Yo no soy marinero. Soy capitan.

Joseph is definitely a toddler. I had this thought several months ago, but I had no idea what was in store. At 20 months, he is starting his terrible twos. One of his most frequently used words is, of course, “no.” Sometimes it comes out strong, like he is scolding us. “No! No! No!” He’ll say. And sometimes it’s a long, dragged-out “nnnnoooooooo.” Other times it’s in the middle of a whine or a cry.

I was anticipating the word no. I was even kind of wondering when he would start saying it all the time. After all, everyone was always telling me that “no” is a toddler’s favorite word. It doesn’t really bother me all that much. What I didn’t know about was some of the other things he had up his sleeve. For example, he has a fake cry. I don’t know why he does it, and I’m not sure that he does either. Sometimes when he does it, he’ll even say, “fake cry.” It’s as if he can’t get up the energy to really cry, but he wants to let me know that he’s not happy about what is happening to him.

Every surface in our house has become a potential platform or step stool.
Every diaper change has become a war.
Every breakfast has become a losing battle.
Every little task has become a long, drawn-out process.

He also has to do everything by himself, even if it is too difficult for him. It usually ends up with him crying, but he will still not accept help from anyone. This includes buckling any buckles he comes in contact with, building impossible towers, and pulling garbage cans across the yard.

Having a new baby sister around probably doesn’t help much, but he was already doing many of these things before she was born. I guess now they just seem much more pronounced. And although sometimes it is so frustrating (I mean HOW HARD IS IT to just hold your cup of water without spilling it everywhere?), I think this age might be the best! His imagination is wonderful. His memory is unreal. And his perception of things is more innocent and pure than it will ever be. And as an added bonus, he can now tell us about it. His vocabulary seems to increase daily. (The other day, he woke from a nap, clearly in the middle of a dream. He came up to me, and “sprinkled” something into my hands saying, “Mommy, take this.” “What is it?” I asked holding it in my hand. “Money.” he answered.) I'll take all that comes with the terrible twos.