The Terrible Twos

Have I mentioned this yet? Even if I have, I feel the need to do so again.

Joey has entered the terrible twos.

(If he hasn't, I don't want to know what they really are.)

He's reached a point where he melts down. A lot. Sometimes there's even a valid reason for it; more often the reason is something, "I put you down right next to me so I could use 2 hands on this heavy pot." The lower lip comes out, the eyes fill with tears, and he yells like he just picked up a firebrand in his bare hands. Truth be told, it's been a couple of weeks of this now, and it's making it very hard to feel any urgency when he starts crying. Sure, he may have just fallen headfirst off the couch, but more likely he's set a book down on the floor, or noticed the socks on his feet.

I think it's actually worse that when he's being good, he's /really/ good. He's talking more and more, he plays nicely with his brother (sometimes), and he's just generally sweet. When he's not being a total pain. The dichotomy is tough.

*sigh* This parenting thing is hard.

The Preschool Update

Sam is doing remarkably well, if I do say so myself. He's in the JK class, and is one of the youngest ones there. From what his teachers tell me, though, he's bright and picks things up quickly. (Was I surprised at that? I'll let you decide.)

He's doing some very cool things, learning-wise. He can count to twenty in french, he can name the continents by having them pointed out on a map, and, as I discovered this morning at breakfast, he can tell me numbers up to 100 by having me ask, "What's a 3 and a 5?" "What's a 6 and a 2?" Let me tell you, that one floored me. I didn't know he could do that, and if you'd asked me yesterday, I would have said that he couldn't. Having no idea what normal milestones are, I don't know if he's doing brilliantly well, but I'm just going to assume that he is.

It's also very nice to see that he's socializing just as well as we'd hoped. He listens well to the teachers and he seems to interact appropriately with the other kids. He's quite cottoned on to one boy in particular name Mihir. I know they're friends because, when they're both getting ready to leave for the day, they call each other names. As any boy will tell you, that's what you do with friends. (I can't imagine where he might have learned it... *whistles innocently*) Having a 3-year-olds vocabulary but a normal desire to call people names ends up with some interesting epithets being thrown around (with giggles): "Bye, monkey!" "Bye, boothead!" "Bye, dragon eyeball mud!" "Bye, earfacehead!"

I am much pleased.

I Walked In At The Wrong Time...

Sam: Can you keep telling the story?

Mama: Well, when the people in the submarine realized that there was a giraffe on top of them...

The Experimental Farm

We loaded the boys up this afternoon and headed out to the Experimental Farm. I'd never been - I think Sam is the only one of us who had.

Turns out, it's awesome.

I know I'm a city boy to the core, and, understandably, so are my boys. Still, cows mooing, live bulls, and pigs oinking tickles me to the core. Tickles the boys, too. Joey spent a good five minutes mooing at one of the cows - who mooed back. Sam's favourite part? Dropping some coins into the donation piggy bank, which oinked with every coin.

Turns out free entertainment is the very best kind, especially when there are live animals.

I Don't Know How They Do It

For the last couple of weeks, Joey has been sleeping pretty well, and generally gets up around 6:30. (Sam's been getting up circa 5:50, but I digress...)

This morning, Joey actually woke up at 5:40 after being tucked back in at ten after five. I was sad, particularly seeing as Sam slept until 7:30. *sigh*

(As a post-script, I'm terrified of the time change tomorrow. More later, if I survive.)

Dizzy, indeed...

Sam has started spinning around just to see what happens. Last night, he spun away from the supper table, tipped over onto the stairs, and said, "House, stop spinning!"