It's hard to be 18 months old

These days I never know what to expect from Alex.  There are days when he's an absolute delight.  There are others when I'm sure he's been possessed by demons.  Going to the park is almost always a surefire hit, but on days when he's in a foul mood, even that can be a miserable outing.  I wasn't prepared for what 18 months would bring.  Since Alex was born, every day brought more fun and excitement.  Each new age was pure joy and so much better than the last.  Then we hit 18 months and it all went to hell.  Some days I have a happy-go-lucky toddler who wants to play and dance and smother me with kisses.  Other days are wrought with toddler angst.  Some days are Screamfest 2007.  There are nights when I can't bear to put him in his crib for the night, I just want to snuggle his cute little cheeks and hold his soft little dimply hands.  Some nights I can't wait to close the door to his room and go to a quiet place and drink a bottle of wine.  I just wasn't prepared to live this kind of bi-polar lifestyle.  He loves me, he hates me.  I love him, I want to sell him to the gypsies.

Is it possible that the terrible twos actually begin during the second year rather than after the child turns two years old?  Or, god forbid, is it just going to get worse in the next year? 

I guess I just need to look forward to the good days while surviving the bad ones.  I need to keep trying to take him places that might be fun for him, even if he turns into Screamy VonNoodlelegs while playing Ring Around the Rosie at the library story and song hour.  I need to learn to pick my battles.  If all he wants to eat all day is bread crust and apple juice.  Fine.  If he wants to bring six plastic Easter eggs everywhere he goes.  Fine (just make sure to bring extras in preparation for the meltdown when he looses one of them during an outing).  If he doesn't want to wear anything but a diaper and a fireman hat all day.  Fine.  Some things are just not worth fighting about.

I talked to his pediatrician yesterday about what we can do about discipline and correcting his behavior.  18 months is such a tough age for discipline.  Time outs don't work yet, redirection doesn't work as well as it used to when he had the attention span of a fruit fly, a stern "NO!" just makes him laugh.  She didn't really have much advice other than to keep doing what I'm doing until he's old enough to put in time out (around two) and to really emphasize the good things he does (presumably so he doesn't get the idea that negative attention is the best kind).  I think my strategy will be to make the most out of the good days, take lots of pictures of Alex's happy face and put them on my refrigerator so that when he's pitching a fit and flinging all of my Tupperware all over the kitchen, I can look at these happy, cute smiles and remember that yes, I really do love him and it's not always like this.