The Terrific Twos

It should be noted that we are now in the midst of the Terrible, er, Terrific Twos.

Daniel has taken to asserting himself with great gusto. Now, most mundane everyday activities that we have been doing for months and years are met with great protestation. Changing his diapers, getting dressed, naps, getting PJs on, teeth-brushing and bedtime are now (almost always, but not always) met with tempestuous crying, stamping of feet, kicking, gnashing of teeth, growling, and even "growl-muttering," like a cranky old man.

On the positive side, his communication abilities are evolving rapidly. He is now speaking, quite often, in full sentences. He also is in love with books, and he's enjoying more complicated stories with more text that take longer to read. Some examples: Tiki-Tiki-Tembo, Skippyjon Jones, The Gruffalo, Henry the Explorer and If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. The days of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See are quickly fading away.

The temper tantrums are hard for Christy and I to weather, but they're interesting because they can pass so quickly. One minute, he's mad as heck at me, and then about four minutes later, he's normal again and feelin' fine, like nothing happened. How I wish that could last forever. And Christy has done an excellent job of teaching him to take deep breaths when he's having a temper explosion. That only took me about 35 years to figure out.