My Happy (or is it angry?) Toddler

I have a two year old (closer to the three side now).  To say that his two year old self is terrible is definitely not true.  Challenging, as he's frustrated by things we can't understand? Yes.  Neediness and independence bouncing back and forth every few seconds with "Mama, help me!" and "I do it"?  Oh, yes.  Moodiness?  As in: I don't know what child is going to show up at any given moment??  Oh...my...goodness!  The twos are the times that warm us up to the threes and fours from what I hear.  I don't want to say they are terrible because I feel that that is heading my way very soon.

Round One!  My day starts out with curiosity as to what child I'm going to walk in on in the morning.  If I have to wake him up, I have to brace myself for the incessant whining.  (He already hates mornings or at least being awakened.  Can't blame him there.  He gets that honest.)  If he's awake as is common on the weekends, we are usually in good shape as he is more cooperative.

Round Two!  We're on to the first meal of the day.  Will he want to eat or will he frown at every options placed before him?  Here, during the week, we are usually in better shape.  I make him smoothies as they are transportable and a great option if we're running behind schedule, they are nutritious (milk, peanut butter, banana, yogurt, that sort of thing), and most important, he loves them in whatever mood he's in.  The weekends are more hit or miss as I try to give him other options: fruit, oatmeal, eggs, all of which he enjoys most of the time.  But there are times that he just refuses more than a bite or two and just wants milk.   And then again, sometimes milk is a bad option, too.

Round Three!  Lunch time is very much like breakfast.  Most of the time he is at the baby sitters for this one.  But on weekends, I get to take over.  Now, I know he loves fruit, he loves peanut butter and jelly (or banana) sandwiches.  But sometimes, I think he must forget that he loves these things.  He'll take a bite and say he's done.  However, if I offer some junk food, he'll relax in his seat and be ready to chow down.  (For the record, he doesn't always get offered PB and J.  And I definitely don't give him junk food after he refuses the more nutritional stuff just so he'll eat.)

Round Four!  Nap time!!  One of my favorite times of the day.  Of course, it's one of his least favorite.  Nine times out of ten, he whines and cries at the mention of it.  "I don't want to take a nap!"
To which we say, you need to and you're going to.  He at least has to lay down, which usually ends up with him conking out within half an hour.  However just yesterday, he was playing hard and then the next thing we know, he's telling us he needs to go take a nap.  It had me stunned.  I was like "well, okay, that's great.  Thank you for being so willing to take a nap!"

Round Five!  Yet another meal time.  Again, it's similar to the others.  He has the foods I know he loves: macaroni and cheese, carrots, even broccoli.  But yet he seems to have memory lapses when he sits down to eat.  "I don't like it" he says in a whiny voice and sometimes some very convincing tears.  If we can get him to eat, the next thing you know, he's saying "I like it, Mama.  I like it."  And I'm like, well what was wrong with it a few minutes ago.  If he's still stubborn about eating, we'll pull out the "you'll get something special if you eat" and show him the said item.  Sometimes this works and most of the time it doesn't.

Round Six!  Bedtime.  It's much like nap time nowadays.  He was very good about going to take his bath (although he's never in his life time liked bath time), and then getting a book and going to bed right after reading.  He still loves the book part every night, but we never know the response to bath and bed time.

All of this makes me think back to the times I spent being medicated with steroids.  My moods varied greatly.  One minute, I'd feel calm and at ease, and the next thing I knew, I was raging (maybe not outwardly, but definitely inside).  I was easily frustrated.  If something wasn't going as I thought, I didn't handle it well.  I didn't want to be angry and irritated by seemingly nothing, but it seemed that I couldn't fight it.  There was whining from myself I'm sure.  There was definitely a lot of "Why Me's?" especially after I saw how puffy my face was from all of the swelling.  And there were many tears after having the repetitive relapses.  My parents may have awakened everyday wondering what child they were going to see first.  It was like the whole Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde deal.  I can, with certainty say, I never pushed away food like my son does though.  That's one thing we don't have in common here.

Somehow, the people around me dealt with my shortcomings and emotional struggles throughout a very rough stage in my life.  May God grant me the grace to deal with my son's various life stages, and come out with sanity on the other side.