The Toddler Two Step

One of my last posts was brought to you by the number three, so it is only fitting that this next post focus on the dreaded two! It may have little to do with food allergies, but over the last month, my sweet little 17 mo has transformed. It arrived 7 months early...the terrible twos. 

We all reach that point with our children when we realize that public appearances must take a back seat.  No more dinners out, no movies, and even trips to the grocery store become a hassle.  I am there.  Monk has officially moved from baby to toddler, from sweet and cuddly to shrill and unpredictable.

Dance Shmance
Sitting at Punkin's dance dress rehearsal a few weekends ago I was overcome with sudden dread when a friend mentioned that her toddler was staying home with a babysitter.  Why didn't I think of that, and why in the world did I think my youngest child could sit through 2+ hours of piques and plies to every Disney princess ballad imaginable.

Lights go down, curtain comes up, sippy cup gets tossed under the seats, the passy gets thrown to the ground and cue the scream! So begins the tag team parenting at the back of the theater. 

But really, it was wonderful, and who wouldn't endure all that for this face!

Bye Bye Baby
So our sweet, once quiet, baby has begun to exert himself, vocally and physically.  The word "no" has entered into his vocabulary as a way to tell us just how he feels. Oh yeah, and it is usually accompanied by some vicious pounding on the ground just to drive the point home.  What is all this for you ask?  Typically it is that we won't let him play with the hello (phone) or that his brother or sister have...dare I say it....touched him!

He is a little man on a mission, and that mission has become to do whatever he likes completely unassisted and unobstructed.  Climbing is the newest and most popular sport in our house, whether it is up his brother's loft bed (even though we removed the bottom ladder rung), up storage shelves, on top of the coffee table or head first into the bathtub.  Like a shark in the ocean, he can't and won't stop moving! And recently he became the first Garcia to need stitches, although we opted for more manly Dermabond, for a small gash to the forehead. Those of you who know my oldest will try to please contain your shock and awe. He is ready to feed himself, to get up and down from chairs, the sofa, the toilet (no, I wish!) And lately, he has perfected his mad face.

And all this makes me smile. Why?

My little Monk is already an advocate for himself.  He didn't want any strawberries tonight so he threw them. He'd rather play than take a bath, so he screamed his way through it.  Diaper sound restricting? Kick, wiggle, go limp and then flail to keep from getting Pampered!

He knows what he wants and he lets us all know in no uncertain terms that he isn't that last child that get's forgotten, and he also isn't the sick and helpless one either.

When you spend the first year of your child's life afraid to feed them anything but applesauce, and become anxious as babies 6 months younger are outweighing him by 5 lbs, you worry that he will be the weak one, the small one, just ripe for future picking and bullying.  But seeing his personality start to explode blossom makes me feel a little better about the future.

My Monk is still as sweet as can be...as long as you are doing everything exactly as he wants it done.