things are changing

Mark Patrick turned 2, two weeks ago.
my precious, tiny, bundle of little-man-ess has entered the Terrible Twos.

for Norah, the Terrible Twos started at like 15 months and continued until 3 years old. the tantrums. the defiance. the rebellion. the overall nastiness of two blanketed us, quickly. she was already quite a talker once she turned 2, so there wasn't much of a change there (except after her 2nd birthday she could speak in paragraphs). but as quickly as Terrible Two captured my angel girl; it left her all the same.

MP.
well, MP is different.
his Terrible Twos are just starting to emerge. he's a sneaky little fellow that loves to plunder and be defiant. with the Terrible Twos he enjoys saying "nooooough!", "stop it!", "kit as-pank-im me!", "non't you tell me noough!" among various other phrases that my once 1 year old wouldn't dare scream at mommy. but it's something about Terrible Twos that helps bring the monster out of your seemingly well-behaved child. it's as if a blue-eyed, blonde curly headed snake-dragon has burst open the gates of my child's brain and has vowed to inhabit his mind until mommy goes crazy. well, that's what it feels like anyway.

back to his plundering...MP can walk-sneak anywhere! he can get into my bathroom drawers and cabinets with the ease of a sniper walking through the woods. sometimes he can walk directly behind me and i have no idea he's gone hunting for trouble. he's taken a keen interest in "brusha teeff"; more acturately, the "brusha teeffpaste". he can squirt this stuff like nobody's business. MP apparently has special squeezing hands that allow the "teefpaste" to launch itself out of the tube and land just about anywhere; toilets, cabniets, sissy's hair, on roxee, in roxee's mouth, on his shoes, in his hair, on the mirrors, in the bathtub, along the chair railing...oooh ooh, and windows. needless to say, i have a fresh smelling house. (lol) the newest challenge to conquer has been mommy's new fridge. he can totally swing those doors open and tends to rearrange any and everything he can-as stealthily and quickly as possible. good thing is, he doesn't really get anything OUT of the fridge. oh, unless it's his "goyurt" or the kool-aid pitcher. but seriously, he can literally be standing right beside me and then with a flash, he's vanished. and everyone knows that when you call your kid's name and ask them what they are doing...and all you hear is silence in return, that little someone is doing something wrong. i find him in all sorts of comprimising situations.

in his closet with "ingredients" for cake. (aka mess)
in his room "playing" with his VHS tapes. (aka tearing up)
in his bathroom "cleaning." (aka getting water from the toilet and slinging it all over the bathroom as he "scrubs" everything with a t-shirt)
in sister's room "re-organizing" the bookshelf. (aka taking all the books out and throwing them across the room)
in my bathroom "helping" mommy fix the cabinet. (aka taking all the door knobs off the cabinets and helping himself to lotion)
in the kitchen "cooking" (this entails many different versions...another story)
and my all-time favorite, in roxee's bowl. (i can't tell if he's ever actually eaten her food or if he just likes to lick the water out of the bowl and then put roxee's food in the water piece by piece by piece. ooh yeah, and the unneccessary need of putting his cuppie in roxee's water, ya know so the cuppie will taste better, duh!)

aah, yes. the joys of Terrible Twos. but ya know, i do quite enjoy watching him develop into his own strong personality. he's opinionated. he knows what he wants and likes. he knows what he will not tolerate. he knows when someone is upset and how to comfort them. he knows when roxee needs a love. he knows he's getting the hang of life now. and that makes me proud.

so if you happen to be in the neighborhood this weekend...stop on by for our birthday celebration. i'm sure he'd love to show off his new tricks for you!