Terrible Twos?

You hear so much about the terrible twos. Some moms say threes are worse. I don't know yet. Kellen has been pretty easy throughout. Bridger is a different child altogether. I wouldn't say he's a "terrible" two-year old in the traditional sense. He doesn't throw crazy tantrums. He does like to do things himself, but I mostly let him, so it doesn't turn into an ordeal.

But, with one thing, he is terrible and cute all at the same time. He is as contrary as they come I think. He is a lover, but sometimes.... Like today. He had been standing on a book and ripping it and Jared told him to get off of it. So he yelled "No!" Jared asked him if he had said no and he said no. So we tell him to get on the naughty stair for saying no. He says (imagine the most defiant tone possible and pointing to Jared and me), "It's not YOURS job, it's not YOURS job, it's MINE job!" Jared and I are trying not to giggle. So Jared says, "What's your job?" Bridger says, "I'm don't know." By this time Jared and I aren't really stifling our giggles any longer. (Don't worry, despite our amusement, we still made him sit on the naughty stair for his 2 minutes and apologize to Jared for saying no.)

And yet, at this very moment, I hear him singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Litte Star (usually to calm Kincade down if he's crying). So sweet...

Yesterday, Jared's mom witnessed one of Bridger's contrary moments. He had fallen asleep in the car, so he wasn't in the best of moods. He was wearing underwear but Jared was worried he would have an accident so was telling him he had to go potty or have a diaper on. Well, he didn't want to do either and Jared and Bridger were really butting heads so I took over. (Not because I'm any better at parenting, but sometimes it's easier for someone who isn't all heated up to deal with it.) I was telling Bridger his choice was to wear a diaper or go potty. Bridger says, "It's NOT mine CHOICE!" right as Jared's mom walks by. I look up and see her face and it's quite surprised, and I just chuckle and say, "That's our Bridger." Jared's family didn't believe me. (And after changing scenery - going to the other bathroom - he agreed to go potty and wear underwear. He did tell me "Don't come in here" while he was going potty.)

Sometimes he will contradict just to contradict, if he's in a mood to. You could say, "We're having spaghetti for dinner" and he'd say, "We're NOT having spaghetti for dinner!"

So, then, again at Jared's parents' house, I am wanting Bridger to go potty again so he doesn't have an accident (the joys of potty training), so he says "IT'S NOT FAIR" but it sounds more like "IT'S NOT FAAA-AY" or something. He says it and it makes it even funnier when it doesn't actually fit in the scenario. Like when we say, "It's time for lunch" (or something equally innocuous) and he just comes out with, "It's NOT FAIR!"

The other day, when Jared's sister Tara had just arrived and we went to see her, Bridger walked up to the house and Tara said, "Can I have a hug?" Bridger says, "No." Tara, says, "Do you know who I am?" And Bridger responds, "Tara." And that was the end of it. He didn't care who she was, he didn't want to hug her. Sorry Tara! I don't control him, I just try to guide him!

Also last night at Jared's parents, Uncle Stan was trying to get pictures of the kids and Bridger was dodging the pictures. After awhile, Stan stopped trying and eventually Bridger just walked up to him, looked up, smiled, and posed for his picture. Everything just has to be on his terms. Here's the cute picture he got:


Sometimes he pretends to be different characters. Usually it's the "masked retriever" (a really cute character from Backyardigans that retrieves books for the library). Today he was the Snow Princess (from the Dora episode). Uncle Kent claims that he said "Bridger" and Bridger said, "I'm not Bridger. I'm Evil Child." I've probably called him evil child, but I've never heard him say it about himself. I'm gonna have to listen for that one again.

One more thing he's taken to saying, which usually prompts more laughter than reprimanding... If we ask him to do something that he wants to say no to - instead of saying no, he says "NEVER!" Just like a supervillain or something. He often jumps to a supervillain pose at the same time. It's too cute to scold though. Oh well, I'm sure at some point it will cease being cute and we'll put a stop to it right away. But in the meantime...we have a lot of good laughs with our Bridger around. If these are the "terrible twos" then keep 'em coming!

(P.S. This ended up being a really long blog post, but I just had to tell all of the funny Bridger stories.)