The terrible twos....

I will share some experiences about the terrible twos. To be honest, the twos portion is just a guide, and with a big margin......the terrible twos can start anytime before the one and not end until the fours! And you won't know until it's over! That's the challenging part.

Just like the other night when a group of coworkers and I were having dinner. Some folks did not turn up until much later. I said that when the last person came, we would have to simultaneously say "Drink! Drink! Drink!" and make the person drink a beer or something. But some intelligent person said "how would you know if that person is the last or not?". The saying "It ain't over till the fat lady sings" doesn't apply here cos there definitely wasn't a fat lady present.

Back to the twos....

Ryan is really intelligent and I'm saying this without any prejudice as a mother. He is totally manipulative, like all kids. He knows when to pull at your heart strings with his pout, cries or tantrums.

Recently, he plucked all the fruits of our orange type plant at home, leaving 2 hanging. There was no reason for him to do that and we didn't understand. It was probably attention seeking behaviour. It was also him trying to test his boundaries. That's why I'm very insistent that we have to correct the child immediately after he does something unacceptable. Any later, it will have no effect and may confuse the child - he wouldn't understand why he is being corrected. Any sooner and he will not learn from his mistake because he wouldn't have made any mistake. That's what the terrible twos are about - it's about the child testing his/her boundaries which will affect his principles in future.

Ryan has his principles which he follows. He is not greedy. When you offer him something which he already has, he will tell you that he has it already and refuse to take your offer. If he has already tried something, he will make sure he knows. You need to convince him that something which you need him to do makes sense before he will comply. He likes pretending to be performing lion dance but he is afraid of the real lion dance costume.

Each person is unique in his/her own right. To me, Ryan is the epitome of unique.