grumpy face

My mom wasn't kidding when she told me that trying to get those eye teeth in is the worst.


Other things that make Nicholas grumpy:

• Anytime Mom leaves.  The house, the room, or sometimes even just the five-foot radius around his person.  He's a mama's boy, that is certain.
• Anytime a friend leaves our house.  He burst into tears on Sunday when my visiting teachers said goodbye.  He thought they had come to play with him.
• 5 pm.  We aren't sure what the problem is exactly, but right around 5 pm is what we call the "witching hour" at our house.  Every little thing sets him into uncontrollable tears.  We try to limit his tv viewing at this age, but if you were to stop by at 5 pm on any given day you will most likely find him standing right next to the television watching Backyardigans.  
• Being told he can't have our knives and forks at dinner. Even when he already has two forks of his own, one in each hand.  He also has a fondness for drinking from our cups instead of his. 
• Being hungry. We taught him to put his fingers to his mouth when he is hungry, and that has somewhat eased the pre-meal crakiness.  He brings his hand up, points at his mouth, and says "this!" over and over again, like he's telling us "You see this hole in my face?  It needs food!"
• Not having the exact right blanket at bedtime. Despite all my efforts in preventing him from getting attached to a blanket, he has decided that he needs one of his two thermal blankets in order to sleep.  At least it doesn't matter yet which of the two, right?
• Diaper changes. He runs away from me, laughing, as soon as he sees me pull out the wipes and changing pad. The sweet laughter ends the moment I catch him.
• Coming inside. This kid loves to play outside, and his favorite activity is walking down the sidewalk as far as we are willing to follow him.
• If we don't help him open the candy, fruit snack, camera bag, or anything else that he wants opened. He's quickly perfecting the throw-himself-on-the-floor-and-cry-like-his-heart-is-broken routine.  This also goes for any time we won't let him have something he wants, watch a show on tv, touch throw my glass candlesticks, play the piano, etc.

I am considering making a cute vinyl sign to hang on the big open wall in our living room:
"The toddler rules."