Terrible Two's

When James turned 2...it was terrible. I swear someone switched out my sweet little boy James for some crazy, bipolar  look alike.  The tantrums were.... unbelievable. And I remember when he finally turned 3...ah....I could see my little sweet boy coming back and I loved it. Harrison is now 2. I was all sorts of prepared for big tantrums, like James', and he can throw a tantrum, but it is mostly funny, and only lasts a minute. However, he is the most mischievous little stinker there ever was. For example.....

Ever day Harrison pulls all, and I mean all the books off the book shelf, both the one upstairs and the one down.  He also dumps out whatever bin of toys or balls he sees and then just walks away without playing with any of them. At each meal he either throws or spills or just wipes his food everywhere. And anytime I have just mopped the kitchen floor you can bet that he is going to dump out his cereal, juice or whatever else is enormously sticky or messy to clean up. He always finds a pencil, pen, crayon or marker and will color whatever he sees. My walls are covered, as well as doors, toys, books, and other furniture. 

Harrison is also obsessed with the bathroom, the toilet especially and loves to put anything, including toothbrushes, in it.  He gets into my drawer on a daily basis, while I am trying to do my hair, brush teeth or any of that stuff. And he finds whatever he can and runs with it. He usually steal the deodorant, a toothbrush, or my make-up bag. This never ends up well. He also loves the water dispenser on the fridge and presses it often, cup or no cup.  He loves to destroy things. Books mostly. Many a book have been completely shredded in the past few months because of him.  He has also pulled all the stuffing out of his new teddy bear. I made 2 new photo albums this summer and had them out on the coffee table, Harrison ripped out the second half of one of the books. Thank you Harrison. 

He is really good at making big big messes. Like the other day when he poured chocolate milk all over the couch. Or yesterday when he took the bowl of raspberries, dumped them onto the floor and then jumped on them. Yes, I have tan carpet, and yes raspberries are very dark purply red. And the berries were completely mashed in. It was not amazing. I spent the afternoon with some oxyclean and that seemed to do the trick. Anytime I am cooking anything he gets right in the fridge as soon as I open it and starts pulling everything out. He likes to throw the eggs especially.  Not to mention all the boxes of crackers, cereal, cookies and who knows what else he has pulled out of the pantry and dumped all over everything and often smashed.  And all the while he is laughing his cute laugh giving you his sweet innocent little smile. This no longer works on me. He gets in trouble pretty quick and spends a lot... a lot... of time in his bed or in time out. 

I can imagine that you are sitting there thinking "wow. what is wrong with her kid?" or "wow, she does not pay any attention to her kids" I swear, I really do watch my kids, but laundry needs to be done, floors vacuumed, beds made, bathrooms cleaned, meals made, and messes to be cleaned up. Often he is destroying another thing while I am still cleaning up his previous mess.  It is impossible to have your eye on your kids 24/7. 

Now don't get me wrong, this sounds like I don't like my kids very much. Well anyone who knows me knows I love my little Harrison.  HE has had me wrapped around his little finger since day one. He has just about the cutest smile there ever was and can make you laugh at just about anything. He is a delight. A pain in the butt delight, but a delight. And all this terrible two stuff just makes the day more......interesting. :)