You know, every day with a two year old teaches me something about life, about kids, and about my capacity as a parent. It’s a really fun stage to move through, around 85% of the time.

Our Henry has been exploring the tantrum throwing side of his personality lately, and I feel like I’m just sitting back and watching test run after test run. If they never happened in the most inconvenient and public of places, I’d probably just laugh at every last episode. The thing is, you can have a perfectly happy and well-adjusted child, but the moment he or she realizes their control over the sound and action coming out of their little body, look out world. This, coupled with the number of times a day a toddler doesn’t get his or her way, and you have the makings of a perfect storm.

What’s hilarious to me is that Henry’s tantrums are, at least 50% of the time, completely an act. The kid has mastered the fake cry, the sly look out of the corner of his eye to catch your reaction, the flailing of body parts at all of the most dramatic moments. He’s a pro at seeming mad or upset one minute and perfectly happy and smiling the next. I think this is the lot of the two year old life. It’s truly mystifying and magical, and it turns on and off with the flip of a switch.

I’m honestly having a decent time figuring out how to handle our latest adventures in two year old emotional territory. On most days, I feel like I can almost reason better with Henry after an outburst than in other moments of the day–perhaps because I have his full attention when he knows his antics have been less than favorable. There’s something powerful about the “close whisper” of discipline in a public or private space. Getting down to his level and talking slowly through consequences seems to do the trick, and I’m super thankful for that.

We’re just traversing all kinds of new parenting territory lately–with the two year old antics winding up, and number two fast on H’s heels as the days count down. I love this season for so many reasons, and the challenges that come with parenting and prepping for parenthood at the same time are mostly good and healthy…but I do have to admit it all requires a pretty good sense of humor. Thankfully, Hank has enough clown in him for all of us, and it’s fairly hard to keep a straight face for long when he’s around. You can’t stay mad. And that’s a good thing.

laughed all day today. we’ll have our hands full for a long time to come 😉

mm