El Diablo

El Diablo is what Bubby has been calling Lou lately, because, well. He's a monster. A cute monster for sure, but a monster nonetheless. I was really spoiled with Norah as my first kid. She has her moments, but 99% of the time she is calm, cool, and collected. She loves to dress up and play pretend, do puzzles and art work, read books and watch movies. She is incredibly smart and introspective and wants to know everything about the world. She's kind and thoughtful and has the best sense of humor. Basically she's me. (If I do say so myself). And that's why we get along so well.

Louis is an entirely different kid. He learned how to walk and overnight it seemed like he became someone else. He's cute and funny and sweet, for sure. But, he's also demanding and impatient and throws the world's biggest temper tantrums at the drop of a hat. He's at that awful age where he knows what he wants but has zero ability to communicate those wants. So, our days involved a lot of grunting, crying, pointing, stomping, hitting, and general terrorizing.

Basically this:

He's also quite the dare devil. He doesn't walk anymore.... he runs. Everywhere. He climbs everything. Gets into everything. I can't tell you how many legos I have fished out of the toilet. He does somersaults in the tub. He regularly attempts to drown himself.

I left him in his room for about 15 seconds while I put his pee soaked pajamas in the laundry. When I got back I discovered he had flipped over the box full of big legos and was doing a tap dance on top of it.

By far the biggest problem is that he runs away from me when we aren't at home. See, Norah is my rule follower. I don't think she's ever crossed the street without reminding me that I need to hold her hand. She sticks close. Lou is the complete opposite. He runs. And runs fast. In whatever direction I don't want him to be running. He thinks it's hilarious to make me chase him. Unfortunately, he has no concept of "street is a dangerous place for an almost 14 month old to be" and some of his behavior is really starting to be unsafe. I think we are going to get him one of those monkey backpacks. With a leash. I can't believe I actually said that. But I like my kids alive, so we'll do what we have to do.

It may be a very long toddlerhood, indeed.