I’m not sure why they call it the terrible twos. For both Little Miss S and Little J, it started much earlier, around 18 months of age. He can be quite the little monster.

I totally get why toddlers are so frustrated. They’re walking, probably running most of the time. They have a limited vocabulary but are beginning to realize that they are an independent person, separate from mom and dad. Toddlers are curious about everything around them and want to explore. Meanwhile, they have mom and dad setting boundaries, limits and saying “NO!”

It’s a tough life.

When Little J has trouble expressing his needs, he resorts to physical violence. At least once a day, to Little Miss S’s horror, he yanks on her curly locks. He will shove, push and grab. He has mastered the word no and uses it constantly. He is jealous when his sister gets a snack and he doesn’t.

He pulls everything off the shelves. He loves pushing buttons. He will turn off the television in the middle of the show or help himself to my laptop or cell phone. Thankfully he doesn’t know the password to my laptop, nor can he dial numbers on my phone yet.

Most days, it’s frustrating for me and Little J. I’m sleep-deprived, and he wants my attention at every waking moment (as well as napping ones). Both Little Miss S and I chase him around our apartment, attempting to keep Little J from killing himself by eating random toys, climbing onto the dining table or sneaking into the kitchen to fiddle with the knobs on our stove.

This weekend, our family had a full day of activities. First we hit Pyramid Atlantic’s pancake breakfast, then ran errands and ended the day at the new Burtonsville Dunkin’ Donuts. Only our pancake breakfast was planned. Everything else we did that day was spontaneous.

As I watched Little Miss S and Little J chase each other around Pyramid Atlantic, I was overcome with happiness. Little J was finally old enough to really play with his sister. He responded to her questions and ideas in his own toddler ways. He called her by name (sort of) and wanted to play with her. Bonus: She wanted to play with him too.

All day they had similar exchanges. I don’t remember the last time we laughed so much as a family. Seeing our two children interact made me happy that we decided to have more than one child. They don’t play happily all the time, but the love they have for each other is very obvious.

Maybe the terrible twos aren’t so bad after all.

Thien-Kim Lam is looking forward to her next family day. Her parent column appears on Colesville Patch each Tuesday. You can also find her blogging at I'm Not the Nanny and Cup of Creativi-Tea.