Here’s the thing I did not understand prior to having a 2-year-old. Actually, I don’t think I understood it until I had my second 2-year-old and another kid who had by then gone through the 3s and was into the 4s. Life with a 2yo is NOT the terrible time folklore and parenting magazines would have you to believe. Life with a threenager and/or an eff-ing four (you can aliterate that for yourself, yes?)? Now THOSE are trying times, my friends.

If you are still just dealing with your first Little and said Little is not yet 3, then I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but just know that when it comes to the 2s, there are so many redeeming qualities that make up for the pterodactyl tendencies and tantrums. The 3s and 4s have redeeming qualities, too, but there is something about the head or eye size of a 2yo that gives them a cuteness advantage and therefore makes them one of the most adorable ages within The Tunnel.

Take Lincoln, for example. The kid can be a total shrieking hot mess one minute and then he can toddle off to play by himself for 30 minutes which makes it much easier to prepare his lunch that he won’t eat before he gives hugs for his nap that will definitely require fussing prior to taking…..Hmmm. Perhaps it is this hot/cold roller coaster that makes folks dread the 2s so much? It is pretty darn exhausting and head-spinning.

But with the 2s also comes the start of talking and there is nothing sweeter than a Little learning language.

Take Lincoln, for example, again. While I still don’t understand most of what he actually says, I love listening to him talk. It totally helps that one of his most-used phrases I can decipher these days is, “OK, Mom.”

Pretty much whatever I say to him about what we are doing next or what I need him to do now gets an “OK, Mom” in return. Now, he doesn’t always follow through on that “OK” but it is so darn enduring that I don’t really care. The second most-used phrase of “Tank-You, Mom” when I hand him something or say “OK” to him is probably the reason for this. Because not only do 2yos learn language, they also start to learn manners (and actually use them!), which is beautiful music to a mama’s ears.

Somewhere along the way, LT also learned to cock his head to one shoulder and give a big cheesy grin – when he wants something or when he is doing something (he knows is) ornery. While this should make me crazy, it mostly makes me smile and shake my head as I say, “Oh, Linky.” The kid may have me wrapped around his sticky little fingers.

Just ask Ben about the other day when Lincoln came up to me as I was getting ready for an early-morning store run and asked, “Me come?? Come, Mom? OK, Mom?” I totally caved and took him on a date to the grocery store. That’s not the confession, though; the confession is that I totally let him schmooze me into getting the cereal and granola bars he wanted/pointed to as we strolled our way through the store all because he “OK” and “Tank-You, Mom”ed me the whole time.

So maybe I should revise my statement that 2yos are not troublemakers, because some of them clearly know how to work the system. Pretty sure I still don’t mind, though, because hi – have you seen this face or heard him say “OK, Mom”? It’s the best.