T2

T=Terminator? Nahhh, close though! T= Terrible!

Declan will turn two in 2 months time and he's start displaying signs and traits of the "Terrible Two".... His symptoms are as below:

1) Acting as my echo. I've started to notice that he's echoing some of the common terms and actions which I used on him.

Example 1

As an anxious parent, I am always telling him "No" once too often and if I have to repeat that, I'll cringe my nose and try to look stern. Guess what??? He's doing the same thing to us! Whenever he lay hands on my things, I'll tell him nicely that he's not suppose to touch that and request him to return it to me. Initially, he'll co-operate, nowadays he'll go "No!" and cringe his nose at me... Instead of getting mad, I'll end up laughing and laughing.... What kind of parent am I???? *sigh....*

Example 2

During play, sometimes, he'll get a little too rough and inflict some pain on me. This childish mother will then pretend to cry and then peep under my eyelids to see if he notice. Again, I did that once too often and now it's retribution time. On and off, when he doesn't get the things he wants, he'll do the same thing for me to see. Pretend to cry, without tears and mucus and then peep under his eyelids to see if I notice. The only extra thing was the cheeky grin which he fails to hide.

2) Throwing stuffs out of the window. I didn't really notice when he picked up this habit and from who... His mum is an obedient and co-operative citizen who don't litter and yet I've caught him throwing his biscuits and scraps of paper out the window. There was once he attempted to throw his pacifier out and fortunately I stopped him in time. Hmmmm now that I've mentioned that, I suspect that he may have succeeded in "getting rid" of one of his pacifier as one of them went missing mysteriously.

3) Everyday, either me or the dad will have to half coax half drag him into the room and make him sleep. He’s into doing the same thing to me right now... He'll pull me by the hand to the mattress and make me lie down with him and goes :"Sleep" I should be happy right?? I'm not! Cos he do that at 7-8p.m in the evening... Too early for bed... and if I attempt to sneak away to watch TV, he'll be mad and chase after me and pull me back to lie down on the mattress again...

4) He'll sometimes kick up a big fuss when we want to bath him, dress him or slap on a diaper for him.

5) When we bring him out, he will just dash around and pull things off the shelves. I can no longer shop in peace. We'll get so exhausted chasing after him that we almost always end up empty handed and have to rely on a cab to send us back.

6) When traveling in a cab, he'll wreak havoc in the cab. He'll try to open the door, refuse to sit on the seat or attempt to disturb the cabbie. I won't be surprise if one fine day the whole family gets thrown out of the cab.

7) He'll throw his water bottle, milk bottle, cups on the floor for no apparent reason. He's since broke 2 water bottles and a milk bottle cap.

8) He'll ride his tricycle over his blanket or mattress and when we remove the blanket or mattress, as usual, he'll cry.

The list is not exhaustive. I really hope he'll get over this phase soon and learn to co-operate with us more. Having said the above, I am not saying I give him to all the time. Usually I won't give in except for when he asks me to lie beside him and sleep.