We’re in the middle of the February doldrums around these parts, and while the sun does shine from time to time it’s cold and blustery and damp most days.  It was tough to get motivated and creative about this, but that’s the whole point of the challenge! The kids and I were in the living room one afternoon and LP was lining his toys up on the windowsill.  The (frigid) afternoon sun was pouring in and I realized that there was a sort of lightbox effect.   I enlisted LP’s help in photographing some of his favorite toys (and one of Eliza’s) so he was the “stylist” for this little photo shoot.  I think if we ever have a dedicated play room I might frame some of these photos for the walls! Sophie the Giraffe: Army Guys: Captain America (I never noticed how realistic this toy looks until I too

March: What Home Looks Like

(Welcome if you've arrived here from Laurie Schultz's blog !)  Over the years the definition of Home for me has changed.  Growing up it was, of course, the house I lived in with my parents and my brothers.   Even after college when I moved to another state “home” was still back in that house.   Although my apartments were homey and some of my roommates became like family to me, Home was always back in my hometown in the house I grew up in. Even after moving in with Paul, getting married, and buying our own house, a small part of me still felt like home was back in Pennsylvania.  We were creating our own newlywed version of home but I always referred to going to my parents’ house as “going home.”  This has changed since having children though.  Now home is here- where my heart is, figuratively and literally.  It’s wonderful and exhausting and messy and crazy- usually all at once.  And I wouldn't change any of it.  Now, home is where my hubby takes care of thin