Terrible twos

Terrible twos

Mine! Mine! Mine! It’s not the imagination of the parents of toddlers: They really do lose it and throw tantrums over irrational things. But it’s normal, say experts on child psychology. A big reason: Toddler brains, particularly the frontal lobe, still are developing skills for planning, logic, reasoning, memory and self-control (Page D2).

Experts advise that the next time your toddler throws a tantrum, remind yourself that he or she is functioning with the equivalent brain development of a member of Congress.

Hoop dreams: Just back from a trip to North Korea, heavily tatted ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman says the reclusive nation’s leader doesn’t want war with the U.S. — he just wants President Barack Obama to give him a call (Page A2). Rodman says Obama and Kim Jong Un share a love of basketball, so “let’s start there.”

So there you go, Mr. President: Simply hook up Kim with a courtside seat next to Jack Nicholson at the Staples Center, and your second Nobel Peace Prize is in the bag.

Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1863, the Idaho Territory was created, spanning nearly all of present-day Idaho, Montana and Wyoming (Today in History, Page A2).

Texas, concerned it would lose its status as biggest state, took Idaho aside and told it that all that Montana was making its Butte look big.

—Jon Bauer and Mark Carlson, Herald staff