Terrible Twos

We thought we were already dealing with the terrible twos ... G wizz we were wrong. Last night, Ethan gave us a real taste of it. From the moment I got home at 7:00 p.m., he was in his shoes with his metro card in hand saying, "dob ba si", which meant to take the bus. I was tired from walking the approximate one mile home and couldn't wait to get into comfortable clothes. Not to mention eat my dinner. I asked if we could have dinner first, watch Curious George, then if he still wants to we could go out. Ethan pointed to the door with metrocard in hand, saying, "dob ba si". I said I was hungry. He comes close to me and then as soon as I have my hands on him, he threw himself on the floor and started wailing. I almost couldn't catch him. I told him that it was time for dinner. Noop. That did not stop him. He screams from the top of his lungs, still managed to squeeze in, "dob ba si". I put him on the floor and told him to let it out, and when he is done he should join us for dinner. He must have reached the peak of his wailing. I thought my heardrums were about to pop. JK was speechless. We just ate in silence 'cause we couldn't even hear each other talk. We pretty much decided he was not going to win this one.

...then of course, after half an hour of pure noise pollution, and we couldn't even hear our own thoughts, I told JK to take him out for a walk. Ethan stopped his wailing immediately and brought over to JK his shoes. Then as they were exiting the apartment, Ethan turned to me and said "sub ray". I thought, "sorry"? I was so happy I couldn't help but say, "I always love you." Ten minutes later, they were back and Ethan was cheerful. When asked to take off his shoes, he refused and started wailing again. Gee Weez, what is going on? JK told me his mother told Ethan that we would take him on the bus when we get home. Great, just great! I told JK we should not lie to Ethan and that he should take Ethan on the bus to his mom. So they left, Ethan happily, again. About an hour later, they came back. Ethan was in his happy singing self until he was asked to take off his shoes again. He refused and said, "dub sub ray". Then it dawned on me that he didn't say sorry earlier. He said "subway" and now he wants to take the subway. I felt deceived and disappointed that he didn't apologize to me earlier. JK said no subway. I walked over and explained to him that it's dark outside and people sleep at night, not take the subway. Ethan literally threw himself on the floor, still with his metrocard in hand, and started wailing. Please picture this. His face was really in pain with real tears that dropped like a rainstorm. For added effects, Ethan knocks his head on the floor as soon as I make eye contact with him. This time, we decided it was time to let him cry. But just in case, JK looked up in our reference guide to see about this behavior. As it turned out, it was very normal that toddlers act out like this because they don't know how else to communicate their strong desire. Granted, it is true that for some of the things he wanted to do, we actively encouraged him with many praises. How would he know that for other things, like taking a bus or subway, we would discourage to the point of forbiddening him? So JK and I carried on our evening doing our own things. About 45 minutes after Ethan started his wailing, JK went and picked him up. Ethan was exhausted and initiated putting his metro card away. JK took off his shoes, changed him into his pajamas. I changed his diaper and proceeded to read two of his favorite books. JK warmed up his milk. Half way through the book, he didn't point to the monkey or the number or make a hand gesture that he was talking on the phone. I looked down and his eyes were closed. JK fed a limp Ethan his 8 ounces of milk and we put him on the bed. That was the end of our first battle. Not sure if we won the war but we sure did win this battle.

JW