Terrible Two's

In lieu of what is about to happen this Saturday, my baby child turning 2, I thought I would share this article I found on Parents.com about two-year-olds.  It made me a little teary eyed and made me think of my little monster in a whole different light.

(I have changed all the she's to he's for my purpose and changed a few other {things} to fit Brock.)

• When he takes a running leap and lands on top of me, he is questioning whether he will always be able to lean on me. And because I always want him to know the answer is yes, I tolerate it.
• When he yells "No!" and points his finger, returning the glare he undoubtedly learned from me, he is asserting himself. I couldn't be more relieved. I hope he will maintain that perseverance right into his teen years, when he can use it on any {person who dares to ask him to do drugs.} And into his adult years, when his stubbornness will be called "determination."
• When he attempts to stick a bobby pin he's found into the light socket, he is exploring his world and trying to discover how things work. Perhaps he'll be an engineer one day.
• When he draws on the walls, {floor, table} with a {blue} crayon, he is expressing his creativity. I try to think of him as an artist in training. And even more important, he is learning the value of leaving his mark on the world.
• When he breaks my favorite {necklace} and flashes his award-winning smile just as I am coming toward him, he is practicing his people skills. Perhaps he'll be a great politician (though I hope he'd be the rare kind who maintains integrity).
• When he tries to stuff a kitten into his lunchbox, he is experimenting with spatial concepts.
• When he wrestles with his {friend} over a toy, calling "Mine!" loud enough to be heard down the street, he is being bold and going for what he wants. I just hope that in the future, if he doesn't get his way, his solution won't be to bite in retaliation.
• When he climbs the chain-link fence with bare feet, he is proving that no challenge is too difficult for him to meet. And when I discover him playing in the yard of the neighbors who live behind us, he is reaching beyond his own little world, refusing to be provincial.
• When he lies on top of his 8-month-old friend, crushing the baby with enthusiastic hugs and kisses, he is unabashedly wearing his heart on his sleeve.
• When he insists I read {Goodnight Gorilla} to him again, for the seventh time in a row, he is teaching me patience.
• When he dumps macaroni all over the kitchen floor, stops to acknowledge my "No!" by turning briefly to look at me, and then goes right back to what he was doing, he is showing his ability to follow through with a task.
• When he gets tickled over something I take for granted -- the toast popping up from the toaster when it's browned, for instance -- he is blessing me unaware. How many times have I longed to see the world through the eyes of a child once again? Thanks to him, I can.
• When I catch him trying to eat the {dog's food}, he is proving that he will not be a picky eater -- and that he has survival skills, which may come in handy later in life (especially if he ends up on some reality TV show).
• When he gleefully rips off his dry diaper, throws it {on the ground}, and races for the toilet, then refuses to sit on it, he is exercising his prerogative to change his mind.
• When I call his name and he immediately breaks into a sprint in the other direction, he is listening to his own inner voice and refusing to be a conformist.
• When he suddenly decides to throw a tantrum in the middle of a restaurant, he is teaching me humility. And that leftovers reheated later at home usually taste just as good as food served fresh. (I don't usually feed him when we get home. If he didn't eat at dinner, usually, he goes to bed hungry... usually)
• When he steps into {his father's} enormous shoes, which swallow his tiny feet, and clumsily tries to walk in them, he makes me reflect upon {our} great responsibility to provide a good role model for him to follow.
• And when he stands on the kitchen table with no pants on, refusing to even put on a diaper, and dances... well, (we know he takes after his mother) I can only think the worst about that. So I try not to read too much into it, because I am choosing to remain positive.

I love my almost-two-year-old! The crazy, curious, excited, mischievous, determined, creative, loving, kind and all.