Terrible/Terrific/Typical? Two's

Right before Sy turned 2, we (to be honest, mainly Ben) listened to a series by Family Life's Barbara and Dennis Rainey about discipline and spanking. In this series, they referred to Sy's latest and greatest stage as the "Training Two's." I can begin each day humoring them by accepting that cute little play on words, but after 8 time-outs, 4 slaps on the hand, and a couple of "I'm going to count to three and then you're going to get it's," I pretty much think "Training Two's is a bit too rosy of a term.

There are moments (plenty of moments) when this stage is just plain terrible. The hitting, whining, stalling, whining, fit-pitching in public places, trouble with sharing, whining, being mean to sweet old ladies, screaming "No Pop-Pop!" just as we've gotten Pop-Pop on skype, and the whining, well, it all sucks.

Of course, Simon can now say "Sorry" (not that he always does), which is precious, and only to him do the words "I forgive you" come gushing out of my mouth without condition. And he can say "Love You Mommy," which can all but erase whatever death-row offense he just committed (but wait, five minutes later, there it is again!)

And apparently, he can also now say "Susie." I came walking up to him today and he said "Hi Susie." Seriously? I thought that was supposed to come after he goes off to college and realizes he's an adult.

By the way, the above set of pictures captures an altercation Simon is having with his friend Adu. As you can see, they made up by the end, and just so I don't get reported for standing by with my camera as Sy beat the crap out of another child, I have to confess that some of the pictures are not of them fighting, but playing, and I edited them in a way that suited my creative agenda. I know, I could work for reality television.