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It has started. Alex has started his ‘Terrible Twos’ 5 months early. He started throwing tantrums this past weekend. One of the more memorable ones happened Monday evening.

We recently removed a gate we had at the entrance of our family room to allow Alex access to more square footage. In the previously gated area we have a large storage ottoman, a small storage cabinet, and a hanging mirrored keyholder thingy. The ottoman was originally pushed up against the storage cabinet so Alex wouldn’t be able to open it. That’s where i keep all my knives. Safety first!

Alex was pretty excited about this new area, he’s a climber. He immediately climbed onto the ottoman. He excitedly danced back and forth on top of that. He then excitedly walked onto the storage cabinet and danced on that for a bit. Then he went for the mirrored keyholder hangy-upy thing which isn’t secured to the wall very well. He pulled on it, lost his balance, and fell back a bit. Scared him a little. Seeing how unsafe this was, i pulled him off the cabinet and pushed the ottoman away from it. Just far enough that he wouldn’t be able to travel between the two. I set him down on the ground and he started crying.

He collapsed on the ground screaming…’NO!’ and rolled around for a bit. He then got up, still crying, and tried to push the ottoman back. He even asked me for help which he says as ‘Elp!’ When i wouldn’t help him, he collapsed on the ground again and rolled around crying some more.

I was pretty impressed that he realized the consequences of what i did, realized he didn’t like it, and knew how to fix his problem. But i’m disappointed that i didn’t grab the camera to document the tantrum. I’m sure there will be more to follow.

Here’s to hoping the Terrible Twos don’t last too long.

Edit (11/14/2008): I did catch it on video!

I agree 1000% (:P) with everything Colin Powell said on ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday. Growing up in Michigan with Muslim friends and neighbors i was especially moved by his defense of Muslim Americans and his commentary on members of his Republican party.

“I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said. Such things as ‘Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’ Well the correct answer is ‘He is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian, he’s always been a Christian.’ But the really right answer is ‘What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?’ The answer is ‘No. That’s not America.’ Is there something wrong with some 7-year old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she can be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he’s a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

“I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo-essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in you can see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have a Star of David. It had a crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Karim Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American, he was born in New Jersey, he was 14 at the time of 9/11 and he waited until he can go serve his counrty and he gave his life.”

Playing with the camera and photochop.