exactly 300 days ago i wondered whether the terrible twos were nigh and while it’s taken a little longer than i thought, it would seem that they’ve finally arrived in full force.

these days, it’s almost guaranteed that odin’s answer to every request will be "no!" or "no! i don’t want to!" or "no! i don’t want to do that!" and if we ask him to not do something, like step on the christmas tree lights while we’re taking down the tree, he’ll – of course – do the opposite while being clever about testing the boundaries of what we might mean by no ( like, say, stepping on the very edge of the christmas tree lights while smiling a devilish grin and insisting that he is not stepping on them. ).

i know that this is an utterly normal stage to go through and that it would be sisyphean and just plain wrong to try and stifle a stage of development that is meant to hone independence through "oppositional behavior", but still, i can’t say i’ll be disappointed to this stage come and go. quickly.

surely it’s not too optimistic that this will all be sorted out by the new year? spring? his third birthday? college?