Terrible twos X 2

The boys are trying our patience these days!  I have always said the terrible twos should be renamed to the curious twos. They are only “terrible” because they are curious and are trying to find out how things work, what they can get away with, etc…not because they want to intentionally disrespect us.  BUT, in the process of being curious and finding out how the world works – they can act TERRIBLE! Most people get to experience this stage 1 kiddo at a time, we get 2 at a time, which is a lot more than just double the work.  I really don’t think I can hear another person say oh, “I know exactly what you are going through, I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old.”  No, you don’t know what we are going through because that said 3 year old is a year older and can comprehend and verbalize a whole lot more than that 2 year old.  They can listen better, follow instructions better and tell you how they are feeling, what they ant, etc.  Two 2 year olds is an even playing field, they are at the exact same comprehension level, exact same stage in life and you are dealing with 2 kids that don’t quite understand what you are talking about when you tell them they are going in time out because of this or that.  That 3 year old knows they did something bad and this is a consequence.  They can verbalize how they are feeling a whole lot more than the 2 year old can.  ok, enough ranting.

While the boys generally do behave pretty good, they definitely have their moments of being (almost) 2. hey are testing the boundaries and finding out what exactly they can get away with and what they can’t.  Discipline is pretty hard right now.  They don’t quite grasp the concept of time outs, although they are slowly learning, and spankings don’t do anything – so why do it.  So that leaves us with 1 thing that has shown to work well with (at least) Hayden – taking away things that matter to him.  The two things that have helped are really only good at night when they are playing instead of going to sleep – taking away the pacifier and separating the boys.  Hayden does not like having Ian in the other room! Those 2 consequences work great at night time and nap time, but during the day is when we struggle with disciplining.

It also seems like we are always saying “No”, “get down”, “stop that’, “give that back to your brother”, “leave your brother alone”, “don’t touch the TV screen”, “don’t stand on that”, “sit down”, “leave the food in your mouth”, you know, the usual stuff you could hear at anyone’s house that has a toddler living in it.  I just feel like I’m nagging my kids ALL day long and I hate that.  But at the same time, they HAVE to learn because I don’t want them growing up not knowing how to act in public or at other peoples houses 🙂

The boys manage to get into a lot of stuff, things that we don’t think they are capable of doing, they surprise us! Lets talk about last weekend, shall we.  Keep in mind all this took place within a 3 hour time period.  Time of the crime – 5:00PM, crime scene – our kitchen, criminal – Ian.  (Ian really didn’t do anything bad, its just funny) So I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and the boys were playing on the porch with their sand.  I left the door open and blinds up so I could keep a good eye on them – and keep in mind our kitchen is like 10-15 feet from the door.  I hear Ian walk inside, around the kitchen table, walks into our room and out, then down the hall and into the kitchen where I am.  I hear him give his little giggle that he does when he has done something that he is proud of, so I look down to see him holding a cup full of sand.  You may be thinking, oh ok, a cup of sand.  This cup had holes in the bottom and sand was leaking out, and ALLLLL over the path that he had taken to get to me.  Do you know how hard it is to sweep up sand without missing any of it?!  It’s hard, trust me.  Like I said, he didn’t do anything bad, its just a funny story of some of the shenanigans the boys get into.  The next crime took place at 8:00PM, crime scene – boys’ room, criminal – Hayden & Ian.  The boys were in their room, supposed to be going to sleep.

They had been quiet for about 15-20 mins and every once in a while we’d hear a little giggle and then nothing.  Well, I decided to go in and check on them…good thing I did.  When I walked in they had the completely full diaper rash ointment (very oily and greasy ointment) and vasoline ALL OVER THE PLACE.  They had climbed up on top of their bed rails and reached to the top of their dresser to get these, which were in the middle of the dresser.  They had this stuff all over them, in their hair, on their pajamas, ALL over their sheets, on the beds, walls, everywhere!The once full can of ointment was completely empty by the time they were done with it.  I had no clue where to begin! I just stripped their beds and them, then wiped down everything to get as much of the oil out that I could.  I soaked the sheets and their clothes in the tub with dawn dish detergent.  I figured, if it can get oil out of bird feathers it can get grease out of fabric.

I’m sure this won’t be the last time they do something like that so I just have to remind myself this stage will pass and they will grow up, one day!  Even though I don’t necessarily love the stage they are in right now as far as behavior goes, I do love this stage they are in for other reasons and I don’t want them to grow up too fast.  Can we just bypass the bad behavior and keep the other aspects of this age?!  I’m sure that would be the dream of every parent of toddlers! I don’t want to skip over the whole stage because if we did we would miss things like this:

Or this:

or goofy times like this:

and sweet moments like this:

So I don’t want to miss all those moments, I could just live without things like this: