Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde

Apparently there are stories about seemingly normal two-year olds turning into overnight monsters. Really hadn't needed to hear stories about other kids...just needed to listen to my mother talk about me to know that those types of things are possible. I was actually asked twice on Friday night about how Kellen was managing since he had turned two and if he had turned into a "terrible two" yet. Both times I had answered, "Well, considering the set of parents he has, he is doing remarkably well." Which, as of Friday night, was absolutely true. That statement actually remained true until Saturday afternoon, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Mommy & Daddy's child-free night, which turned into a girls-night on Friday, was a lot of fun. We went to an art gallery in downtown Bryan, which I thoroughly enjoyed and will have to do again, and then went to Revolution, a cafe/bar which I had never heard of before, also in downtown Bryan. There was some live music playing, and I realized how long it had been since I had been out - quite some time! It was nice to sit back, relax and listen to music. The courtyard kept the smoke from those with that habit from bothering those of us without, and the atmosphere was really laid-back - and they had some really interesting coffee options!

Saturday's schedule for Matt was longer than he had originally anticipated, so I headed off to Conroe to pick up Kellen and do some tax-free shopping for him - I decided to brave it, despite what I knew would be crazy-sized crowds. I'm just not really an avid "shopper," but Kellen was in need of some things and this was a good weekend to get them. Judy, Kellen & I get to the outlet mall mid-afternoon and Kellen did a really good job of behaving himself as much as a two-year old with impulse control issues can. And it didn't help that Mommy left the stroller. We hit Carters, Osh-Kosh, Liz Claiborne (some work clothes for mommy), and Nike. Somewhere in there Maw Maw took Kellen to a little coffee shop to get a cookie as a well-deserved treat and diversion, too.

Then we went to pick up Paw Paw and went out to eat. And somewhere along the way I lost my sweet, loving Kellen and gained a monster. We went to a mexican food restaurant, which Kellen normally enjoys. First he didn't want to sit down in the high chair and pitched a FIT about it - which he has NEVER balked at before. It was so much of a fit that after about 5 minutes, Mommy had to take him outside to "talk" with him about his behavior. Then he proceeds to break all of the chips given to him. No big deal. So what. But he has a COW when pieces of the chip fall/are thrown onto the floor. He's getting more and more OCD every day. I know that he gets some of that from me and yes, I really am working on that, but he's so much worse than I am about some things that I know I'm not passing all of this onto him. Anyway, he says he's hungry and wants to eat, but when the food gets there he refuses any of it, pushing it and whatever was in front of it completely away, almost knocking over his water, yadda, yadda, yadda..I have NEVER seen him act like that before. NEVER. I'm going to blame it on him being tired, and the fact that he had used all of him impulse control at the stores we had taken him in that afternoon. Case in point re: the tired theory, he was asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the restaurant on the way home to College Station.

I was awakened this morning to the pitter-patter of my Kellen rooting through the forbidden DVD's in the TV cabinet. Quick swat and redirection away from the forbidden objects (those DVD's are his THING - the one thing that he can't seem to keep out of in the house) and we were set for the morning. My normal little Kellen-man was back: hugs, kisses, sweetness and all. How long can we keep away the monster?