Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Oh those terrible twos

For the most part, Matthew is the sweetest, kindest, most adorable little boy in the world. But there are days when I look at him and think "who is this demon child and what have you done with my sweet boy?"

I took a personal day yesterday to spend time with my family of four before I embark on a new career journey (more on that later). We had plans to go shopping, take care of a few returns and then grab lunch at a new beer place in the Galleria Mall. Unfortunately, our two year old had alternate plans. As I stood in line at The Bon-Ton in Eastern Hills, Eric took the littles on a walk around the store. As I waited my turn, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, my son running full force through the department store, and my husband pushing my daughter in the stroller frantically trying to catch up. I pretended not to see this, or to know them, and continued to wait. What is that saying? Karma's a B****!

Once I finished my returns, I caught up with them and learned that Matthew had walked straight into a display and hit his head. He was also whining that he wanted to "eat, eat dinner" - his term for I need a snack, but in the second mommy fail of the day, I realized that I had not packed any snacks for him. We trudged on to the next store though because I was determined to make the most of our outing. We took Avery out of the stroller and put Matt into the stroller. I pushed Matt as Eric carried Avery in her car seat. All the while, my two year old was whining louder and louder that he wanted to eat, eat dinner.

After a disastrous visit to store number two,we had had enough. About 25 minutes into our "family outing" we called it quits and headed home. For the entire trip down Transit Road, it was a surround sound of crying from Avery, who hates to be in her car seat if the vehicle is not in motion, and whining from Matthew that all he wanted to do was to "eat, eat dinner." If you are familiar with Transit Road, you would not be surprised that in this cluster of frustrating noise, we would of course hit every single red light, making a painfully long trip even more dreadful. 

Once we were finally home, I brought Matt into the back room to watch the Harry Potter marathon that was on ABC family. He was really getting on my last nerve, so I decided to try and ignore his incessant insistence that he have access to my iPhone. In my state of obliviousness, I had not seen the right hook as he came across and slugged me in the nose. He may be two, but he packs a punch. After a much-needed time out and nap time, the evening was much better. However, yesterday was a painful reminder that the terrible twos are a real thing and certainly no fun to live through. Someday we'll look back and laugh.... some day.