Sunday, January 8, 2012

January 8, 2012 ~ The Terrible (Not Quite) Twos

Well, I'm not finished yet with the Daycare Plague sent home to me over Christmas break and have been struck down again by another Daycare Plague. The stomach bug that caught Billy on Friday has now happily taken up residence in Daddy and myself. I keep asking the daycare to send home just the kid and not the plague, but we catch everything that Billy catches. For Daddy, when he gets a cold he gets the sniffles for a few hours and coughs for a day. I get it for at least a week. Billy too. Daddy woofed down Chinese food today with his stomach virus. I had toast. Lucky Daddy.

Because we weren't feeling good we put up the baby gate. It's a rarely used item that I bought only for just such occasions. Billy hates it. He is restricted to the kitchen and den, so that we don't have to chase him all over the house. This plus the stomach bug had him in a less than pleasant mood today.

By naptime Billy had already bitten me on the leg in anger. He didn't get his way. Normally, he just throws his binky on the ground and shouts, "Oh, no!" Sometimes he bites. Sometimes he hits. I cannot convince him out of any of these. Every time he bites I make him sit in the Naughty Spot for ten seconds. He's too young for time out, but I hope that the ten second Naughty Spot can evolve into time out.

He also decided to get into trouble with the dog water today, since he was trapped in the two rooms and the dog water just happened to be in reach. I found him in the kitchen with a collection of fridge magnets in the dog bowl. He had a spoon in his hand and was stirring the magnets like they were in a pot. I was laughing so hard (inside) that I had to get Daddy to come over and punish him. He knows better, but it was really hysterical to see him mixing up his bowl of dog-slobber color kid magnets.

In the afternoon we when over to Grandma's. Daddy was installing a new ceiling light for her. Billy, Buddy and I just went along to see Grandma. Of course, Billy was obsessed with the steps at Grandmas, particularly launching himself down them. He thought it was very funny as I grappled to keep him from falling. They are only a half-flight, so I was letting him practice some, and hold him as he fell down so that he could learn the consequence of jumping down the stairs. I don't think it worked.

But after awhile I kept him away from the stairs and this made him angry. He decided to head-butt me. Usually, I duck and miss when he tries this, but I didn't see it coming. He split my gum open and knocked my two front teeth loose. Suddenly, all that anger over not getting his way had real consequences, not just time out.

Back at home I explained to him how he hurt Mommy and why that's very naughty. He came over and gave me a big hug. I don't know how much he gets and how much is just the lovable little guy being himself. The tantrums are all the time now, and that lovable little guy quickly turns into a momentary demon. I'm hoping he got a big dose of reality today and might have learned to reel it in. Anger is part of growing up and having kids means getting some cuts and bruises along the way.

I was just hoping he might make it to two before the really bad tantrums started...

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