I guess it's not really all that terrible, if I'm being completely honest, because things could- and most likely will- get way more interesting. I know all you seasoned vet moms out there are probably rolling your eyes and preparing your best comeback stories, but just let me have my moment. At the least you'll get a good laugh out of what I would consider "terrible".
To be clear, I don't think my toddler is terrible in any way. He's the bomb.com. But he is still indeed, a toddler and as such is going through the natural introduction to his independence. It's awesome, but there are moments where I just want to sit down and cry.
Recently Toby has begun a nice phase of developing his speech skills. Most of the time we get the gist of what he's communicating, must be an innate parental thing. Then are times when we really just can't understand him, but it's very clear from the fervent expression on his face that he ardently believes that he is speaking a discernible language. We try to go along with it; we nod, give that awkward smile you give a person whose first language isn't English, maybe we'll say "oh okay" and that is normally an acceptable response for him. But then there are times that it's obvious that he's frustrated with our lack of understanding, but ever the trooper, he just moves on with whatever he's talking about.
One of Toby's newly learned phrases is "no way" which he some how simultaneously learned how to use in the appropriate context. Example: this morning Derek was gracious enough to tackle the first stink bomb of the day as I still hadn't quite adjusted to the overcast sunshine because I'm not a morning person and there's nothing worse then rolling out of bed to a crap diaper. Nothing worse. So! Derek changed Toby's diaper and then he asked Toby to go throw the soiled diaper in the trash (a recent activity/chore that we've started doing). Here's how it went-
Derek: "Here Toby, can you go throw this in the trash?"
Hands Toby the stinky diaper.
Toby: "No way."
Toby then proceeded to wave the stink bomb in my face while I shrieked in horror as if I'd never smelled a poop diaper before (psh, rookie) and Derek was just concerned that the poop would go flying everywhere. Eventually Toby acquiesced our request. Crisis averted.
The other thing that Toby has started doing is willfully disobeying. Oh sure I know it's not entirely reasonable for me to expect a toddler to answer every beck and call, but because he's a relatively smart cookie and I know that he understands some of the things we ask him to do, it's obvious when he's simply choosing to not follow mommy or daddy's instruction. Example: today has been a day filled with requests for Toby to "go get a new diaper from your room", followed by Toby giving a coy smile and walking in the opposite direction. Which is usually followed by his mother exclaiming "oh no he didn't!" and eventually after lots of reminding that he "needs to be a good listener" somehow a new diaper is fetched.
I guess it's just so shocking at times because he's such a cute little guy (I'm not biased at all) and he's usually such a pleasant and accommodating child.
*Sigh* let the real parenting begin! And may the odds be ever in my favor...
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