We've turned a corner

22 months
We regret to admit that Evan has officially entered his terrible two’s. The last week has been pretty tiring, to the point that when he smiles at me sweetly, I think, there’s the boy I know and love. I’ve never had that thought of recognition before.

Here’s a sampling of our last week: He wants to go in the backyard but we say no because it’s cold and dark, he has a tantrum. The cat gently brushes against his feet and he doesn’t like it, tantrum. I have to leave the room to use the potty, tantrum. He wants juice so I give it to him but he has since changed his mind, tantrum. He wakes up in the middle of a nap and I dare to pat him back to sleep, tantrum. He tightens up and arches his back and thrushes about to and fro, inconsolable, and looks at me and/or Jerry as if we are totally evil. Good times.

Yesterday I dared to buy him his own dinner plate with fire trucks on it (which he picked out), but when we got home, he was bothered by the red circle on the outside of it. He tried to pull it off, but the painted-on circle did not budge. Tantrum.

The only consolation we’ve found is that these episodes are less likely to occur if he’s totally entertained. So we give him our complete attention as much as possible and try to keep him from developing an interest in anything we might have to say no to. I almost bought him bath salts (they turn the bath a “rainbow of colors!”) but decided against it because he might insist on dumping the whole jar in there and if I say no, a bath tantrum. My decisions are now based on: Could this cause a tantrum? How could this possibly go wrong?

On the other hand, there are times when he’s just gonna lose it, and we’ll deal with it. We can’t make all decisions based on Fear of Potential Tantrum.

In his defense, he’s had an eventful month. New house, new daycare, less time with nomby (me) and daddy.

His daycare is nice. Other than being expensive beyond belief, they are caring and provide great entertainment. They teach them sign language daily and Spanish twice a week, have a letter and animal of the week, circle time, outside time. He is in the 1-2 year old room (the oldest one), but he doesn’t seem to mind. On his third day, his teacher Jodi said that when it’s time to play outside, Evan runs ahead of the pack, leading the way. When they come inside, Evan again leads the way, then knocks all the blocks off the shelves. She also said he seems very happy and none of the teachers can believe this is his first time in daycare full-time. This is a bit hard for us to believe because he cries in desperation whenever we leave him there.

House update
Fixing up the house has been fun, but I had no idea finding the right paint could be so hard. My original goal was to avoid ivory because every place we’ve ever lived together has been that color. We’ve cycled through about 6 paint colors in the family room and 3 in the kitchen. Still working on it. I'm now leaning towards ivory.

More importantly, we’re missing a bathroom vanity, outdoor fixtures and landscaping; have funky carpet; and our kitchen linoleum has staples in it (don’t ask). We are making other fun discoveries as the days go on. We knew we were buying a fixer, but…

We love the backyard. The evenings here are warm and lovely. Next time we have a wad of cash sitting around (say, 2008), we are buying a gas grill. I’d like to spend more time out there. Maybe we’ll move our bed out there next.

Evan loves pushing his trucks off the deck and putting rocks and dirt in his dump truck, and playing with the garden hose. I’ve also been pulling him in his red wagon to the park down the street. Jerry has been working on the house almost non-stop. He’s very handy. I’ve been painting, visiting Home Depot often, and watching the boy. In spite of the work, I have absolutely no buyers’ remorse and Jerry claims he doesn't, either. This is so much fun.