Tough Love

I have found the "terrible twos" rearing its ugly head this week! I love my little boy to pieces, but man does he challenge me some days. He has been pushing the limits on everything, disobeying me, throwing fits, and using the word "NO!" a lot. To top it off, he is going through a fear of being in his crib alone at night. He goes down fine for naptime, but stands up and screams, "MOMMY!" repeatedly at night. He is sooo stubborn at times (Hmm...wonder where he gets that from?!) and will literally do this for 30 minutes without stopping. We have given in and been letting him fall asleep with us on the couch before tranferring him to his bed. However, if he wakes up in the middle of the night (like last night) he will become terrified again and yell for us at the top of his lungs. Which is the reason he slept in our bed from 1:30 on last night. I have had some not-so-proud Mommy moments this week during which I have completely lost my temper with him. Tonight we were laying on the couch and he had his little dimpled hands wrapped around my neck, and he smiled at me with his fresh bubblegum toothpaste breathe and said, "Hi, Mommy! Kiss!" Then he gave me an eskimo kiss, laid his little blond head down on my shoulder, and was asleep within minutes. And I thought to myself, "Bring it on, terrible twos, because nothing can change how much I love this little boy." God makes them cute for a reason, doesn't he? :)