I could do without all the tantrums...

Sometimes I think I've got this whole mother thing down pat. And then, my munchkin will wake up from a nap and remind me that he's not as easy as I think he is. My toddler is going on 21 months old and has hit the terrible two's with a vengeance.

He's very willful, and pushing my buttons at every turn. He's obsessed with the things that he gets into trouble for doing - coloring on the furniture (during the two seconds that I turn my back to scratch an itch or to pat the dog or something) and trying to stand and run around on the couch. I'm frightened he'll hurt himself with the couch running, plus it infuriates me that he won't listen to me!

He's also obsessed with two television programs - Yo Gabba Gabba and Thomas the Friends. If you don't have a child, you haven't experienced the technicolor acid trip that is Yo Gabba Gabba. At first, I despised it, but it's grown on me over the last six months. It does strike me as truly educational, even if one of the creatures in Gabba Land looks quite a bit like a "dildo with some kind of STD" (as my best friend so wittingly put it). As for Thomas, or "Momas" as he's known in my house, my munchkin just loves trains. He's such a boy.

Recently, he's also become familiar with Blue's Clues, which he's also very into. It's "Boo's Coos" to him, which is adorable. When he draws at his coloring table, he insists on occasion that I draw a pawprint here and there, and he loves to try to sing the mail song. It's the first recognizable song I've ever heard him sing.

At the same time, he can turn on the charm and make me feel bad for cursing him in my head, and make me smile at the drop of the hat. He's taken to calling me Mommy now, instead of Mama, which is quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. But when he's wailing it because he wants to watch another episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, it's not so beautiful sounding. I really could do without all the tantrums. If it weren't for them, I would have to say that motherhood is pretty darn enjoyable.

It blows my mind that his whole happy world can come crashing down just because he can't have a cookie. When he wants something, he wants it now. This crops up as a problem most nights at dinnertime, when I'm trying to prepare dinner. I don't let him in the kitchen when I'm cooking because I'm frightened that he'll find a way to burn himself, so he's usually playing in the living room, and inevitably, at some point, he will start chanting "dinner, dinner, dinner" and throwing himself at the gate. There are plenty of nights where I wind up trying to finish cooking one handed, while carrying Baby on my hip and trying to placate him as best I can.

My best friend and I took our kiddos to the mall play area a few weeks ago and she commented to me that it's no longer relaxing to take the kids to the play area, and she's right. It's downright stressful. Between their lack of social skills with older kids and their newfound obsession with climbing on everything in sight, despite their sometimes shaky climbing skills, it can be positively nail-biting to watch them play. You do the toddler mommy dance - do you step in? Do you let them fall and learn? It's so tough sometimes. And I'm sure it's not going to get much easier as they get older.

Sometimes it blows my mind to think that two years ago, my biggest concerns were work-related. Not even family related. My life has done a complete 180 in the last two years...and as much as I hate it on some days, I think I wouldn't trade it for the world.