It's Hard to be Two

I've been selling a lot of out old stuff online lately, and the Lord has been blessing us with the process.  It's like having a garage sale that never ends - except you don't have to mess with actually having a garage sale.  Nice!

The tricky part has been having the items that we are selling out in view of the kids as we are selling.  Items that have not been thought of in months - in some cases years - are suddenly considered their FAVORITE THING IN THE WORLD AND HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK OF SELLING IT?!

Still, Mom usually prevails, and this past week we found ourselves selling Matthew's infant car seat.  Now, Matthew has been in a five-point harness for over a year.  He has not used this car seat since then.  He has barely seen it.  He has played with it a little off-and-on in the past few weeks because it's been out in the living room awaiting its new owner, but he certainly has not shown any particular attachment to it.

That is, until he saw me hand it over to someone else.

At which point, he threw a complete and total fit.

We are not talking about a temper tantrum.  We are not talking about I-am-not-getting-my-own-way screams.  We are talking about big, fat tears rolling down his tiny cheeks as he screamed "I WANT MY CAR SEAT!  I WANT MY CAR SEAT!"  This was not indignation, this was true sadness.  He was honestly distressed about the departure of "his" car seat.  I was shocked.  I mean, he hasn't even seen this thing in a year, not until recently.  Why the distress?

Two things:

1) Matthew is two.
2) Matthew is a third child. 

Third children have very little to call their own - especially third children who are the second or third of their gender.  When we had Joshua, EVERYTHING was new.  When we had Anna, she got all the girly stuff.  Matthew has very little to call his own.  This may not mean much at his age, but I think it means at least a little.

In addition, he's two years old.  It is very hard to be two.  You are beginning to understand there is a world around you, and you want to be a part of it - and yet everyone tells you where to go, what to wear, when to eat, what to eat, when to sleep, etc.  No wonder they throw so many tantrums!  Absolutely nothing is in their control, and they are starting to feel it. 

So poor Matthew - Mommy sold his car seat without even conferring with him.  How unfair.

However, there is a third factor at play, and that is the incredibly short attention span of a two-year boy.  By the time we got home, he had been distracted by something, and all was well in the world again.

And it should remain that way for a while.

At least until I sell his bouncer seat...