Toddler Angst Part Two: High-Five

I get into trouble sometimes when I drop you off. It all started when I high-fived you at school one morning. All the babies saw me and wanted to high-five me too. Well, guess who didn't want their daddy high-fiving anyone else? You even acted like you were going to hit one of them. I even bumped knuckles with a couple of them. Then I left before things got ugly. Sometimes I could just stay in the room and play with all the kids in your class the rest of the day instead of going to work. I don't think you would mind if I stayed as long as you were the only one I played with.

First Haircut

When your mom made an appointment to get her hair done I suggested it was time for you to get a trim too. Your hair was getting a little unmanageable at times. It always laid pretty after a shampoo but something crazy seemed to happen to it while you slept that made it hard to control in the mornings. She talked to her stylist and made your appointment too. We went to the salon and let you run around and get comfortable. Then you sat in my lap while the stylist did a quick few trims with her scissors. You were such a little angel! She kidded us that this was going to make you "high maintenance." The haircut looks great. Amazing what a little snip here and there can do. It lays so nice now, even in the mornings. And it has thickened up too. Pretty soon you will be wearing those cute hair bows.

Toddler Angst Part 1: Reality Bites

With toddlerhood comes a whole new attitude. While you are still amazingly sweet, you seem to have developed a counterpart: the toddler terror. When you are in this terrorizer mode anything can happen. You have a mouth full of teeth now and you are learning how to use them. Your mom thought you were going to give her a hug the other day, and then was surprised to find that you sank those pretty little teeth right into her collarbone! You nipped me once but didn't break the skin. When I picked you up from school one day, your teacher proceeded to tell me that you had bitten her. Mortified, I asked her for details and how we should correct this behavior and she told me that it was just typical toddler behavior. She said that she had something that you wanted and that you didnt know how to express that with your words, so you did the only thing that you knew to do in that situation; you bit her. She said it was just a phase and that all toddlers do it. I think you just have a bad case of toddler angst. I just hope that this is not a precursor to your teenage years.

Octoberfest

October blew through our household like a headless horseman. If it could be caught, then you would be the one to do it. But it cant, and no matter how fast you are it has passed like so many falling leaves in a whirlwind of activity that has been a lot of work but a lot of fun too. We went to our college homecoming. It was our twentieth year reunion. You were a good sport for the first quarter of the football game and then it was time to go home and end it on a good note. You graduated to a big carseat. It is a throne compared to the infant one you had for the first year. We went to an Autumn Jubilee where we painted your first pumpkin. It had butterflies and flowers on it. You told me what to paint and I did it. There was also your first carousel ride. I think you were a little apprehensive about the horses, but when we rode it for the second time you liked being in the sleigh. You began walking in a new direction: backwards. Not quite the 'moonwalk', but close enough. And you started saying quite a few words. A mouthful, to be exact. Mom, dog, duck, bowl, hi, hello, dad, ma'am. I'm sure there are a few I forgot. Then for halloween you were the cutest little sock monkey ever! No tricks, just treats. That is what this October has been.