The Two's

So, E is two years old now. If you say, "Oh, no...TERRIBLE two's!," I may be compelled to hurt you. I don't think there is anything terrible about a two-year-old. There are good days and there are bad days, but mostly, there are just days when they are trying to figure out how do handle things on their own. There is nothing terrible about that. Thus far, we have been extremely blessed to have a very well behaved toddler. I am always so proud when people comment on how nicely he is sitting in a restaurant or behaving in public. My husband had to take E with him to sit through a church business conference the other night. Adults have difficulty sitting through these. E read his books and played with his iPad and behaved beautifully for the entire thing! We can take E to restaurants. He refuses to sit in a high chair or booster since he wants to be big like everyone else, but he behaves like a little gentleman as he sits on a regular chair with his head peeking above the table. The key to getting these results is knowing our child. When he is due for a nap and rubbing his eyes...guess what...not the time to take him to run errands. When he has been cooped up in the house on a rainy day...you got it...not the time to expect him to sit quietly for an hour. There are of course hits and misses on our toddler learning curve. Here are a couple examples of our recent adventures:

A Miss!

We needed groceries on Sunday after church. We needed them in the way that we had nothing in the house I could make a meal from and you would hear an echo if you spoke with the fridge door open. Yeah. We like to wait until we HAVE to go to the grocery store. One of the new stores in town has mini shopping carts for kids. I thought E might like "shopping" beside Mommy. Oh he liked it...just not the "with Mommy" part. He took his cart and was off to the races before I could even get my cart out of the bay. Let me remind you that this was right after church and I was wearing uncomfortable heels not suitable for baby chasing. I abandoned my cart and caught up to him at the back of the store where he had already proceeded to fill his cart with anything at eye level. This included spray butter, chocolate dipping sauce, bakery pastries, and a peach. Clearly, this was not a good idea. He was not happy to see me put back all of his carefully chosen treasures and even less happy when we had to put back the cart. The rest of the shopping trip was spent with him secured in one of the race car shopping carts, protesting my decision. Lesson learned. Part of me wants to take him back when I do not have to actually accomplish anything and just follow him to see what he picks up and what he does when his cart is full??

A Hit!

When we returned home from our grocery shopping misadventure, I decided to let E help me make a banana pudding for Daddy. This is the first time I allowed E to help me with a real kitchen concoction. He is all about autonomy right now and wants to do everything "big people" do. I gave him a whisk and let him mix the ingredients. He did a wonderful job! He was very patient, waited for my instruction to stir after each addition, and was very pleased with his efforts. We celebrated with the traditional "licking of the spoon."

Our current philosophy is, "Let him try it." Sometimes, it is just to see what he does when given the option. Other times, it is so he can learn from the mistake we know he is about to make. Bottom line though, you will NOT hear me say my child is a TERRIBLE anything in front of him. I believe in speaking kind words about a child when they are present. I think children as well as adults live up to the expectations you set for them. If your child constantly hears that they are "terrible two" or any other unpleasant descriptor, don't be surprised when they prove you right. Is my child perfect? No. Will he always behave? Of course not. Will he publicly embarrass me and make me look like a lunatic mom? Most assuredly. He is two and there is nothing terrible about it :-)