Naughty Mode

Wade. Once I thought he was going to be my “easy one.”

He didn’t seem to be high-maintenance like his older brother. David always wants someone to entertain him, and he won’t do anything he can get someone else to do for him. Wade will go off and play by himself, and instead of waiting for help he’ll get a chair and attempt to get his own Popsicle out of the freezer.

David is quick to anger, and quick to have his feelings hurt. Most things seem to just roll off Wade. Often Wade doesn’t even cry when he get hurts. He just picks himself up, and keeps going.

Wade is patient. He will try over and over to get the blocks to stack just right without getting frustrated. David quits after two minutes if something doesn’t go his way.

The only difficulty Wade gave me was with his sleep habits. He was a terrible sleeper. However that is improving now that he has tubes in his ears to prevent fluid from building up. The doctor thinks pain and pressure in his ears may have bothered him at night since he was born.

When I pictured Wade growing up I saw us walking hand-in-hand into a rainbow of mother/son bliss.

Until this month.

Wade is about two months away from his second birthday, and someone turned his naughty mode on.

Suddenly that kid is into everything. He isn’t just climbing on a chair to get a treat out of the freezer. He’s climbing on the counter, and the table, and all the furniture, and if I take the stool and the chair away he gets his little ride-on toy and stands on that so he can push all the buttons on the satellite box.

No one’s drink is safe. He picks them up, and walks around like a drunken sailor sloshing the contents all over the carpet.

Remote controls are a favorite item of Wade’s. Put it down for a second, and it’s gone. We searched for hours the other day for the TV remote only to find it in a dirty laundry basket in our bedroom. A Wii remote went missing three days ago, and still has not turned up.

When he is not running off with our electronic devices Wade is sitting on the cat, hitting David on the back and throwing toys across the room. He does not do any of those things with malice. He just thinks they are all fun past times.

Wade will go in another room to conceal the naughtiness that he is up to. He will hide things behind his back, and engage in nefarious activity as long as he thinks you are not watching.

David has positive attributes too that are different from Wade’s. Besides being a champion sleeper who started sleeping a solid 12 hours a night at four months old, David didn’t go through the Terrible Twos. He became more difficult at three, but we never experienced the huge upswing in tantrums and defiance that you hear about.

Also David is honest to a fault. He is not mischievous or sneaky. David will do something naughty, then he will come tell you all about if he did not just boldly do it right in front of you to begin with. David’s laziness, for lack of a better word, often works in my favor as well. It is too much work to steal a cookie behind my back when I will bring one to him if he asks.

While David’s constant need for attention can be exhausting, Wade’s silent high jinks are just as tiring. I’m constantly checking on him to make sure he has not figured out how to give himself a bath yet, and endlessly searching for whatever object he has absconded with that day.

Maybe there is no such thing as an “easy” child. They all require supervision, instruction, discipline and love.

After all, they never said this parenting thing was easy.

It is full of rewards like when your emotional child says to you, “Mommie, I get all wrapped up in your love,” as you hug him. Or when your quiet one who you thought might never talk says, “I love you,” out of the blue one day.

No, it’s not easy, but it is sweet.