Boys are different.

Erin was such a nice baby. She never wrote on a wall, or nose-dived off furniture, or took her diaper off. I never turned my back and then looked back to find her standing on the table. The worst thing she ever did was jump on the bed. She was just sweet, and happy, and adorable. Everyone loved Erin because she was just delightful, easy to be around, and even allowed me to keep a fairly clean house until she was like 4 and learned how to make BIG messes.

Orren is not Erin. From day one, he's been fussier. He walked earlier (Erin was nearly 10 months old, Orren was 9 months and 9 days), talks more at 16 months than she did at 3, and is generally 10 times as curious as his sister ever thought about being. He's a very intelligent and hands-on boy. His occasional discontent is frustration at not being able to explore things that he wants to know about. I can see in his eyes that even if this one never makes it to the NFL, there could well be a place for him at NASA. He's incredibly intelligent.

The downside is that he's NUTS! You can't leave Orren unattended for even a minute (yes, this means I get just about zero bathroom breaks during the day) because when you come back, you will likely find him standing on the table, jumping for the chandelier, climbing the bookcase, or on top of the couch, about to jump off. He has NO fear at all. Yesterday, he was spinning around on the couch going "Wow! Wow! Wow!" When I picked him off of there, he jumped up on the coffee table, and launched himself from there, swan dive style onto the ottoman. This was right at bedtime, by the way. I'm really surprised we haven't had our first ER visit yet. Knock on wood that we haven't. I seriously do not know what I would do if I had to take the kids to the ER in this place... probably go on post even though it's farther. On the up side, I do know an ER nurse at Del Sol, and she could possibly get us in faster... Is it bad that I'm already thinking of what ER we'd go to if/when Orren needs his first stitches?

The other thing is that Orren is really rough. I don't think he's violent, or that he would intentionally hurt someone, but we've had to do away with certain toys because he would literally beat the crap out of me and Erin with them and think it was hilarious. He'll jump off the furniture on you, and dive bomb you if you're on the floor, laughing the whole while. I have no idea where he learned this stuff from, but all I can figure is that it's coded into the DNA. All I can do with him is take him outside and hope he runs it out enough during the afternoon. He's barely napping anymore, so there is a lot of figuring out what on earth to do with the boy.

Now we're going to try to brave the grocery store. Thankfully, it's only Super Target, which doesn't have long lines or too many people, but even so, shopping with Orren is always interesting. I hope we make it through this without anything getting damaged.

I guess I have a better understanding of some parents with wild kids now. Of course, there are still some cases in which the kids are just undisciplined, but Orren is very well disciplined. We're extremely consistent. (For example, he's no longer permitted on the couch because he can't behave safely while up there, and I've spent all day picking him off of it. He's beginning to get the point.) Even with our consistent discipline, and calm yet firm approach, he's still wild. It's just who he is. He does follow the rules that he understands, but teaching him new rules is very hard compared to how it was with Erin. For one, at this age, it requires redirection, and a lot of repetition, so I'm picking him off of things dozens of times a day. He's BIG, and he fights me on it every time. My back is absolutely killing me. I don't even pick him up at all on the weekends so I can have a break. Thak does it then.

OK, off to take my rough and tumble little boy and my drama queen princess grocery shopping now. This generally proves interesting, but we get what we need.