Sometimes he acts like a two year old....and so do I.

There are some days that I get so frustrated. I have heard "no!" too many times to perfectly reasonable requests. There have been too many tears over misunderstandings. I've been jumped on from the back of the couch one too many times. I've heard "ow ow ow" when he doesn't want me to pick him up or hold his hand. He's refused to apologize when he's purposefully hurt someone and then cries heart wrenching cries when he's just sitting in time out. THIS is life with a two year old. Well, life with my two year old anyway. Sometimes he just acts completely ridiculous (which is obviously expected) but I find myself being sucked in and my responses are not that of a calm, 31 year old grown up. They often consist of me raising my voice. Sometimes they result in my just begging him to PLEEEAASE stop. Sometimes my response is to just to call my husband from the other side of the house saying "get him nooowww" through gritted teeth. Most of these responses, I regret the minute they leave my mouth. I know how to handle my two year old and these are not the ways, but sometimes I think we can't help but revert to our two year old selves and all the coping skills we've learned over the past twenty nine years just go out the window. I hear it happening to my husband too. So, I know I'm not alone. For some reason though, when I'm on the outside, I have much more rational thought than when I'm in the mist of the two year old storm. So, as a learn to parent and be the best parent I can to a two year old, I have to remind myself to step away. I remind myself to take a beat before the response. I remind myself to tough it out during the punishment because he really is learning something. I remind myself that even though sometimes his attitude reflects that of a much older child that I am sure I didn't give birth to, he is just a two year old. He's still a baby, a tiny little boy that needs his mom and dad to hold him. He needs to be told it's okay to cry. It's okay to be mad. It's okay to start over and that no matter what he is loved and forgiven, because I know I need love and forgiveness every day too.