Happiness is chugging syrup

They call them the Terrible Twos, and frankly, I think that's just wrong.

For one thing, anyone who has had children knows that the "terrible" stage starts well before the second birthday. I guess "Terrible Nineteen Months" just doesn't have a good ring to it.

My son, Parker, is now 2-and-a-half, and he is anything but terrible. Sure, he has the occasional fits and spurts that any child has, but more than anything, I think a good adjective to describe him, like most two-year-olds, would be, well, insane. But not in a clinical way. It's in a funny way, as Parker has developed a personality that I applaud: Do things that amuse you. If it's fun, do it.

Among some of the things Parker has done for his own amusement:

1. I came over to pick him up from my parents' house the other day, and when I came in, my mother said, "I swear I did not put him in there." Yet there was Parker, perfectly content sitting in a pet carrier. (Don't worry; he had a water bowl.)

2. My wife summoned me from the den recently with, "Come look at your son." I turned the corner to find Parker seated at the table, a bottle of pancake syrup turned upright. When he saw us staring, he pulled it back (letting it drip all over of himself) and said, "YUM!!!"

3. Parker is at the age where he likes to help get dressed. Most times, he opts to put his pants on his head, and then sprints around the room laughing.

4. If it moves, it can growl. If Parker ever approaches you with a stuffed animal, it will, without a doubt, growl at you. Snakes growl. Birds growl. Fish growl. Cows growl. Old McDonald's farm, I assume, would be very growly in his world.

5. Around bedtime or naptime, Parker will often go in his room and lie down. On more than one occasion, we peek in to find out that he is not sleeping, but rather singing. While standing on his head. Sometimes naked. But when you let him know you are there, he will look over at you, say, "Hi, Daddy," and get back to his upside down naked singing.

6. Parker does not see why adults cannot have fun. For example, Parker thinks cardboard boxes are fun. Great forts. (Great place to store your growling items.) But he also finds no reason not to expect, say, Grandma to play in the cardboard box.

7. Parker can make fun out of the most mundane tasks. Laundry time? Why, the faster you get the dirty clothes into a pile, the sooner you have a landing pad for your Couch Diving exhibition. (For the record, the adults in my house were split 50-50 on whether Laundry Pile Couch Diving was acceptable.)

For some reason, as we get older, we start to become very aware of our surroundings, and very conscientious when it comes to doing something that might make us look bad in the eyes of others. Words such as "immature" and "juvenile" and "childish" are used in a derogatory manner because we adults have lumped all of this behavior as something uncalled for.

Sure, I can see why folks wouldn't want to see me chug a bottle of syrup next time I'm at breakfast. But when is the last time you sang in a grocery store? Waved at a flock of birds? Said hi to the person next to you at the stoplight? Asked your grandmother to climb inside a cardboard box? (OK, maybe the last one is crossing the line.)

In a lot of ways, I think grown-ups might be a little better off if we took some cues from this kind of behavior. After the Braves' 18th inning heartbreaker of a loss on Sunday, I was sharing misery with a couple of neighbors who are also Braves fans. As we were leaving, one said, "And Parker is just happy either way." Nice to not care about the things that don't really matter, and just enjoy life. I, for one, am going to try and adopt more of this in to my life. I hope you like how I wear my pants from now on.