Atticus: Terrible Two's Already?

So many things have been happening with Atticus that I need to write them all down so I don't forget a thing! First of all, Atticus has had the least consistent previous month of his life. Of course, with Grace's arrival, everyone's schedules changed. And for the most part, Atticus has gone with the flow. He has had lots of attention, presents, and family at the house. And he loves Grace, which makes us think that her arrival didn't really affect him. I have read and heard stories of kids who have new siblings and it really throws them; they want to hurt the baby; if they are potty trained, they start having accidents; they start doing other naughty things; basically, they act out for attention.

With Atticus, he has recently had a few spurts of "acting out" but it's hard to tell whether it's because of all the changes in his life or....because he is almost 2 years old. There have been days of wondering how I will survive if these are already the Terrible Two's. The main two things that sometimes give us harder days than others are whining and saying "no". He whines horribly and for absolutely no reason at all and sometimes for a long time. Sometimes I sympathize, because he is trying to tell us something with words we haven't figured out yet and other times, he is just whines. Also, the word "no" is a word that I know comes with every toddler. And we have three forms of no at our house.

1) the Adorable No that is said when you ask him something like "is that a cow" when you know it's a horse and he says this long drawn out cute little "nyooohh".
2) the Answer No that is said when you ask him a question, followed with "say yes or no" and he honestly answers "no" very nicely.
3) the Stubborn, Independent, Testing you, "NO!" that is said to everything else. We can ask him a question that does not require a yes or no answer and he says no. We can ask him something that we know he wants, and he says no. He will walk around the house saying no to everything you say, directed to him or not.

Now this may not seem too bad, but combine it with whining and you have:
"Atticus, what would you like for lunch?" NO!
"Would you like some peaches?" NO!
"Okay, we won't eat peaches." NO! combined with whining because I'm putting them away and he has decided he really does want them.
"Atticus, do you want peaches? Yes or No?" (try number two) NO!
I go to put them away again, he whines, says no, and I tell him that since he said no and won't say yes, he may not have any. Then we commence to full-on whining and sometimes fit throwing.

All of this occurs and I know that actually he really does want those silly peaches! So, is this the life of a 2 year old? I think so. I'm so glad I decided to become a stay-at-home mom! Just kidding; I actually love it because once we have conquered this phase, I will feel so productive and accomplished! :) It's just tough right now, because sometimes it is easier to appease him than fight him when in public or when family or friends are around. Don't get me wrong; we get onto him and try to be consistent with teaching and discipline no matter who is around; but we are learning this entire process as much as he is, and sometimes having an audience makes it harder.

And of course, he has moments of being so sweet and good and I immediately get hope that this phase is ending, although I know it will probably continue for awhile. With the exception of his birthday party in two weeks, we plan to have very quiet weeks and weekends for awhile for some consistency for our little man.

I sound as if I'm complaining a lot and I'm really not; I just want to remember these moments, even the tougher ones.