Almost 2

We've got a little boy around here who's almost two.

 He is sweet and precious and I love him so much that sometimes I just can't hug him tightly enough or give him enough kisses.  And yet...he is almost two.

One minute, he'll be kissing and patting and "hi baby!"-ing John Fletcher, and the next, he'll be chunking a phone into the (occupied) bassinette or smacking the baby across the top of the head.

When we're out and about in the stroller, he slips his feet underneath the footrest and digs his toes in, so that our forward movement comes to a grinding halt.  Maybe just in the pedestrian flow of the sidewalk, where we only risk city dweller's scornful glances.  Or maybe smack dab in the middle of a crosswalk, with taxi bumpers practically grazing our knees, as they try to turn.

After seeing a video of a little boy on my friend's blog the other day, he asked me to make a video of him.  He was so excited and bounced up in the chair to be interviewed.  And this is what we got...

Our conversations these days often go like this:

Him: Cho-ees peaze, Mama.

Me: You'd like some Cheerios, Andrew?  Ok, you may have some Cheerios. {getting down the big yellow box}

Him: No Cho-ees!  Noooooo Cho-ees!  NOOOOOOOO CHO-EEEEEEEES!

Me: Alright, Andrew, let's speak nicely.  You don't have to have any Cheerios. {putting away the big yellow box}

Him: {wailing} CHO-EEEEEEEEEEES! CHO-EEEEEEEEEES!

Me:{banging head against refrigerator}

Then, there are other times we have conversations like this:

Me: Andrew, do you know Mama loves you?

Him: Yeeeees.  More? {with his face all lit up}

Me: Andrew, do you know Daddy loves you?

Him: Yeeeees.  More?

Me: Andrew, do you know baby loves you?

Him: Yeeeeees.  More?...

And he's just a smooshable ball of sweetness.

He's able enough to bust through every childproofing device we have and unrestrained enough to do some real damage, so he must be constantly supervised.  Constant supervision is hard to provide when nursing an infant.  And he is fully aware of that!

But his newfound abilities can be really fun, too.  Like today, we were headed to the American History Museum, but on the way, we passed the Natural History Museum.  Andrew recognized it, sat up out of the stroller, pointed, and started happily shouting, "Rawwwwwrrrr!  Peaze!  Rawwwwwwrrr!"  He wanted to see the dinosaurs.  So we did.  And I was so glad he is almost two.

When he lands himself in timeout for a really bad offense, I often find myself heading straight for the cookies after depositing him in the crib.  Who says eating doesn't make things better? 

When Mama was visiting recently and he was having a particularly defiant day, we were putting him in timeout for a decade...of the Rosary. It was restorative. Maybe I should go back to that.

When he's not busy being bad, he is simply delightful.  Sunday evening, Jacob was home and I wanted to make a quick run to CVS for my weekly coupon deals.  I planned to go sans kiddos, but Andrew caught wind that I was headed to "the S" and asked to go with me.  He loves to ride in the carts they have there.  I let him come along, but when we arrived, all the carts were in use.   I thought about just turning right back around and going home.  Having him on foot in the store, free to knock everything off the shelves just seemed too awful.  Instead, I stooped down and looked him in the eye and told him he was going to have to be so good and be Mama's helper.  And...I was absolutely shocked, but HE WAS!  He never pulled anything off the shelf without my permission.  He spotted the candy, but didn't even touch it.  He drug a basket full of merchandise through the store for me and waited ever so patiently in line with me behind a lady who took a very long time.  He handed all the items up to the cashier and then pulled our bag out the door and up to our apartment.  This may sound strange, but it was SO MUCH FUN.  To have him along with me, obeying me, being good, helping, chatting.  It gave me hope!

Basically, the highs are high and the lows are low.  And I know it's only for a time.  I certainly don't want to be wishing these days away in hopes of easier days in the future.  For one, I have my doubts that they really come.  Right now, I have him cocooned away with me.  When I have to release him into the big, bad world, I know there will be a whole new set of worries and upsets. 

Life in a fallen world is hard and it always will be.  I just wish I had some assurance that we are really getting somewhere with him in his upbringing.  That we are leading him down the right path.  Maybe this is the challenge of parenting your first child.  Maybe it's like this with all of them?  I don't know, but if anyone has any wisdom to share (or any advice on how to discipline when you're out of the house--he always seems to have the upperhand in those situations), I am all ears.  

 

For now, I'll just cinch the seatbelt a little tighter and hunker down on this wild ride with our boy who's almost two!