Twos, Terrible or Terrific?

Because some of the days with a 2 year-old are hard (can I get an Amen?) Because some days ours cries for an hour because his waffle gets broken and he NEEDS TAPE to repair it. Sometimes he melts down because I make him wear underwear instead of going commando. Other times he has the classic breakdown over the wrong color sippy cup (thanks Dad for making it such a priority to teach him his colors!) Or, like many of us, once the train is gone, the book is finished, the walk is over, or the candy is swallowed, instead of remaining grateful for the joy it brought him, he loses his mind wanting more. I could go on...

But instead of harping on the downside of the Terrible Twos, I'd rather highlight the awesomeness of the Terrific Twos, 'cause this age can be pretty great too. Somehow he knows when I'm at the end of my rope with his ridiculousness, and he does something precious or hilarious to convince me not to give him away.

So, here is the current highlight reel in photo and narrative form: 

Isaiah has learned to say "Bless you," when people sneeze, but most regularly and adorably he blesses himself when he sneezes. The other night he had just fallen asleep and I was carrying him to his crib when he sneezed and said "Bless you" without even opening his eyes or waking up.

Potty training is usually good for a laugh.

Since January, when my grandparents came from Iowa for a visit, he's been regularly saying "Bubby Daddad," their nicknames. Sometimes pleadingly, other times matter-of-factly. The frequency continued to increase as their next visit, this past weekend, approached. One night I was trying to sing him a bedtime song, but he shot down every song I tried within a few notes.

"Jesus loves me..."

"NO!"

"Hush little baby..."

"NO!"

"The wheels on..."

"NO!"

"Old McDonald..."

"NO!"

"Well, what do you want me to sing?"

"Bubby Daddad Song!"

So, my mom wrote him a 3 stanza "Bubby Daddad Song" complete with a repeating chorus, and he asks for it every night!

Although he says "No," a lot, when he says "yes" to something he says it with contagious enthusiasm, "YESSSS!"

His vocabulary is huge, but his pronunciation still leaves something to be desired, so all hard C or K sounds are still T. Such as "Mommy's tooties are nummy!" Recently, we were at Noahs' Ark, our churches indoor playplace, and we had it all to ourselves. I was sitting with Paul, when Isaiah came up to me and managed to explain that there was an airplane under the playset and he needed help getting it out. I couldn't reach it with just my hand, so I put Paul down and went in search of something long to help me retrieve the crashed plane. Sticks and bats were scarce around there (probably so kids can't hit each other) so I ended up with a plastic cucumber and recovered the downed aircraft.

Later that afternoon, we were back at home and Isaiah dropped a crayon under the couch. Right away, he went to the playroom and came back with a drumstick, saying "Tutumber!" and rescued the lost crayon. Now, every time he needs to reach anything he says "Tutumber," finds a long-ish object, and we quickly forgive him for whatever tantrum he's recently put us through because he's just too cute to stay frustrated with for long.

Silverware can make for good tutumbers in a pinch, or should I say in a pickle.

He LOVES helping make and eat muffins, sometimes he can't even wait till they're finished. He was supposed to be mashing these "nummy 'nanas." Apparently, they were too nummy to mash without sneaking a few mouthfuls.

Today, he ate all the tops off of his baby muffins before later going back and finishing them. His look, "Isn't this how everybody eats baby muffins?"

The other day, I was feeding Paul, and Zy was getting impatient and probably a little jealous, so I told him to go get a book and I would read to him. He brought be back a rhyming Bible, patted it and said, "Jesus." Then he went back to his room and returned with another Bible and said "Jesus. Match!" He loves a good match. Since, most of the book doesn't talk about Jesus I was so touched that he recognized Jesus is the central character, and although it will be a long time before he understands it, that every word points to Him in some way. Together, we looked through the Bibles for pictures and stories about Jesus, and he stopped at a drawing of a lamb, and pointed out, "Jesus." Oh, my heart... he's listening!

The sweet, wonderful, magical moments always outweigh the tough ones, even if they don't always outnumber them.