Asklemmy

Yes. For one, the older they get the more independent they get. When they're little its like you gotta lug around like 2 large bags and a playpen if you wanna just like go to someone's house. Eventually you don't need the playpen, then two bags becomes one bag, then the large bag becomes a small bag and then they can just carry their own little backpack if they need any personal items.

In a couple years, prob when he's between 4 and 5, if you need to go anywhere, you can just be like "let's go!" And he will put on his shoes, put on his coat, run out to the car, open the door, jump in his carseat, buckle his seatbelt, and be ready. This is very fun.

If he is a 2 year old boy, there's a good chance he will still be in diapers, so not changing diapers is a big QOL improvement.

2 yo can be very challenging. Take him to the park where he can run off all that energy. He will chill out. My oldest son was extremely challenging when he was that age. He was impulsive, destructive, unpredictable. If he wasn't in the room with you he was painting the carpet with nail polish. If we invited people over for dinner, he would grab whatever was laying out on the dinner table and break it. He quick grabbed cellphones and immediately dropped them in classes of water, he would grab your glasses off your face and just break them in half. He destroyed multiple baby gates within seconds. But I just took him to the park in the morning, let him run, tried not to be too hard on him despite being sometimes incredibly frustrated. Told him I loved him every day, sang him to sleep. He chilled out, and now he's a hard working, committed young man. He's still a pain in the ass, but he's a good guy, I love him and trust him.

It gets easier but it gets more complicated. Some of the issues that can come up around age 11-13 are not easy. But its also my favorite age, because they become like self aware in a way that they weren't before. They develop little identities, but they're still kids. But this process, esp around other kids going through it can be really difficult. Teenage years can be difficult, even if they're not rebellious and chaotic, they become very self absorbed and it feels like they're slipping away. This also changes with time, and it has its own rewards watching them mature into young adults.

Parenting never gets easy, but those young years when they are so dependent on us are the most like labor intensive, and the labor is very like "make sure you have all of the 500 things you need for them in order to leave the house." Make time for your self and your partnership if there is still a partner in the picture. Ask for help if possible from relatives. Don't lose yourself and don't let your partner (if there is one) lose themselves either. Strive for balance over happiness. The happiness will come if there's balance, and it gets easier to find balance as they become more independent. But ironically, with independence comes strong ambivalence, not necessarily like happiness.

Hang in there dad, you got this