Uppy, Uppy

Benjamin is in the midst of his "fill in the blank" twos. The blank depends on the day and somehow his fits just seem more whiny than terrible. Every time something brushes up against him it is this ginormous cry with him toddling towards you with a "Uppy, uppy, uppy". It his abbreviated version "Up, Please". When he is sent to time out, he cries in between yelling "I love you" and "I'm sorry". Definitely not the stubborn, unapologetic Joshy we are used to. That said, the crying gets in your head. The constant "My diaper", "Joshy touched me", "I hurt my foot", all accompanied by tears can drive a person crazy. Yesterday, in a moment of weakness, instead of attending to his whiny cry, I just started to mimic it, crying and saying uppy, uppy. He looked at me for a second as he ceased crying. He then walked up to me and hugged me and told me that he loved me. He comforted me. It made me smile because he did to me what he wants each time he cries. It just goes back to the truth that we all naturally give as we like to get. If kind words are what reach your heart, your instinct is to show love through kind words to others. I suppose that is the challenge of parenting. Two boys means two different ways of understanding love. Two different ways of correction. Two different styles of pressing their boundaries. When God decided to not send children with instruction books, He clearly hadn't heard the phrase "work smarter, not harder". Then again, neither have the men made in his image each time Christmas and bike assembly rolls around. But what He did know is that those gentle kisses with their little chubby hands on each of your cheeks makes it all worth while. It is quite tricky, really...