Conversations with a Two Year Old

Steven is a non-stop talker, and he narrates his way through life. It's interesting to see people's reactions at the store as we talk our way through it. He has to discuss e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g! He definitely brings smiles to most of the people we pass.

I think that public restrooms are the most interesting. I think that he has to go every time we are at Target, and thankfully, they have clean restrooms. Both kids have discovered the acoustics of the restroom, and they love to hear themselves. Fortunately, I've broken Steven of that habit (for the most part), but the Peanut still likes to do her own thing. As Steven's sitting on the potty, he has to tell me every thought in his head. It gets even more "fun" when someone else comes in. "What her doing? She going potty too? I go say hi!" I then remind him that we don't go say hi to people while they're going potty. "She going yucky yuck? I going yucky yuck!" At this point, I usually hear at least one person snickering :)

Steven is the same way at home. He talks about the most random things, and sometimes, I have a hard time figuring out where he came up with something. For example, right now he's sitting in his booster seat eating pineapple (he and the girl just polished off a 20 oz. can!), and when I gave him a second serving, he told me that he understands the pineapple. I'm not too sure what there is to understand a pineapple or what a pineapple might need understanding of, but he's got it covered :)

Steven is quite smart and very logical, so when he gets in trouble, we usually talk about it. The last two days we've had to talk about what is appropriate to flush and what isn't :( Yesterday he put an entire (new, of course) roll of toilet paper in the toilet (without unwinding it). That resulted in a long discussion, and we went over in detail what he could flush (pee pee and poopies) and what he couldn't (everything else!). We talked about it again last night with Mark and reminded him of what he could and couldn't flush. He was also reminded that he is not allowed to touch the toilet paper. I thought we had it taken care of.

Apparently not. This morning, he unwound most of the (new) roll and put a good part of it in the potty. He was still sitting on the potty when I came in, so I'm guessing he was "wiping." I wasn't happy to see all the toilet paper on the floor, and then when I picked him up, I was even less happy about all the toilet paper in the toilet. We had another talk (and another punishment), and he was warned that he'd be in "big trouble" if he broke the potty. I think I've found my new angle there :)

With all of Steven's talking, it's no wonder that Michelle doesn't say much. For now, she's sticking to shrieking and screaming. . .I think I'm going to have to figure out a way to get Steven to be quiet because I don't know how much more shrieking and screaming I can take!