Month 24: My 2-Year-Old Son

I finally understand parenting: Just when I feel confident, in a nice little routine, and capable in my disciplinary role, life changes.

The proverbial rug gets pulled out.

Having a 2-year-old son is a whole new ballgame - a new level of energy, a new level of conversation, a new level of discipline, and a new level of "just how dirty can one kid get".

Daniel is developing independence right and left and is constantly looking for ways to exert it. He learned the phrases "this way" and "that way" and when in the car or stroller, he now feels compelled to tell us which way to go at every intersection. He knows how to get to all of his favorite parks, and loves the thrill of us taking his suggestion, and turning a specific way. On the flip side, if we pass a park without turning in, he loses his cool and bawls "thhhaaaaaaaat waaaaaaayyy peeeeease!"

The "please" battle is one we take seriously, and it's not as easy as it used to be. Somewhere along the way, Daniel acquired a bossy side and loves to order us around. It has it's place in play, but "more milk!" gets really old, really fast. Surprisingly, withholding the milk sometimes isn't always enough to encourage a polite approach. His stubborn side will kick in and he refuses to say please... he actually would prefer to NOT get milk than to stand down and be polite. Incredible.

At school it's a different story. (Aren't parents always the recipients of the testing?!) He is apparently polite and sweet at his preschool, and often acts as the classroom greeter at the end of the day, telling each parent "Bye! Have a good day!" on their way out. (When they told us this, we didn't believe it, but now he spouts "have a good day!" to everything in sight. Especially ducks.)

He has friends now, too. Not that he didn't before... but now he really knows, recognizes, asks for, and interacts really well with "his group" of comrades. Ava of course is still his preference, but he has a growing list of other buddies as well. On a side note, when we have families with kids over to the house for dinner, he used to have an atomic meltdown if I held another baby. Which was cause for concern, considering the impending adoption. That situation seems to be improving, however, and while Daniel isn't happy about me focusing on another child, he is more tolerant and apt to cooperate than before.

Perhaps my favorite part of having a 2-year-old son has been his newfound love of the dark. He runs around the house, turning off all the lights, then wants to play chase and hide and seek in the pitch black house. As you can imagine, many a bumps and bruises have happened this way, but so have hundreds of hilarious memories, shrieks of laughter, and moonlit rounds of "ring around the rosey" ("reegs"). And now when we pass through anything dark - be it highway tunnel or dimly lit hallway - Daniel's eyes get huge and with notable excitement in his voice he says... "Ooooo....daaark!! Play chase?!"

His vocabulary continues to astound me. But more than the quantity of words, I'm impressed by his ability to use them in context. Daniel forms complete sentences on a regular basis: "This is Daniel's seat" and "That is Dada's food". He will devote his full concentration to voicing a thought, even if it takes a few minutes to spit out: "The ladybug's going up the tree to see the monkey" (he still loves animal books, obviously).

The last major recent development has to do with his sleep patterns... and I am sticking to my earlier claim that Daniel IS his father in this area. He loves to stay up late and sleep in each morning: "More sleep, Mama. More sleep." We took off the front gate of his crib and it now takes a little longer for Daniel to fall asleep, as he's exploring exactly how far he's allowed to roam (not far!). I imagine this process will get a little easier once the novelty of nighttime freedom has worn off.

Wow! This turned into a novel. But while parenthood really has taken all kinds of unexpected turns, what hasn't changed is the crazy amount of love we feel for our baby boy. Stubborn and bossy though he can be, Daniel is our hearts' delight.