The terrible, teething, two year old tot

That title sounds like a nightmarish Dr. Seuss book... and I know all about Dr. Seuss books, I read "Hop on Pop" (or pop pop pop! like Arlen says) about 18 times a day.

I have heard about the "terrible two's" many times in my life, and THOUGHT I knew what that meant... I had no idea.  A few weeks after Arlen turned two, I started figuring out that idea.  I love that little boy more than anything, but Oh. My. Goodness. what a turkey!  One minute he is sweet as can be, then boom! the world ends because he doesn't get his way or his train won't stay on the tracks and it's all craziness from there. 

I read in a parenting magazine a couple weeks ago about toddler tantrums.  It really put a lot in perspective for me.  Kids about 4 and under still haven't developed the part of their brain that controls reasoning, frustration, and stubbornness.  Not that they don't know right from wrong, but their brain just can't handle certain things at their age.  Which makes sense if you witness a huge, fit throwing, tantrum then 3 minutes later they are absolutely calm and perfect.  When adults are still reeling from it hours later, kids don't remember or care.

So when Arlen throws a fit, I just have to remember, he's just being two, he isn't doing this to hurt me, and very likely he will be fine in a few minutes.  It is extremely stressful though and makes going out in public a "please God, don't make me regret taking him out of the house!" thing. 

When he turned two, we started time outs.  He does pretty good with them.  Cries a lot, but stays in the spot for the total two minutes.  Some days he goes to time out every 5 minutes... but some days zero! 

Oh yeah, and the other part of the title... he still has two teeth that have to come in.  Teething with a baby is bad, teething with a toddler is REALLY bad.  They can express their emotions a lot more, they are a lot more irritable, and it's harder to comfort them.  One of the two is pushing through now.  I woke up to a crib full of throw up this morning.  He didn't have a fever, so I am almost certain it's because of the tooth.  He has done that before when he got his first tooth.  He won't eat and it extremely fussy.  I know he's in a lot of pain.  I have heard that if adults were to "teeth", we would have to be put under!  Hopefully they will come in quickly and we will be over the teething process.

My patience has been tested a lot this past couple of months, but I try to keep calm and stay in control.  Consistent discipline is important and praying for God to get me through it, is vital!  ;)

Because I always post sweet, smiling pictures of Arlen, here's one after a full blown tantrum.  That's life! 

(and he's still a cutie pa tootie!) 

Arlen's first professional haircut

I now know, and sympathize, with moms everywhere that have emotional break downs when it comes to cutting their baby boy's hair.  Arlen's hair has always been really fine and thin, so we haven't really had to cut it that much, my sister has just trimmed it up a few times.

I like the shaggy, Justin Bieber look, but Dallas does not.  We had a problem.  Plus, my sister moved to Alaska and took her hair cutting expertise with her.  I had to get his hair cut or trimmed or something, it was a little out of control.  So we went to Snip-Its.

Waiting for his turn.

He has no idea what's about to happen...

Doing good so far, and watching the tv right in front of him.

Uh oh!

Poor guy!  =(

Suckers!  Where were they at the beginning??

All done!

So handsome.

And such a big boy!

Getting his prize, Snip-Its is fun!

Overall, it went good.  A little crying (from Arlen AND mommy), but much better than me chasing him around the house with a pair of scissors trying to cut his hair!  

It's much shorter than I wanted, but he looks so cute and such like a little boy now.  My baby is growing up! =(

And I have noticed his hair does grow pretty fast, so maybe Bieber fever will come back soon (or another $22 trip to Snip-Its...).

First annual celebration of the survival of our fish

Last February, I took a little boy to Petsmart to buy our dog a new collar... and came back with a fish.  It could have been worse!  They do have cats, hamsters, and birds there...

The total bill for this fish and his "accessories" was not more than 10 bucks, I just KNEW he would be dead in a week (or less).  I have never had a fish or taken care of a fish or even cared about fish, but my cute little one year boy had a favorite movie at the time, Finding Nemo.  He was acutely obsessed with fish and loved to say "ish!".  I took him over to the fish aisle to just look at them, and the rest is history!

How could you NOT buy this adorable face a fish?!

