Theatrical Threes

I'm not sure how we thought we'd be so lucky, but we actually thought we skipped right past the terrible twos. We're so naive!

We are smack dab in the middle of the "theatrical threes". It's a real joy at our house...either genuinely or sarcastically. One minute he's my priceless child that I adore and want to be with more than any other living thing on the planet. The next minute (and I really do mean the next minute) I want as far away from him as possible. The kind of far away where it would be paradise to be dropped in the middle of the desert with no food or water.

It's not just me. I received a call from his teacher on Thursday saying Ian had been great all week and then suddenly hit a wave of aggression and started hitting and throwing things without the ability to calm him. By the time I reached the school to address the issue, he was once again smiling and happy, playing peacefully with his friends.

In my heart (and somewhere up there in my brain, as useless as it feels in these situations) I know this is all normal. At least he's still an excellent sleeper (I probably just jinxed myself!!). I also know it will pass or no one would have kids that live past the age of 3 or 4 (this will pass won't it? Lie if you have to!).

I'm allowing myself to blame it all in part by the heat we've had recently. We've had 20 days of no rain (rare for May/June in Seattle) and over a week of 80's, with it hitting the high 90's for 3 days straight. That's highly unusual and has everyone in love with summer and hating it already, all at the same time. Also unusual. He is eating less, not getting nearly enough liquids (says the stubborn potty trainer). Our house is a tad too warm and it's not as much fun to be outside without something cool nearby. Today was about 20 degrees cooler and he was noticeably easier to deal with. Part of that could be that it was Grandma Trish Friday, but I'll give the cooler weather a little of the credit, too.

On the bright side of things, I've joined a mom's group for our community and although almost every child centered event happens at 10am on a weekday (uggh to you SAHM's who can't compromise!), they actually do a pretty good job of planning parent specific events, such as a monthly poker night alternating mom's only, dad's only, and couples only with babysitting teams available at certain homes on the couples night. Nice. I've RSVP'd already for the mom's poker night and can't wait. I know none of these ladies, but I figure if I can make almost best friends with complete strangers in other states, I can adapt to a house full of poker playing, martini drinking women that live in my very neighborhood. We've been here for over 6 years and I've probably passed every one in the store or at Starbucks... time to get to know some people, I think.

I don't have a ton of pics now, but Ian and I are planning a special outing tomorrow while daddy is out scuba diving. I'll talk about it more once I have all confidentiality waivers signed and returned.

For now, please take note of how quickly the moods of my child change these days. The first is just a cute shot to make you say "AWWW", kind of a palate cleanser before the other side of him slaps you in the face.

Awww... He looks so peaceful! Sometimes he still looks so tiny, like we're still in China. If only I could freeze time.

Having a good laugh about something. (This was on haircut day...way shorter than I wanted her to go! What part of "just above the eyebrows is hard to understand??).

Literally the next camera shot. Might have been 10 seconds after the previous picture. I have no idea what changed the mood. I might have touched him with my foot or refused to make up an impromptu song about cameras.

Happy again. Looking out at his newly planted strawberry plants. He likes to visit them while he eats dinner.

Maybe the strawberries looked at him funny...or maybe it's gas. Don't know.

Giggling again, and a mouth full of something.

Moments later...Fun's over