The Flip Sides of a Two-Year-Old

The downstairs creepy shower....their new favorite hideout

Seeing as how its a the beginning of a new year, I made a resolution to try to update my blog at least once a week since the last time I wrote was....yeah. Let's not think about it.

Cohen and I are home today doing laundry while Bryn naps and Em goes to school. If we're together alone much longer, I'm afraid I may loan him out for the rest of the week. Have I mentioned we're in the terrible twos? His vocabulary, while admittedly finally increasing, consists of two favorite phrases: "No, Mommy" and "I wanna play (pronounced pway) Mom."

If I had a quarter for every time he told me this each day, I'd send him to an Ivy League school.  Thanks to the depressing forecast for college tuition prices when my children eventually are old enough to attend, we're thankful he's more into garbage trucks than anything academic right now.

This child is so hilarious and ornery that I simultaneously want to beat and hug him. Talk about paradoxes. Already this morning he has got a brush stuck in Big Sis' braided hair, beat her over the head with her own juice cup and some weird toy stick he got for Christmas, dumped out all the toys in ALL the baskets, had three meltdowns, two timeouts, three spankings, apologized five times to his sisters, dragged his stool to the porch door to try to unlock it to go play in the sub-zero temperatures after I said no, and woke up Baby to give her a binkie in the middle of her nap.

It's 11 a.m., he's running in circles in the basement repeating the word no for no apparent reason, Bryn is now awake and crying in her crib and Emery doesn't get home for two more hours....

At least it's not Monday, right?

While I beat my head against the wall and debate the possibility that I'm receiving karma today of all days for Drew's childhood, I see him transform into this little adorable angel with a high pitched voice. He must feel repentance on some level because his attitude changes and he's now meek, mild and apologetic.

"K, Mommy." "I play with Mommy?" "Mommy, I play with Baby?" "Sah-wee, Mommy."

He's now quietly playing trains behind me while I type, and he wants to finish feeding the stuffed puppy he's placed in a doll high chair its bottle. His own giant blue puppy dog eyes stare at me with that ridiculous gleam in them that I absolutely know comes from his father and ... Poof.

The spell is broken and something is about to go down. I don't understand what the wheels are turning around inside that giant head he's finally grown into, but I know that I wouldn't trade him for the world....permanently that is. :) Anyone need a tornado to hit their house today? By the look on his face, he's up to no good.

See the look? This was yesterday right before he plastered
his hair down and gave puppy binkie a bath in my ice water