When we are out somewhere the boys are generally pretty good, but once they start getting bored things go downhill. Luke will have a tantrum because I gave him the wrong cup, and Preston will start RACING around because he literally does not know how to sit still. And then people will ask me "Geez, what was going on with Luke?" Luke is two. That's the only thing going on with Luke. I don't even apologize. His tantrums last a few minutes at most and if I were to remove him from the situation it usually feels like a reward to him. Preston should know better, and I'm working on it with him. Some days are better than others, but he will generally calm down if we can easily change his surroundings. I've found that the very best way to ensure his somewhat acceptable behavior is to lay down the law ahead of time. For example "we are going to church and I expect you to sit still, not bother your brother, and come up to the steps with me for children's time. Do you understand?" It helps, but it's not perfect.
I didn't intend to blog about all this. I really just wanted to tell a cute story that I forgot to put in the last post. Grandma and Grandpa have a clip-clop rocking/jumping horse in their playroom (they keep trying to pass it off on someone else, but I do NOT need that giant thing in my house) and Luke LOVES it. The kids sometimes fight over it, but Luke must have won whatever battle may have occurred because he was riding that horse for a LONG time, at least half an hour. I was sitting nearby talking to friends and not paying any attention to him when my friend Amy instinctively reached for him as if he was going to fall off. I looked up and he was nearly asleep sitting up and rocking himself on the horse. He had literally rocked himself to sleep for his nap. I wish I had gotten a picture because it was both silly and adorable, but I felt like I needed to get him down before he got hurt. What a silly, sleepy boy!
Luke is now at an age where you could say that he likes to symbolically "stop and smell the roses." Sometimes, if I'm in a hurry, it's frustrating. But I'm trying to be patient and slow down a little bit with him. Everyone is happier that way. When we get home and I unbuckle him from his seat he has to make his way around the car to every empty car seat and "cupple" all of the clips into place. He also likes to stop and pick all the flowers when we go on walks, tell me about EVERY car, truck, motorcycle, airplane, etc that he sees. He takes FOREVER to eat his meals because he wants to have what everyone else is having and it takes him a while to decide how to eat things, in what order to eat them, etc. He also changes his mind a lot. He wants juice and then he wants milk and then he actually wants juice again but then ends up drinking water. But it's all in the fun of being 2, terrible or not, and I mostly love it - mostly.