DNA Tan

Terrible Twos

As much as we were curious about the level of destruction potential of a 2-year-old toddler, we were also apprehensive about our ability to cope with it. Our 25-month-old Donovan is currently at the stage where he couldn't explain the rationale of some of his actions and it is of little use for us to explain why certain things are better to be done, or left undone. 2 days ago, Donovan woke up from a nightmare which left him screaming like we've never heard before. He was totally unconsolable. We were puzzled when he rejected Mummy's embrace when he'll usually jump at the chance. He simply could not be pacified and all he could scream was 'Go Away!' to everyone who offered their hugs.

There were also times when Donovan's insistence irritates us to bits. Just yesterday, I dropped Dominus' bottle cap on the floor and I had first asked Donovan to help me pick it up. Being a fast helper, our domestic helper Jerrimie picked it up before Donovan could react to the instruction. That got him really upset and Jerrimie had to throw the bottle cap on the floor again just to give Donovan a chance to comply to the instruction.

Another stunt of toddlers from this age group is perhaps their rebellion streak to do the exact opposite of what's told. When we fetched Donovan the red chair, he'll say he'd wanted the blue one. When we ask him to place his milk bottle on the table after he's done, he'll shake and splash the contents on the bed. When you raced like a human Formula 1 runner to the toilet after you heard him say 'poo poo', you'll realise that all he wanted was 'pee pee'. When he had earlier on requested for more milk, he'll reject it totally when it was barely 30 seconds when an internally awarded Guiness World of Records-Fastest-Milk-Making-Daddy had sped to the kitchen in the dead hours of the night.

Fret not, to parents who are going through similar experiences, cause you are not alone. When you feel your blood boiling the next time round, just remember that someone like us could already have burst our blood vessels! :p