Two

My two sons have decided that they want to spend the last two months of their second year enjoying the throes of the Terrible Two's, making their two parents twice as crazy as they were to begin with.

{deep breath}

Rules that my children have known since before they could talk are up for debate, fodder for tantrums and ultimately the perfect reason to lose it at any point in time.  And it's not just rules at my house. It's rules in the car, rules at my mom's, rules at the store...

 An illustration of what I mean:

The boys know that they are not to go into the street when we ride bikes in the driveway.  Occasionally I will use a big piece of sidewalk chalk to delineate where they are allowed and where they are NOT allowed.  Last week when I did this? Jack marched his Croc-footed piggies straight to that chalk line and proceeded to walk it like a tight rope.

These two know exactly where the boundaries are (both literally and figuratively) and they have been skirting them for the last week.

 Yesterday was the final straw.  We were at a friends house playing with her six year old and the boys were just not listening.  Jack had three huge tantrums, complete with spitting and when it was time to go, Logan opened the door before I was ready, and Jack escaped, running down the stairs and onto the sidewalk where he continued running away until I screamed his name so loudly my throat hurt and he decided he best turn around.

We finally got home (after much embarrassment on my part) and it still didn't stop.  They were hitting, throwing toys and flat out refusing to do anything we asked of them.  I was about to blow a gasket.

Thank God Josh was home and saw, too, that they were out of control. Logan was sent to his room and Jack to the corner while Josh & I had a pow-wow.  It was time to get serious about this parenting stuff.

 We decided to go back to Time Outs, which we had let slide as the boys have gotten older. Rules? Naughty kid in the corner, on his bottom.  Timer set for three minutes, no standing or talking until it beeps.

Jack had to sit in timeout for almost ten minutes the first time because we kept having to start it over.  Today I started it over twice when there was only fifteen seconds left because he wasn't following the rules.

These boys require the most exhausting kind of consistency from us as parents. If we allow them to hit their brother just once and get away with it, they do it more often. If we allow them chance after chance to listen & follow directions, they will wait until I am reaching the end of my rope to finally listen.

So we are cracking down:

No hitting. 

No throwing toys. 

No rude talking. 

No outright refusal to do what is asked of them. 

And no flexibility on listening: 

Listen the first time, or pay the price with a trip to Time Out.

It's Zero Tolerance, people.

I am only at nap time of Day One and I'm pooped!

But they are worth it.  And I know the ultimate outcome will be children who are safe, respectful, kind and good listeners.  But in the meantime, I'm going to need some extra rations of patience!