Life before 2008 16 Dec 2006 03:29 pm
Two
I’ve been wondering how much to share with others the “joys” our particular two year old has given us recently….especially in light of a week when my open sharing was used against me by, well, by a “pot” callin’ this kettle “black” ;-). But this little Bundle of Wonder is getting much too vibrant to contain, and so, must be shared, hang pots and kettles.
Historically, I’ve found the “terrible two’s” really are at their peak during the six months that lead UP to the second birthday. So when our Giant Baby found the windex and licked it, pulled all the toilet paper down and strung it through the hallway, accidentally locked himself into a bedroom alone, and played “egg ball”…and those kind of things would happen all in the same day, with a never-ceasing variety, I commiserated to my mom, we’d laugh, and I figured it would pass with his birthday.
Not too surpisingly, I rather looked forward to the end of November…
And whaddya know but this is the kid that is going to further break the mold his other siblings fit into so nicely? The first four make it into the world with a 15 minute transition labor…Rowan took FOUR HOURS. Three of the first four (this where I can’t include Clara) sleep through the night around 3 months….Rowan never has. Not even close. And those six months leading up to his second birthday? Ah….he was just gettin’ started.
Rowan knows how to unlock the doors and turn the deadbolts. We installed locks up hgh, near the top door jam….he knows how to push his high chair over there and then find his freedom. Rowan is fond of not just Egg Ball (his version of using eggs) but also loves to smash glass with the same glee. This means our own mini version of Kristallnact (night of broken glass) as Rowan found the christmas balls, the votive candles, my french press. Rowan just discovered the oven door, which is too old to have a locking mechanism, and thinks it funny to stand on it. That kid screaming on aisle three in the store? That’d be Rowan and yesterday it meant he was not just screaming (to have his new shoes put on) but also….wait for it, naked. He is still doing the “naked thing” and now tries to do it in public. This morning when his big brother loaded wood into the wood stove, Rowan added the plastic playmobil pirate ship.
As an infant, often the only way to calm him (other than nursing, his first love) was to walk him outside. David walked many moonlight mornings with him in the stroller, finally done crying while he stared with wide-eyes at the Big World Outside. That is still true; I find myself walking him outside (no more stroller; it involves too much sitting) so he can run, run, run some of his energy off. It gets us a nap every day at least….
He loves to be read to, sits well (mostly) through church, and is still a sweet Bundle of Wonder in the middle of night, wanting to snuggle. I do hope though, that the next few months will see a wind-down of some kind, that maybe it’s just a bit later than usual, like his speech or something. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment for hoping that…today I baked cookies with Celia and Rowan got the beater. There’s a twinkle in these eyes that tells me I just might be in for the ride of my life….
But who could be mad at that face??? Ooooo I just want to kiss it!
on 16 Dec 2006 at 9:25 pm 1.dalimama said …
Perhaps we should arrange a marriage between Rowan and Eve. They seem cut out for each other… soul mates, perhaps. This is the girl who let herself, butt naked, and the dog out of the house and ran down the street and into the neighbors backyard at that age. She also through an orange into the toilet which became lodged (we couldn’t even see what it was) to which my dh had to completely remove the toilet and though he snaked it and did what he could, we ended up having to buy a whole new toilet. Not to mention the lovely “drawing” that she did all over my dh’s new album from the album company displaying all of the swatches of their new leather, wood, metal and fabric covers, mattes, etc. I had to call the company, located in New Zealand, and have them ship us a new one pronto and explain why. She also cut the dog’s ear once and her own hair at least twice. (Thank goodness we have a very tolerant Golden). There’s so much more but those are the major ones that come to mind. Now that she’s almost 5 she seems to have let up a bit, but not completely. She gives me a run for my money to say the least. Her latest antic is to climb onto the kitchen counter and help herself to some brown sugar located on the top shelf or sugar packets.
on 17 Dec 2006 at 12:37 pm 2.Blogless Leigh said …
Well…. I don’t want to get your hopes up but….my youngest, Brendan, was the happiest baby who must’ve had a zillion lives. He did sooo many things like this and oh so many more and I thought I would never survive- we called him Houdini because he could escape anywhere and anything. Somewhere along the way he turned inward and has calmed and become our most thoughtful and creative LEAST demanding child. It was very hard to be mad at him because he was such a cherub!This too shall pass-
~L
on 19 Dec 2006 at 3:57 am 3.Susanne said …
Benjamin broke all our milds, too. The others slept through the night at 6-8 weeks. Benjamin didn’t until he was nearly TWO. He fisgured out things (like climbing on tables) that my others never thought of.
And I always thought that 18 months is the most challenging time — B made it from 18 months until *3* being into everything, including taking off into the National Forest barefoot. Sigh…..
Those red-headed boys! What shall we do with them?
Susanne