The Ups & Downs of Parenting a 2-Year-Old

Is he a devil?  Is he an angel?  Yep!

I sometimes feels as if I'm actually parenting two 2-year-olds rather than just my one.  Kaleb's moods and behavior vary so wildly lately from one day to the next, from one hour to the next, sometimes from one minute to the next.  Some days I fall asleep thinking of what a wonderful day I had with my sweet little angel; other nights I lie awake fuming mad or nearly in tears over the horrible day I've spent with my demon spawn....and, of course, I experience a range of feelings between those two extremes.

I suppose this is probably true of most children, at least some time in their lives.  It may even have been true of my child for a while already.  But it was never anything I noticed until a few months ago.  With all the time that Kaleb and I have spent together this summer, while I haven't been working over the summer break, it is something that I notice more and more often.  And never has it been more obvious to me than in the difference between yesterday and today.

Yesterday started out great!  Kaleb & I woke up at 8a.m., had breakfast, and went around the corner to get Kaleb's hair cut in preparation for having his summer portraits made later in the morning.  Kaleb was wonderful at the barber shop, being the only one of the three children who didn't cry and scream all the way through the process of getting the hair cut.  The barber even rewarded his excellent behavior by giving him a brand new comb of his very own to take home!  We came back home and got Kaleb into the bath to wash away the little hair bits that always end up all over during a hair cut.  While he was bathing, I found out from my photographer friend that we would have to take Kaleb's pictures in the afternoon, rather than in the morning as we had planned, because of some unforeseen problems she was dealing with that morning.  We agreed we'd just wait and go in the afternoon after Kaleb's nap.

  

Unfortunately, Kaleb's nap left him with a little more energy than I had anticipated, and he was somewhat wild and wound up.  We loaded up his portrait outfits and headed to my friend's office.  Kaleb played around in the studio while she adjusted the lighting and equipment and took a few test shots.  Then we changed him into his good outfit, ready to take some pictures.  From the first minute, Kaleb was uncooperative.  He did everything except what we asked of him, and we could hardly keep him still long enough to take a picture of anything.  Over the hour or so that the session lasted, his behavior became worse and worse.  Luckily, Sharra Clark of [Bella Angel Photography] is an excellent, talented photographer and was able to capture some really great shots of my little monster, including this one she has allowed me to post here as a preview.

The entire experience left me feeling utterly embarrassed at Kaleb's monstrous behavior.....and for those who don't already know this about me: When I am embarrassed, I tend to become angry at whatever or whomever is the cause of my embarrassment.  After the session I loaded Kaleb back into the car, and we drove home in silence.  Upon arriving back at our house, I silently sent him to use the potty and then went in to my bedroom and closed the door behind me.  I was so mad that I knew I needed to go spend a few moments alone to calm myself down.  I promised myself that we will never again attempt an afternoon portrait session.  Once calmed, I came out to the kitchen to get supper plates made for Kaleb and myself.  We sat down to eat, and I had to fight with him through the entire meal to get him to quit goofing off at the table and just eat.  Once I finally got him into bed later, I was flooded at relief to have some quiet time.

Kaleb slept peacefully through the night and didn't wake up until nearly 9a.m. this morning.  After a good night of sleep, I got out of bed praying that today would be a better day.

I walked into Kaleb's room, where he was lying in bed playing with his teddy bear and waiting for me.  As soon as he saw me, he jumper out of the bed and ran across his bedroom to hug me.  I caught him up in a big hug, and he planted a wet, morning-breath kiss right on my lips.  After his morning trip to the potty (We've now been over a week without any accidents--day or night--in his underwear!) he danced and hopped down the hallway to the kitchen to help me get his breakfast ready.  He was pleasant and cheerful through breakfast, and sang along with Sesame Street.

We had plans to go up to the school where I work and help a couple of my teacher friends move their things from one classroom to another in preparation for the upcoming school year.  We packed some toys and books and toy cars and some Barney DVDs to play in my laptop.  We also took a little cooler with some juice for Kaleb and some Pepsi for me.  During the drive to the school, Kaleb was happy and talkative and generally a sweet little boy.

Once we arrived at school, we met up with the teachers moving rooms.  Kaleb was happy and pleasant and well-mannered.  He did everything anyone asked of him.  He spent the first part of the day helping us move things around.  He did little jobs: moving and stacking empty boxes, picking up trash and putting it in the garbage cans, carrying lightweight items from one classroom to another.  On our empty-handed trips from the new classrooms back to the old ones, he ran up and down the hallways laughing or took a try at pucking the empty hand-trucks.  We took a lunch break after one of the teachers went and bought Arby's lunch for everyone, and Kaleb ate every bite of his lunch.  After lunch, he quietly played in the office of one of the new classrooms while watching DVDs.  He remembered to tell me every time he needed to use the potty, and didn't even complain about having to go on a "big" potty.  Amazingly, he remained well-behaved the entire day, and never acted tired or grumpy, even though he hadn't had a nap!

His tiredness finally caught up with him once we got back into our car, and he slept during the entire drive home.  I woke him up in the driveway, knowing that he was still exhausted from his busy day.  I brought him into the house, and he asked to go to bed.  Unfortunately, I just couldn't let him go to bed at 7p.m. without having eaten any supper; I knew he wouldn't sleep well that way.  To keep him happy, I enticed him to lie down on the couch with my pillow and blanket (which he doesn't get to use often) and watch a Sesame Street DVD while I made us a quick supper.  It was a enough occurrence, and he laid down to wait while I cooked some food.  He ate all his supper, and even got a chocolate chip cookie to reward his excellent behavior.

After we finished eating, he said he was ready to take a bath.  He asked for a bubble bath, and I decided a bubble bath would be a nice treat for him after his hard day of work!  I threw a small handful of lavender into his warm bubble bath, and he played with his boats and relaxed in his bubbles.

When his bath was over, we got him into his pajamas and into bed.  He's now sleeping soundly, thoroughly worn out from his exciting day.

I'm sitting here and thinking of how wildly different Kaleb has been on the last two days.  Two new environments, two different kids?  Since Kaleb isn't likely to become even-tempered and consistent any time soon, I'm going to make sure to take more pictures on the good days so that I can reflect on them during the difficult times!  This sort of emotional and behavioral flux is perfectly normal for young kids, but I can't help but with for more days like today and fewer days like yesterday.  It sure would make this whole single-parent thing more consistently enjoyable!