Terrible 2's?

We're all familiar with the Terrible 2's, and for good reason. Some days, this phrase could not ring more true in our house. But, sometimes, the terrible 2's are terribly sweet.

These days, Reid is learning about feelings... love, empathy, sadness. He is starting to understand how his actions can make someone else sad, like not sharing toys with his friends. (We haven't quite mastered how our actions can also make someone happy, like listening to mommy on the first try, but I digress.) He's learning to say "I'm sorry." When I tell him I love him these days, sometimes he tells me he loves me, too, and it's so sweet because I can tell he understands the "feeling" of it. Sometimes, he even says it without me saying it first - he is such a momma's boy. He gives lots of hugs and kisses these days, as well, which is a relatively new thing since he's never really been a snuggler. Also, a few days ago, I said something about having a tummy ache, and he came over to rub my belly telling me that I would feel better soon. Precious.

His manners are also starting to kick in. He is getting very good at saying "please" and "thank you" without any prompting. I just love this. I have never been one for saying "ma'am" and "sir" all the time, so I only make him call me ma'am when he is being reprimanded. But the please's and thank you's are just too cute. We stopped at CVS on the way home from school today and he insisted on taking in a little pumpkin he painted at school. He said hello to the cashier and asked her to look at his pumpkin, whom he has dubbed "Scooter." (???) Of course, she thought he was precious (how could she not?) and asked if he could have a lollipop. So she asked him if he would like one and he said, "Oh yes, please!" and "Thank you so much!"

I can see that he often is the most mannerly when he knows it will benefit him directly, like asking super-politely for a treat, but hopefully he's seeing that treating people nicely always ends up better than the alternative (though sometimes we adults have trouble remembering this one, too). Hopefully this phase will last for a little while...

(I'm making a point to get all this cuteness in writing so next time I want to strangle him, I can look at this and see the silver lining... which will probably be in the next few hours!)