"Life is a garden, so dig it..."

I promise that this is a song. Maybe not a good song, but a song nonetheless (all one word? anyone?)

Today, Buck is officially 2. No, it is not his birthday -- it's his attitude. When I review what has happened in our day so far, I think "Why was having this child so important to me?" But I am still grateful - just scared for the teen years (which a mom yesterday told me are comparable behavior-wise).

1. Buck woke at 5am. We don't know why. I am a bad mommy & I turned off the monitor, so we could barely hear him. His dad went in to get Buck at 6:30. RKZ hadn't realized Buck was awake for so long.

2. Buck screamed his way through my breakfast because he wanted me to play trains with him.

3. Buck refused to eat his own breakfast which I had left my breakfast to cook. Buck ate exactly three grapes & then screamed for 10 minutes straight to be let down from the prison that is his high chair.

4. While I pray in the morning (8am), Buck watches a baby video. They are normally quiet music and calm. Today, he decided he only wanted to watch "Choo - Choo's!" this is 2 year old for Thomas the Tank Engine. He stood at the TV and screamed for about 15 minutes until he collapsed as a heap on the floor and watched the end of the baby video.

5. Feeling brave (God only knows why) I decided to take Buck to daily Mass at 9am. He has decided that he now (since Sunday) hates the infant cry room and wants to be int he congregation. It is normally filled with nice old ladies and other moms, so I attempted to have us stand in the normal pews. (I know, WHY WOULD I DO THAT? with today's track record?) Well, just at the important quiet parts, Buck decides to yell "jump" and start jumping off of the kneelers. He yelled jump about 10 times until I carried him to the cry room where he SCREAMED his head off for about 10 more minutes. It's not a completely sound proof room and I could tell that we were the distraction of the day. Good for my humility, I guess. Oh, and we repeated that experience about 3 times during Mass. I guess I am trying to teach him to be quiet in the large room. I guess I will stop trying until he's twelve.

6. 9:45am, I took the dry cleaning to the cleaners. There is a large digger/excavator digging a foundation for some new buildings in our area. Buck demanded - in that special screaming way he has today - to watch the digger for about 30 minutes. I finally took him to the coffee shop nearby so that I could drink coffee while we watched. That turned out OK...but when we left, HELL TO PAY.

7. Buck has been screaming since I started writing this. The only reason he stopped (about 5 seconds ago) is that he is now on my lap watching me type. He made himself throw up about 2 minutes ago just to prove how angry he is. I took a second to wipe it up, but he still smells a little like throw up.

He may physically be 20 months, but psychologically? my little boy is exactly 2 years old.