Bodie is the most even tempered 2 year old, at least when contrasted to the other two mood swinging kids in the house. He's got this uncanny ability to take things in stride, and just go with the flow. The other day at the swimming pool, his Earth ball disappeared, and Bodie didn't throw the slightest fit. He just kept looking for it everywhere, and now and then he'd say "We can find it Daddy." My other 2 boys would have been frantic with distress. We never did find the ball, by the way. He decided it would be easier to find one at Target later on. "We can go to Target after dis," he announced. He adjusted his goggles, then continued his romp in the shallow end.

Bodie has picked up on some of his older brothers' emotional outbursts, however. It's just learning by osmosis.  Actually, their eruptions haven't been so bad lately, since we started the Feingold diet and cut out the food dyes. It really works! Food dyes are pure evil, it turns out. Do your own research.

Anyway, Garrett is especially funny when he's mad, like a furious little Donald Duck. Last weekend Garrett was super tired, crabby, and ready for bed. Out of the blue, Gavin scared him from behind with a loud noisemaker he got from a party. Garrett spun around and went off like a pack of firecrackers on Gavin. "I'm wilwy, wilwy, wilwy, wilwy ANGWY at you, GAVIN! UHHH!" Poor kid. I know the feeling. I get crabby too when I'm tired.

When Bodie gets mad at me for something like helping him get undressed for the bath, he only yells a little bit. He'll say "I wanna do it, Daddy! I WANNA DO IT" To which I'll calmly respond "Are you mad at dad?" mainly because I love his response of late, which is "I'm not mad, I'm just ANGWY!!"

Really though, Bodie is just content to glide through life with a mischievous smirk on his face most of the time. His terrible two tantrums are few and far between - I hope I'm not jinxing it - but he almost always does what he's told the first time I tell him. Now, what kind of two year old is this? It's really mind boggling. I'll say "Boys, get your shoes on and climb in the Jeep." And 3 minutes later, Bodie will be standing by the Jeep with shoes in hand (since he struggles to put them on). Gavin and Garrett will most likely be ignoring my directive until they hear me say "Goodbye guys, we are leaving."

Getting him to eat is a different story, however. He thinks everything is yucky, except for french fries and chicken nuggets. I don't know how he survives, since we don't make his food of choice more than once or twice a week. We don't give in to his demands. We want our kids to enjoy all types of food. Sara is an incredible cook, and she'll be darned if she's going to waste her talents with frozen nuggets. Bodie usually eats a good breakfast, at least, mainly because he's famished from his rejection of the previous night's fare. Hopefully he'll get past this picky stage like his brothers did, without it stunting his growth! (Can that really happen?)

Bodie's new phrase is "I no like it." He uses this handy little expression with almost everything in his terrible two lifestyle. His big brothers give him plenty of reasons to say "I no like it", and when he's sitting in his highchair at suppertime you'd think that phrase completes his entire vocabulary.

Lately his "I no likes" are mostly concerning the scary stuff associated with Halloween. He sees spooky stuff on the tv, even on Noggin, and he gets a little unnerved. "I no like it, show."  All of us boys have skeleton shirts, and even those creep him out. He sees bones on a shirt and says "I no like it, shirt." I don't know why he's being such a scaredy cat. He gets the theme of Halloween, I suppose, and he's not liking it.

With our house all decked out in Halloween decor, hopefully he'll get over his apprehensions and enjoy this time of year a little more. Sara's started a little Halloween village with a spooky candy shop, creepy trees and a haunted mansion, Bodie won't go near it. "I no like it, spooky" he says.

We told him we would be going to the Pumpkin Patch to get some pumpkins, and he said with enthusiasm "YES!" However, when we got there, it was more of the same. "I no like it, punka patch." He refused to go near the pumpkins! Just like every other family in America, we were trying to pose the kids amongst the pumpkins and hay bales, but our littlest model was heartily rejecting the idea. "I no like it, punkas!" He was literally afraid to go near them. Eventually I got him to sit on my knee for a second, then it was back to clinging to his mama's pant leg. The look on his face was "Why are you doing this to me?" And the look on my face was "How can this be? My son is a wuss?"

Bodie was once our most fearless child (see Crash Test Bodie, January '10) but this year's Halloween stuff has shaken his confidence. He's still pretty reckless on his trike and as a climber, but he manages now to keep his face nearly bruise free.

Even as I type these words, Bodie is standing next to me looking at the photo on the screen saying "Oh no daddy, no sit punkas." This was last weekend, and apparantly he's still traumatized.

Gavin and Garrett were having a ball, shooting pictures with their little mickey mouse cameras and rating the pumpkins as ovals or circles. Nonetheless, the pumpkin patch excursion was getting pretty stressful for the two year old. Garrett, our most tactful and diplomatic child, came up with a great idea. "Let's give Bodie a baby punkin to hold, and he won't be scared of it." What do you know, it worked! "Baby punka?" Bodie said, still not sure of himself. He took it in his hands and eyed it hesitantly, and Sara snapped a few quick photos.

He slightly warmed up to the patch after that, but he still wasn't thrilled about it. I don't know what made him fear all those pumpkins. I just hope he doesn't chicken out when it's time to trick-or-treat.