reasons to laugh instead of scream

The famous "dinosaur shirt"

I love my little Sean, I really do. But I have to honestly say there are some days when his constant quest for independence drives me so crazy I want to pull my hair out. And those are the days when I have to remind myself that there are plenty of things about him that are fun and funny and worth laughing about, even in the midst of the hair-pulling episodes.

• We, apparently, have told him so many times that he's a "heavy boy" that he now, any time he has a hard time climbing onto something that's really high or awkward, says, "Mommy, me heavy boy!"
• His response anytime he doesn't want to do something is ALWAYS, "Mommy, me all done [insert undesired action]!" We've heard everything from "me all done eating" and "me all done sleeping" to "me all done soggin'" and "me all done stinkin'" (the latter ones in response to the question, "Do you have a soggy/stinky diaper?"). Sometimes we ask him if he wants to do something just to hear what he'll say, because chances are pretty good that it'll start with "me all done."
• He's started the amusing habit of laughing whenever he hears adults laughing too. He has no clue what he's laughing about, but he gets a fake little chuckle going that usually makes me laugh even harder. It's so adult, when you think about it, the whole laughing-because-you're-supposed-to thing. And it totally cracks me up coming from a 2-year-old.
• He loves being tickled--loves it. And I love tickling him just to hear that infectious laughter and see those adorable dimples and wait for his "Mommy, do it 'din!"
• He rarely picks out his own clothes, but when he decides he wants to or is given the chance to, you can 100% guarantee that he's going to head straight to his closet and pick out his "dinosaur shirt," which is actually shortalls with dinosaurs embroidered on the bib and leg. He's managed to wear that outfit as often as possible this summer, and I think it's time to retire the thing, sadly. I'm going to miss "dinosaur shirt."
• Every night after his teeth are brushed, I tell him to spit, he spits (or attempts to--kind of hard to do when you've already swallowed everything that should be spit. We're working on that.), and then he turns and looks at me and says, "Mommy, dat close one!" I have no idea what that means. But it sure is funny.
• He has the idea that if the garage door is going up, and he's attempting to go under it, that it doesn't matter how far away he is from the said door, he must crouch down as low as possible to keep from being knocked in the head. So usually what happens is the door is more than halfway up, and Sean's in the middle of the garage floor crouching down to keep from being hit by a door that's 6 feet away from him. He errs on the side of caution, what can I say?
• Best reason of all: the kid's just plain fun, that's all there is to it. He loves people, he loves to laugh, he's still sweet beyond belief. So in the end, what's not to laugh at all that?