There is a major power struggle going on in my house right now.  Daniel has hit that most delightful stage of toddlerhood where he feels the need to exert his independence/power/control at every possible opportunity. And let me tell you, it’s a blast.

He has his favorite tactics.  Oh, sure, sometimes he just straight up says “no.”  But he tries to get more creative than that.  If I say we’re going upstairs (or out to the car, or whatever), it’s almost guaranteed that I will hear a sentence that starts with “first I…”.  “First I gonna wash the hands.” “First I gonna play with the toys.”  Et cetera, et cetera.

Another favorite phrase when he’s in a defiant/delaying mood is “I no like (yike) that.”  “I no yike dat snack.”  “I no yike the blanket.” The one you have refused to sleep without for the last 20 months? “I no yike it.”  “I no yike the bed!” Et cetera, et cetera.

He nearly always tries to pull something at bedtime, now.  Bedtime, which has been darn smooth sailing for over a year and a half, is now when Daniel likes to assert himself.  “No sleep sack!”  “More stories!”  “I no yike to lie down!”  [Yes, we still use sleep sacks. The times I've let him have his way and not wear the sleep sack are the times that he has skipped his nap. No thanks.]  I pretty much ignore all of the bedtime delay tactics, but M has a tendency to get sucked in when Daniel pulls out things like “more hugs, Daddy?”  Sucker.

I know that the desire for control is normal for this age. I know that they are having this sudden realization that the world is kind of big and overwhelming and that they don’t  have much control over what goes on.  I try to diffuse some of the situations by offering him choices, or letting him think it was his idea, all along. But I can’t always do that, and it doesn’t always work, so there are a lot of highly dramatic meltdowns with hysterical wailing and giant tears.  Man, does it grate on what little patience I have.

Oh, but when he forgets about that struggle for power, he’s so incredibly sweet and funny.  The things that he remembers, the phrases he parrots back to you, the stories he tells.  He shares with his sister, he asks me to play catch and read a story.  He says things like, “it’s de-wicious in my tummy!”  He sings songs on demand. He says “thank you” without prompting, and bids farewell to the women at the gym with an enthusiastic “have a good day, lady! See you later!” He really is just about the sweetest boy you have ever met.

When he forgets.