Congratulations Pedro!

Pedro is excelling in his Two-Year-Old-In-Training program. Really. I'm talking A+ work.

He is monitored in three categories: speech, temper-tantrum throwing, and destructive capabilities and he has fared quite well in all three.

Speech

Most of his speech at this point has to do with what HE wants which means expectations are being met for our future 2 year old . He has mastered the following phrases:

-No Way! (normally used when asked if he wants to take a bath or go to bed)

-I WANT __________! Most often followed by:

• juice
• water
• "La-La" (he's still hooked on the teletubbies)
• OUT! (of his highchair, carseat, stroller or bed)
• eat
• "tweat" (treat)
• push (the doorbell or the elevator buttons)
• "powda" (powder, when I'm changing his diaper)
• WALK (when we are trying to get somewhere fast and are therefore carrying him)
• THIS! (when he doesn't know the word for the thing he wants)

-I DO IT!

Final Grade: A

Temper-Tantrums

He is a decent little temper-tantrum thrower. His techniques include but are not limited to:

In-Arms Tantrums:

• throwing his heavy little head back
• screaming
• repeatedly arching his back, buckin' bronco style
• head-butting

Free- Range Tantrums:

• throwing himself on the floor
• rolling
• hitting his head on whatever surface is available (the harder the better)
• crying and screaming

Final grade: B (I've seen better at this age; he's lacking in a certain creativeness in this category (we have yet to be bitten). But overall, not to shabby.)

Destructive Capabilities

This is where Pedro really shines. He has true talent in this category that hopefully someday will be used for good instead of evil.

Of course we encourage him to draw on paper:

...but, he feels it really stifles his artistic ability to be limited in such a way; so, we find his artwork throughout the house (and believe me when I say, this is a very small sample of his work):


Sadly, sometimes he doesn't know when to stop:

(yes, that's MY ipod. and the pen was a sharpie. Grrrrrrr. When I discovered it, Julio wisely told me, "Mom, you should keep your ipod in a safer place." Don't you hate it when kids are right?)

He can't take all the credit here, he owes some of it to his older siblings who somehow al-ways manage to leave contraband markers within his reach.

A few days ago he decided to try a new medium out.

Paint.

In this case, he owes a debt of gratitude to the maid who thought it would be a good idea to leave the paints on the bottom shelve in the toy room. Passive agressive attack? Possibly.

Before I realized the scope of the problem, I, of course grabbed my camera (rookie move):

...before I knew it, he was taking it to the next level:

I delivered him to the maid to clean him up (I figured that was only fair since she had left the paints within reach) while I surveyd the rest of the room. It was not good:

(I was in the room when it happened! 5 ft away! He is a very quick, and practically undetectable to the human senses.)

Look at this face:

No remorse whatsover! (Let this serve this as a warning to those we will be staying with over the holidays-hide the art supplies!!!

Final grade: A+++

Bravo, Pedro, you will make a wonderful 2 year old!