Having a two-year-old in the house ...

...makes life interesting!

Just to give you a glimpse of what life with our two-year-old is like, I thought I'd share a few exploits from the last twenty-four hours.

Last night, Luke went in to tell the boys to turn their lamp off, put their books away, and go to sleep. He found Ethan sound asleep. Alex, on the other hand, was not. He had emptied out the basket that holds his picture books, taken his pillow, three blankets, and numerous stuffed animals off the bed put them into the basket, and then climbed in on top of it all. He was laying there quietly, his arms, legs, and head hanging out of this basket that's maybe 12" square. He apparently planned on sleeping there.

Luke had to go into our room and laugh before he could go back and make Alex get into his own bed

Today I was laying him down for his nap, and he had picked out a book with a verse of Old MacDonald for his story. I sang him the little book (it was the verse about Old MacDonald has a cow), and when I finished he wanted to sing it to me. He started at the beginning and sang, "E-I-O-E-E-I-O" as he turned the pages. Except for the cow page; there he sang "moo moo".

And when he was done, he licked the book. Naturally.

He got a hold of a red marker today while Ethan and I were reading during school. He colored his hands red, and dabbed just a bit of color on his cheeks. (I guess he didn't want to be garish.) I was going to take a picture, but we're trying really hard not to encourage that kind of behavior, especially since I had taken the marker away from him once already this morning.

This morning, Ethan was laying on the floor and Alex was stepping on him. (This is something he delights in doing; he loves rough-housing with Ethan, whether Ethan is participating or not.) I told him not to step on his brother.

So he sat on him. I told him not to touch his brother.

So, he stepped over his head, coming as close to Ethan as possible without actually touching him.

He does this obeying-the-letter-of-the-law game quite often, and I know, this is really just being naughty. But the whole time he's doing it, he's laughing this delighted little chortle and watching me to see what I'm going to do. He has such a playful spirit! Luke and I are trying to figure out where the line is between requiring obedience and not squashing his spirit. Obviously hurting his brother during the game makes that line pretty clear, but when he runs away naked to hide after you take him out of the bathtub, it's not so easy.

It's also pretty hard to keep from laughing at his impish grin when he peeks out at you.

I love this stage, though. And I love knowing that as Alex outgrows this charming, make-everything-a-game, make-my-parents-wonder-what-is-going-on-in-my-head stage, we have another one who will be growing into it.