Today, I don't eat those.

It starts off innocently enough. Parents hold their newborn child in their hands and affectionately, yet allegedly, find qualities of their spouse in the baby. As temperament and personality are slower to reveal themselves, these characteristic are initially about physical features.

“He has your chin.”

“Oh, she has your eyes.”

And so on. The phrase “just like you” is sweetly shared in cuddling moments on couches or other intimate spaces.

As your child nears –and surpasses—the eighteen month mark, those previously passionate parents find themselves saying that same phrase with new meaning. Suddenly, “just like you” now refers to their offspring’s wacky eating habits, ear-piercing fit throwing, and ridiculous exhibitions of impatience. “Just like you” is a scapegoat for every possible weird behavior the child exhibits.

Specifically in my household for the past month, I did not want to be told Hudson was acting “just like” me at all. That phrase is now the biggest insult Josh and I can utter within earshot of little man. And as the goofy behavior seems to taking full reign of our happy home, “just like So-and-so” is said plenty.

Toddlers are strange. They are content one second and in complete meltdown mode the next. They eat a whole plate of a food one meal and loathe that same item the next. They flop themselves onto the floor at the slightest provocation.

But I guess I would be “strange” too if every day I was learning how the world worked, trying to communicate, witnessing a million new things, cutting fresh teeth, developing emotionally, and trying to assert my independence--- all the while being the shortest and weakest person in the place.

*Sigh* Good thing toddlers can also be incredibly loveable, cuddly, funny, smart, playful, and charming. Just like Josh.

But a diaper as a hat? Hmmm...Just like Josh. (Seriously. Like I would teach him this!!)