The Terrific Twos

My mother in law sent us a card the other day and the note enclosed said "Enjoy the Terrific Twos!"

Terrific??

Doesn't she mean terrible? Torturous? Tormenting? Wanna-pull-out-all-of my-hair-and-then-stick-sharp-objects-in-my-eyes-rather-than-dealing-with-another-one-of-these-tantrums??

Hmmm.. maybe not. Caleb has been, uh, testing his boundaries the over the past few weeks since we crossed the threshold into toddler hood. For instance, he will no longer eat with plastic cutlery unless he is eating yogurt (go figure?). He insists on having metal knives, spoons and forks at the table, as well as multiple paper napkins and stoneware for plates - none of that baby plastic or melamine! Scott and I have found this interesting, particularly when we are eating finger foods like pizza or chicken fingers.

"Look Cay, you can use your fingers like Mommy."

"No Mommy!" (a brief pause) "Dippers?"

Have I mentioned that the child will eat anything with a sauce? Seriously, he even tried asparagus, which I do not think of a particularly kid-friendly vegetable, because Scott had made a lemon butter sauce to go with it. The asparagus did not last long, and quickly became a means for him to get the sauce off the plate while sucking it off the asparagus. What are you going to do, right?

Another mealtime drama has been our inability as parents to keep him seated during the meal. I know that kids are bound to squirm, but standing on the chair is unacceptable, even if you are just two. Until the recent time change, we had an advantage. Caleb could see himself in the dining room window and we would say "Tell that boy in the window to sit down." And he would, all the while demonstrating the skill himself. Now that there is more light, he has discovered his reflection in the lovely brass light fixture over our dining room table. He stands up on the chair periodically to wave to the boy in the fixture, but cannot see him if he is sitting down so our little "window" trick isn't working any longer.

While meals have been challenging, it has been interesting watching him develop his preferences. He loves fish and seafood, ham and chicken. We haven't found any winners in the vegetable aisle aside from sweet potatoes, but so far, there aren't too many fruits he won't at least try. His father has him addicted to chocolate milk, but fortunately we can put 1/3 chocolate and 2/3 regular milk in a cup and he is none the wiser. Oh, and the kid would do a head stand for raisins or fruit snacks, particularly those shaped like Nemo ("Momo"), sharks, or tractors.

Our next challenge, food-wise, is going to be transitioning him from a sippy-cup to a real cup. I think I might need to invest in a Sham-wow!

to be continued.....