This was the day we brought our little fish home, Feb. 16, 2010

It's been a year, a YEAR, since we bought that stinkin fish, and I just can't believe he has lasted this long.  We didn't even name him, we just call him fish.  I thought Arlen might like calling him Nemo, but he just said "ish".  And it turns out, fish aren't that fun.  They just swim around, Arlen gets bored pretty quick with him.  So that leaves me to clean out his bowl every week (sometimes) and feed him twice a day (if I remember) ;).

Needless to say, that purple fish is part of our family, so what do we do when family members have a birthday??  PARTY!

Arlen and the birthday boy/fish ready for the party

Yes, he even got a present. :)

I made cupcakes for the big day.

I think Arlen showed up for the cupcakes.  ;)

He got a fancy new fish bowl for his birthday!

Happy Birthday fish!

p.s. Don't tell Charley we did this, he's never had a party!  Poor doggy.  =(

My sweet Valentines

It's amazing how much more fun holidays are with kids.  Even silly holidays like Valentine's Day...  I have never been a fan of the overly commercialized, Sam Walton money making "holiday" - aka Single Awareness Day, but with all of Arlen's parties and activities, it was pretty fun. 

"We" did some Valentine crafts and sent them to our loved ones....

This one is Arlen's thumb prints making a heart.  Trust me, getting a 2 year old boy to sit down and put his thumb in ink and make hearts is NOT easy, but we did it!  AND it's a magnet.  :)

We also did some homemade Valentines for Arlen's mother's day out classmates and teachers...

for the girls... 

(those are Teddy Grahams and gummy bears)

for the boys...

and for his teachers...

(these are his hands, of course)  ;)

He even had a Valentine party with his playgroup friends and brought these cute, homemade, Hersey Kiss shaped rice krispie treats...

Playing at ABC's at the playgroup party.

Opening his Valentine present from Oma and Opa

Daddy got Reese's!

  

Arlen got Chick Hicks car and a fun car that holds snacks!

Plus a coloring book, crayons, and candy.  ;)

On Valentine's Day, we went and saw Great Grandma Oden at the assisted living home, and surprised a dozen sweet ladies with roses! 

This is my precious grandma.  :)

 Arlen did so good and the ladies just loved it.

Dallas sure knows the way to my heart, a sweet card and M&Ms!

 Opening his Valentine gifts from mommy and daddy...

Toy Story 3!!

Just like his mommy!  ;)

Checking out his V-day loot.

It was a pretty nice day on Valentine's Day, so we got to play outside for a bit.

That night, we had a pizza and movie night.

=)

We watched Toy Story 3 (Arlen's first time) and he was glued the entire movie! He loved it.  Can't wait to take him to see Cars 2 in the theaters this summer! 

Since Arlen has gotten bigger, it seems every holiday turns into a season!  But it keeps things fun and busy, just how I like it!  

Here comes Easter...   ;)

SNOW much fun!

Last week, we had a big snow storm (Snowpocalypse 2011) come through Oklahoma.  We usually only get maybe one big snow a year, so we were pretty excited.

Arlen watching the "no" coming down.

Schools and businesses (and Oklahoma) were all closed starting Tuesday.  The wind was blowing like crazy, I think it was like a negative 15 windchill!  It was pretty to watch from inside a warm and safe house.  :)  


We were stuck inside for a few days, no MDO for Arlen and no work for mommy and daddy, so we had fun....

Baking...

Watching toons...

 

Doing crafts (on the new table Oma got him) :) ...

 

"Playing" with daddy's train...

 

Falling asleep on the floor, (while watching a movie, wearing his painting smock) because he wouldn't sleep during nap time...

Playing with lots of trains...

 

And pretty much just hanging out in our pj's all day.  =)

We also played in the snow for a bit...

Here's the only picture I could get of him looking at the camera.  He kept looking down at the snow the whole time!  

 

He looks miserable, but he has having so much fun!

 

It seriously took about 30 minutes to get all the snow gear gathered up, put on, and ready to go outside... and we were probably out there maybe 7 minutes!  It was really cold, but Arlen loved it.  I practically had to drag him back inside!

Cabin fever started to set in the second day, but we made the best of it and I knew it was only temporary.  We were all safe, warm, healthy, happy, and together and that's all the matters!  ;)   

More snow is coming this week, and they are saying another 8-12 inches...  Hopefully it won't be too bad and shut down the world again!  We'll see!