Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Hello again! It certainly has been an interesting few weeks. We got our new car, as you can see, and I have to say IT ROCKS! I told Paul he's totally buying me one when we get back to the states, I love it!
Getting out of the house before 11 is proving to be very difficult these days. Bible study starts at 9:30, and today we learned that we will never again be there at that time. Even after laying out clothes, packing up the car before either kid is awake, AND feeding E breakfast on the way, we were still late. Did you know that when my 2 yr old doesn't want to wear socks, he will fight to the death to make sure you don't get them on his feet. And then when you pick him up from the nursery, he will complain the whole way home about the "owies" on his feet from his shoes digging into them all day?!?! That's fun. Really fun. Maybe I should have waited in the 10 car line at Starbucks for my coffee, I think that's when my day started to go sour. Or was it when I put E in the car and when I went back to put Hannah in, I saw that he had dumped his whole entire cup of milk down the seat and on the floor. Wait, let's go back further, before we left, I was trying to walk down the stairs with Hannah and he grabbed my legs on the second to last step and wouldn't let go. OR! It could be the argument over the octopus shirt vs the car shirt, and whether or not he could wear shorts. Ya know, maybe I just shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning...yeah, I think that's it.
I've learned that having 2 kids is pretty difficult. The first week or so was very easy when she was literally sleeping all the time, but now that she is more awake and alert, it's getting complicated. Timing is everything. Having 2 kids that eat completely different types of meals at completely different times of the day is pretty frustrating. Or maybe it's the fact that I have a 2 year old. I hate that term "terrible twos", but he's definitely in it. EVERYTHING we say is a fight. Get your clothes on, take your clothes off, no food, eat your food, sit down, stand up, stay there, walk with me, you name it, the answer always seems to be "NO" followed up with a total look of defiance.
I don't get it. I've tried positive reinforcement, AND negative, nothing seems to work. However, the only way I could get him to take a nap today was by offering up the movie "Cars" after he wakes up (which we recently had to hide from him due to a tearful reaction when he watched Lightning almost crash). But it's the only way I could get him to close his eyes. In fact, I think it may be the fastest I've ever seen him fall asleep...although, judging by the past, it will never work again in our favor.
So what I want to know is: Is everyone with a 2 yr old struggling to maintain their sanity, or is it just me? I know it's difficult for them, because he has so much to say, and not enough words to say it, but my goodness, point or something. Balling your eyes out hysterically over a waffle in the morning is not gonna make mommy know what you want! (this has been a daily thing for last few weeks).
When all is said and done, though, he really is a great kid. Whether it be a little Jekle and Hyde-ish, he is sweet when he wants to be. He loves "Baby Sister Hannah" and always tries to help when she's crying or fussy, asking "oh, what's matter hannah?". It's too cute really, so staying mad at him is just not possible when he does things like this.
Everything is going great, though. We have two beautiful, healthy children, and I shouldn't be complaining about anything.
Here's a few pics,
















He certainly is handsome...

Brother and sister




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, at least you love your new car! I am sure, based on my observations, you are not alone in your "rant"...but you know...it is different when they are your own...LOL! miss you.

Anonymous said...

Were you just decribing a day in your life with a 2 year old or mine? Other then having 2 childern, your experience with Ethan is exactly like mine with Lauren. Hysterical crying or arguing with me over the sillyest of things. Silly to me, obviously not to her! She's so smart and can be such a well behaved child, but it only takes about 2 seconds and being told she can't have or do something for the tantrums to start. Your rant just made me feel very sane and dare I say 'Normal'.

Brad and Marcelle said...

I'm secretly glad that I'm not the only one with a very defiant 2 year old. It makes me feel sane.