"The good news is...."

"When children are very difficult at age 2, I've found they are easier at age 3".

Those were the words Colby's preschool teacher used to comfort me after she told me Colby is her most challenging 2 year old this year. And she teaches every day of the week. Basically, he just does not follow directions unless it's something he really wants to do.

At first, she was concerned that he wasn't understanding her words, but I assured her he was, and he was choosing to ignore her. Welcome to my life. Lee and I are so used to this that we weren't sure it was all that abnormal, but apparently Colby is a bit further down the stubborn and strong willed spectrum than the average child. No surprise, as both Lee and I fit that description.

What do you do with a 2 year old who just chooses to ignore you? We've been doing the counting/time outs at home, and that works some of the time, but Colby goes to time out about 3 times a day. Apparently, it's not working at preschool because they can't really put him in time out, and Colby has figured out that there's no real consequence. So, we are working with the teacher to come up with some sort of positive discipline. We've introduced a sticker chart, but Colby isn't all that thrilled with the idea so far because he just doesn't care about stickers. He does care about candy, but the teacher does not want us to use that.

Despite the challenges, Colby is still such a sweet, loving, and happy boy. And active. Very very active. Even though he gives Miller a good whack at least once a day, he is still very sweet and loving to her 90% of the time. He's just exploring his independence right now, and we're reeeeeeally hoping he'll get some of that out of his system as he gets closer to 3!

Mom, is this payback?

Uh oh...

There's a chink in the armor.

Colby is hitting Miller. And taking her binkie. And pushing her when she sits. And scratching her. And playing drums on her head...with sticks.

He seems to enjoy both the act and getting punished for it.
The first 6 months of toddler sweetness were just too good to be true.

I hope this is just a phase, and I hope it ends soon. Miller is going to be one tough cookie.

It has come down to this....

My desperate attempt at making my girl look like a girl. I dare you to call her a linebacker now.

Jammin'

Colby doesn't want to watch the Wiggles anymore....or Blues Clues...or Barney. He wants to watch live acoustic concerts that we record on TV, and he plays along and dances with his guitar. His favorite concerts so far are the Counting Crows, Weezer and Dave Mathews. He's also started "plugging in" his guitar...you know, because the real rock stars all have a cord hanging off their guitars.





Where did this child come from?