Delay Tactics

New York, 2014

A year or so ago, when we told some old friends we were expecting our second, the husband (a father of two) laughed (or was it cackled?) and said something along the lines of, 'And you haven't even gotten to the terrible twos yet!'

Mostly, we haven't, but of course as Axel becomes more expressive and more verbal, he has more toddlerish moments. 'No way' and 'Mine' are things we hear a lot around these parts. 90% of the time he's cheerful and amenable, but the other ten percent...well...

Last night, for whatever reason, he decided he didn't want to go to bed and pitched some major screaming fits from his crib, calming down immediately when we walked into the room and demanding that one of us sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle' on repeat. 'Again!' he'd demand, like a tiny tyrant. It was 9 p.m. by the time he went down and all the while Oscar was mewling and demanding attention too.

It's easy to be exasperated with Axel, because we take for granted that we've cracked the sleep thing with him or can at least reason with him or get a sense of what he needs. And we absolutely need those few mellow hours before we crash at the end of the day, so when we don't get them, everything feels off kilter.

But sometimes an almost two year old is going to be maddening and emotional and wild and exhausting and mess with all the little routines you've come to depend upon. And I have a feeling it will get worse before it gets better. Good thing we like him so much.