Terrible twonesses

Lest we all forget, Sam has been repeatedly reminding me that he is indeed two. Yes, of the "terrible twos" phase. Now I know some parents deal with really terrible things, and I can't imagine how they do it, but Sam has some really annoying tendencies right now that make me want to...I don't know what they make me want to do but sometimes I think I'm going crazy.

A few days ago when I was changing Matthew's diaper, Sam was playing on the kitchen counter with some of his cars. I wasn't too concerned that he was getting into anything as he had been innocently playing for maybe 10 minutes already. However, when we returned Sam had opened up our new container of strawberries, taken one bite out of each one and lined them up on the counter. What's that about?

He really only has a good tantrum (screaming mostly, no thrashing about) every other day or so. They generally last less than 5 minutes, and often they have to do with BaaBaa (not getting BaaBaa when Sam wants him) or other picky preferences that Sam doesn't communicate very well. Like he needs to get his own glass and water these days. Don't you dare try to help out. And he must look at the cereal box after pouring cereal into the bowl. Don't you dare try to put it away or at the other end of the table. Or a few days ago it was laundry. I accidentally unloaded the dryer...Sam got extremely upset as he wanted to do it. Oh well.

Other terrible twonesses are more frustrating and annoying like when Sam refuses to get into his car seat. It goes like this. It takes a minute or two to get Matthew into his car seat and during that time, I expect that Sam will climb into his own car seat and be ready to be buckled. Except that he rarely does it and I must get into the van, retrieve Sam (screaming and thrashing about) and force him into his car seat. And this goes on while it's -3 outside, like it was on Tuesday. Not fun or pretty. I only wonder what people think in the surrounding cars. And Sam has figured out how to turn the dishwasher on and off, despite the "hidden" controls. So he will randomly walk by the dishwasher and turn it on, or randomly walk by and turn it off. He does the same thing with the clothes washer, I'll go in to check the laundry and find that the machine has been shut off. Ugh. Isolated incidents of this sort wouldn't be so bad, but being a toddler, Sam does it over and over and over. Despite my best efforts there is regular pushback...I feel like I have a teenager in a two-year-old body. I've read this is completely normal, though, and parents are just to be consistent and know that their kids will outgrow the rebellion eventually. I can only hope.