pushing all the wrong buttons

I think we’re getting into the terrible twos stage with Noah, even though it is happening 7 months too soon.  It is a daily test in patience – I never realized how impatient I was until Noah came along.  I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but lately when I discipline him he laughs or smiles at me and continues doing the behavior I have asked him to stop.  A handful of times a day I have to tell him to stop kicking me and rolling over on the diaper changing table, to stop throwing food during mealtimes, to stop throwing toys, to stop terrorizing the dog, to stop climbing on the coffee table (this is a new one), to stop hitting me…the list goes on.  I don’t see him do this stuff with anybody else.  It is true that he is with me more than he is with anyone else.  Maybe since he feels the most secure and comfortable with me he knows he can test my limits and that I will still love him.  Whatever his reasons, I am so over it!

I just put a kicking Noah down for a nap and I didn’t even say a word to him when zipping him into his sleep sack, covering him with a blanket, and shutting the door.  I get so tired of the abuse from him – every day at nap time it feels like I have already run (and lost) a marathon.  I feel defeated.  The fact that this kid is Independent George and doesn’t show much affection, appreciation or need for me makes dealing with this kind of behavior that much harder.  I want to just say to him, “okay, Noah, how about you change your own diaper?  You want cereal?  Well go ahead and open the pantry door and get it yourself!”  People say it’s the terrible twos, but apparently the terrible twos now lasts well into the third year?!  Parents of older children say there are equally annoying but different challenges in later parenting years.  Hopefully when he gets more communicative and can understand discipline it will get a little easier!