baby jekyll toddler hyde

We just pulled in from our week of vacation.
It was beautiful to get away from real life and
sit and just do nothing. Nothing at all.
But we did hit a mile stone while we were away.
Yesterday, Addison turned two.
Yes, he most certainly did.
As we whiled away the hours in sunny Cayucos,
climbing rocks and drawing letters in the sand
his twoness came on quite strong....
like hurricane wind strong...hercules strong...7.0 earthquake strong.
My sunny little baby has started exhibiting
some not so sunny toddler behavior.
Imagine, if you will, finding your way to a lovely
beachside cafe looking out onto the rocks and waves
and the honey colored sun dipping down behind the horizon.
Then imagine, if you will, as you begin to place your order,
hearing a brand new two year old
repeating the word "no" 87 times in a row,
in a staccato like rhythm, with a bit of whining and hysteria thrown in.
No to being in a high chair. No to waiting.
No to a cheeseburger.
No to a straw. No to a cup. No to water.
No to saying, "No thank you", instead of "no".
No to mommy. No to daddy.
No to garlic fries which he threw back in Scott's general direction.
No to sitting on mommy's lap. No to being hauled out of the restaurant.
No to leaving behind his meal and heading back to the van.
No to being strapped into his stroller. No to being strolled.
No to being placed in his car seat. No to being strapped in.
No to the Veggie Tales CD mommy turned on to block out all the "no's".
People, no matter what anyone says, it is a day to weep when the child
learns the power of voicing his negative opininion.
We fared no better at the two additional restaurants we visited.
Except that we added a few more no's.
No to salsa. No to the waiter. And no to tacos were some favorites.
And frankly, tsgs, I am ready to hunker down and say "no" to restaurants.
For a year anyway. I'm not seeing this turn around any time soon.
I haven't done the 2 year old thing in a while.
And it seems I'm a bit rusty at it.
So I have a plan. A eat at home plan, for one thing.
A turn those "no's" into "no thank you's" plan.
A "how to not internally combust when your toddler tells you "no"
45 times in under 30 seconds" plan.
And here it is.
And it's time to record some supernanny.
Who else to help a tired supergirl than a supernanny?
Nanny Jo doesn't play. She really doesn't.
I know even now that I will draw strength from her
time outs, her naughty chair and her cockney accent.
God bless her.
And I will feel better in general just seeing that
there are a whole lot of crazy kids out there, saying "no"
and knowing that I am not alone.