Hyper-sensitive turns into drama

Talan, the once cute baby pictured in the post below, has had a mind of his own lately. He is really starting to have more of a personality which is great, but I can see where it is leading and I have my work cut out for me. He is very funny, always likes to have the focus on him, and incredibly dramatic and sneaky. I always said Ashton was my dramatic child. Talan has totally stolen his thunder! Here are a few of my favorite happenings of Talan lately.

A week or so ago he was playing nicely in the living room while I was sitting at the kitchen table doing who knows what.  He somehow snuck past me in the kitchen, went into the pantry, and picked up the box of trash bags. Even though he is only 16 months, he knows very well he may not mess with the trash bags. The entire pantry is off limits to him because of his allergies. After obtaining the box of trash bags he begins to walk towards me. I have yet to realize he is even in the kitchen. As Talan is walking towards me he is taking out trash bags one by one hurling them towards the floor. He stops just in front of me, but still far enough away that I can't reach him without getting out of my chair. We have a brief stare-down as I try to compute in my head what has just happened. How this small child went from playing so sweetly just momemts ago to standing in front of me in front of a trail of trash bags. I started to get out of my chair while saying "No Talan. " It was too late though. Before I could even get up Talan was running as fast as his little legs would go. He knew I was coming after the trash bags and he was going to keep them as long as he could. All the way across the kitchen and to the dead end at the other side of the living room, giggling like he had just done something hilarious. He's lucky he is still at that age where this stuff is cute. 

Yesterday evening Brad's parents came over for dinner. Talan did his usual. He ate a little while in his booster seat and then it was off to Uncle Clint's lap for seconds. Just his luck, Uncle Clint happened to be sitting by a Talan sized sucker. As soon as he saw it he claimed it as his own. Once the wrapper was removed from the sucker, Talan got down and walked around a bit. Never letting go of his candy. The family started playing a game at the table. Tal must have been upset that no one was paying attention to him because he walked up behind his grandpa, stuck his sucker in grandpa's pants, pulled it out, and put it back in his mouth. Classic.

I really love my sleep, and because of this I have made a rule.  The boys may not come out of their room until I come in to get them. Otherwise I have Ashton waking me up at 6a.m. wondering if it is time for breakfast. Usually when I wake up the boys are already up. They share a room now, and while I was worried about it at first, it has been terriffic! Ashton says Talan wakes him up every morning. Then Ashton, being the excellent brother he is, plays with Talan until it is time to come out of bed. Usually I open the door to find Ashton in Talan's bed. Once I found Ashton standing on a ledge under the window showing Talan how he could touch the ceiling. And sometimes I just sit outside their room for a bit and listen to Ashton do his crazy things while Talan cracks up.  They are quite the pair and I love they play so well together. 

A few weeks ago we were at the library. They have an excellent play area there, so if Tal is good and sits in the stroller while we load it up with books for Ashton then he can play. This particular day there was another boy his age playing as well. They had been playing fairly well together. Neither wants to share, but they both are fascinated by each other. Talan hadn't really noticed the other boys mom. Or if he did, he didn't really care. Then all the sudden he caught her eye. She must have looked at him wrong, because Talan flung himself on the floor. He didn't make a sound. I know, from the several other times Talan has been offended by the way someone looked at him, not to make a sound. If he's not making a sound then it could go one of 3 ways. He would either be angry and start screaming and throwing a fit, cry like someone has just killed his puppy right in front of him, or get up and pretend like nothing happened. I know that any move I make though will alter the outcome, so I don't move. Talan laid there on the ground face down, then the other mother chuckled a bit. It is rather funny to see a 16 month old be so incredibly dramatic. Talan heard the chuckle and began to cry like option number 2. This made the mom laugh a bit more because his crying didn't start until a good 30 seconds after the initial collapsing on the floor. It made me laugh too though. 

I've been wondering how I ended up with two sanity-sucking kids. I figured it out recently while wrapping christmas presents. The tiny gift tags don't have enough room to write all of our names by the from. To save space I started putting the first initial of each of our names. Our initials spell BRAT. Explains alot!