When No Means Yes

No! No! No! That seems to be my little guys all time favorite word lately. He turned one at the beginning of the month and after we sang happy birthday and he devoured his first few bites of cake, it's like he knew that his baby days were over. He was on the start of a new venture. 

Our Pediatrician told us that the "terrible twos" can start as early as one. The terrible twos? My husband and I don't even really know what the terrible twos are all about and honestly, we kind of brushed her off. Then, about two weeks after his one year check up this little attitude and major sense of independence crept up on our sweet little boy. 

As if being a first time mom doesn't already have its confusing moments, to make matters worse, when he says no he usually means yes. He will say no, shake his head no, all at the same time, but still reach for things like he wants them. Way to give me mixed signals buddy. 

While we love the fact that he is learning, exploring, and wanting to try things on his own. I would be lying if I didn't say that hearing the word no over what seems like 500+ times a day isn't a little annoying. Then, on top of hearing that wonderful word no, if he doesn't get his way the tantrums start. The other day in the grocery store my husband and I couldn't wait to get out of the checkout line fast enough. The whole store practically heard him screaming NO! It went from a 2 to a 10 in a split second when he couldn't stay and pretend to draw with the pen that is attached to the credit card scanner. It was just so great to have all eyes on us as we made our not so graceful exit. With smiles on our faces (I was probably as red as the apples we just bought), my son was throwing himself back in the cart while screaming, my husband was pulling the front of the cart to the point I was practically running to keep up with him. All while I was steering the front of the cart like a pro to dodge getting stuck behind the little old lady that would have prolonged our escape from this embarrassing moment.

We try to refrain from using the word no too often in our home so that he doesn't hear it all the time. When we are switching from one activity to another, cleaning up what we are playing with, or explaining why we can't play with something, we are using our words wisely. However, no seems to come out of his little mouth. We are also trying to correct him and teach him yes when he uses no as a yes. 

He is in daycare full time and we aren't sure how often they are saying no. Let's be realistic though, it probably comes out every few sentences when 12 one year olds are all in the same room together. I'm sure it's not all cupcakes and rainbows all day. 

We've done some online researching ourselves and know this is a phase he is going through, and might be going through for awhile. But, I would love some feedback from some of you fabulous moms who may have been through something similar or might have some words of encouragement.

My beautiful sister has let me take over Monday's on our blog for some much needed mom time. Check out where I am linking today for some other great mom posts.