Waking up with a 2 year old

Mornings with Eli are very...interesting. When he first wakes up, usually between 7 and 7:30, he hangs out in his crib saying "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY" until I come in there. He's always standing up and usually has something very funny/interesting to tell me. He must have very interesting dreams. Yesterday, his jammies were unzipped and he told me that he was going to change his own diaper. Most of the time, before he lets me take him out, he'll hand me all of the items from his crib...his pillow, his blankets, his stuffed animals and his books. If I don't take them and put them on "the big bed," he gets very upset. Only then will he let me change his diaper. I've learned that if I don't change him into his clothes for the day right then, we are rarely going to get out on time.... so I try to do it if I can.

Eli's usually very sweet and funny for the first 5 minutes or so. He's laughing, telling me stories and sometimes even sings or dances. Then all of a sudden, BOOM.... like a switch, he completely turns to the dark side. He becomes super mean Eli and doesn't do anything I ask him to do. He starts crying, demanding things that don't make any sense, and things just get ugly. Today he was fine until it was time to put on his shirt. Apparently, the thought of putting on his shirt was just too much to handle and he ran screaming from the room. He had spent the last five minutes telling me how he wanted to watch the pirate episode of the Backyardigans, so I went to turn it on for him. HA. Heaven FORBID I should turn on the TV. He spent the next minute screaming and yelling, telling me "NO - don't turn on the TV! NO!" I explained that I was turning on his show for him. "NO! NO TV!" Ok, so I turned it off. Then he started screaming - NO, you don't WANT TO TURN IT OFF!!! NOOO. Sigh. This is a no-win situation here. I left if off for a minute and then he let me turn it back on. He still didn't have a shirt on, so I asked him if he wanted his shirt. "NO! NO SHIRT!" Ok, so put the shirt down. Another fit of rage - NO - I WANT MY SHIRT! So I picked it up. NOOOOO. You get the point. Socks on, socks off. I'm supposed to stand here....I'm supposed to go away. I shouldn't look at him...why aren't you looking at me? I want breakfast....NOOOOO FOOD. Etc etc.

After 10 minutes of this crazy monster Eli, he reverts back to nice Eli and we carry on with our day. As you can imagine, on the days when I have to wake him up so we can immediately leave somewhere, we don't have very good mornings. :)