You Know Your Baby Has Become a Toddler When...

Over night something changes.

You put down your sweet, innocent baby to bed, and in the morning you come in to find that he has become a TODDLER.

(Please note the location of our new toddler to the china hutch in this picture...before he saw me, he was pounding the glass window.  He just loves that sound that it makes when all the breakable objects hit each other!  Time to move that suit case!)

I'm afraid that TODDLERHOOD has occurred (for the 3rd time!) at our house!

If you're really tuned in, you may start to note changes during reading time when your cuddly baby, who usually coos as you point out other babies in the pictures or a cute puppy or something of that nature, chucks the book (with such amazing force) at you or across the room (or, if the mood is right, at you, THEN across the room).

Changing the morning diaper, a task that up until now usually only takes about 20 seconds, has turned into a 10 minute wrestling match, (and THEY win the first round!)...yes, the sweat dripping off your face indicates that you did, indeed, get in your first work out of the day...consider that the warm up for when you get him down from the changing table (IF he has not already sped up the process and thrown himself over!).

You become an expert at putting clothes on a moving (ok, SPRINTING!) target.  In fact, if they are still for even a moment while you attempt this feat, you stop to feel their forehead to check for a fever...since everyone knows that the only still toddler is the sleeping toddler or a really sick one (even then not always!).

You learn to unload and reload the dishwasher in under 4 minutes, while your toddler is strapped in and eating lunch.  (My personal fav, the 5-point harness in the highchair!)  You know all too well if you exceed the 3 minutes and 59 seconds to do the dishes, that the remaining portion of the uneaten lunch WILL be sent flying in any direction that the wind blows.  (Not to mention the VERY dirty bib!)

Let's review what happens if hunger gets the best of you at lunchtime, (yes, you have burned many calories so far today as you care for your toddler!), and you chose to sit down and partake in lunch WITH your toddler.  The dishwasher will then be unloaded FOR YOU after lunch.  And yes, the sharpest knives are ALWAYS the first to be eagerly removed by your little guy.

As you are chasing your toddler through the kitchen, when you make this discovery of him "assisting in unloading", (and as he runs away with the knife pointed UP), you remind yourself to NEVER eat when he's eating again!

**This containment time is so precious and must be used VERY wisely! **

And, you can now take the old adage of sleeping when baby sleeps and throw it out the window as fast as your 'lil guy hurls his shoes off in the car!  When baby (toddler) naps, you MOVE!

It really does not matter what you do but do ANYTHING that requires you to open the fridge, the pantry, dishwasher, washing machine or bathroom cabinets.  As you know, these places sit untouched if toddler is remotely close by...they have a strange innate beacon for when these locations become "available"!

You can also forget about going anywhere in the car mid to late morning.  Your toddler WILL fall asleep, (yes, even if it's only 30 seconds!) and WILL NOT take a nap for the rest of the day.

Those days are *extra* special!

And lastly, you MUST not forget to hone in on sharpening your quick reflexes.

You must NEVER let down.  EVER.  They KNOW when you do!  That's when the toy dinosaur's tail gets jammed in that one electrical socket that you used yesterday for vacuuming, when you "somehow" got distracted with your toddler and never replaced the socket cover, (which, by the way, your baby now has in his mouth and is probably choking on it!).

And then at the end of your day, when Toddler is finally down for the night, you ironically can't bring yourself to sit down and rest since you know that those 12 hours off will go WAY TOO FAST and there's still SO much to do!

When you finally do drag yourself to bed, (and you note that though the house is silent, there is still that loud ringing in your ears from the blood curdling scream that shattered your neighbor's window that came just hours before when you removed a permanent marker from your toddler's vice-like grip), just remind yourself that the toddler years, like a root canal, may just make you better!  (If you survive!)

So, close your eyes quickly, for in a few short hours, the morning will begin again with the first diaper change.  :)