Mio! Mio! Mio!

Those are the words I´ve heard most often since we were picked up at the Guadalajara airport yesterday by my suegra (mother-in-law) Lupita, my cuñada (sister-in-law) Elena and Oliver`s only cousin, Issac of two years and three months. They were just here for the weekend from Queretaro, and left today less than an hour ago, but the word mio, mine, is still imprinted in my mind. Isaac is a wonderful child, but very strong-willed. He´s been that way since birth, so I´m told. Just this weekend, Lupita was telling me that right after he was born he grabbed onto his dad Julio´s finger and wouldn´t let go. Even in the nursery, all the attendants told the parents that he was corajudo,an angry-tempered little baby. He´s lucky to have a patient mom like Elena. Even though Oliver has an entirely different temperament, I'm still bracing myself for the upcoming terrible twos. The other constant word out of Isaac´s mouth is NO. I know that it´s all part of natural child development to be self-centered and to throw tantrums, but seeing it and knowing your child will pass through it soon is another thing! Oliver just started throwing what I would describe as mini-tantrums last week. Now when something is taken away from him or if he developmentally just can´t do something that he wants to do, he has started to throw up his arms and arch his back and scream. Sometimes it feels like he might fly out of my arms when I´m holding him. Last week at the immigration office while waiting hours to get my papers ready for Guadalajara, he started to do the arching thing and I actually made it into a game! The Cabo immigration office has a really groovy ceiling with square shaped sun lights that Oliver was so happy to look at that he forgot he was throwing a fit. Lucky us. So far I either distract him with a fun game, like the ceiling game, try to not let him get his hands on forbidden items, or exchange the items for another desirable item quickly and slyly. This is working well so far, but I´m sure he´ll out-smart me soon!