A Preview of Two

Luke was such an easy baby. Luke was SUCH an easy toddler. But now, Luke is two months away from being two, and oh, my, do I ever get the feeling that Luke will NOT be such an easy two-year-old.

When I worked in the daycare, I always thought it was so much easier to care for and teach the toddlers who got upset easily than the ones who thought that everything in life was a great joke. After all, you could use a stern voice with the sensitive ones and make a big impact. A stern voice would just make the life-is-a-joke ones mimic you and fall down laughing. GUESS WHICH KID I GOT.

As of this week, a stern voice makes ZERO impact. Taking a break from the situation makes zero impact. Redirection: zero impact. Distraction: zero impact. Repeating a consequence over and over and over again (ie-telling him that he may sit on the couch or stand on the floor and removing him from the couch to the floor every.single.time. he tries to stand on the couch): Zero. Impact. Because all of these things are GREAT FUN for him. It's wonderfully exciting for him to tell me a rule ("No spit food, Mama. EAT food!") and then watch my reaction as he breaks the rule. It's oh-so-much-fun to clamber back up on the couch for the 500th time because maybe THIS will be the time he gets away with it.

And the running monologue in my head goes something like this: Be patient. Be gentle. He isn't being willfully disobedient. He's just testing out his world. Be patient. Be kind. He's one. You're twenty-six. You can rise above. Be patient. Be calm. Don't make this more fun for him than it already is by losing your cool. He lacks impulse control...you HAVE impulse control. So control yourself. Be patient. Be patient. Be patient.

But oh, this is hard work today.