Terrible Twos. It's a “No, No, No” experience for everyone.

The dictionary defines it as a stage of development in which toddler behavior is a

particular challenge.You think!?

Why hello terrible twos....we've been waiting for you! Yes, it's true my child did not skip "the terrible twos" like I had hoped she would.:) In the last few weeks she has reminded me very often that she is two and can do everything on her own and does not appreciate at all being told "no." Oh my, where did my little innocent babe go?? She is still is just as sweet as ever, just a tad more challenging now!:) And I thought it was hard to chase around a one year old who liked to get into everything, little did I know! I think this is the hardest stage so far because discipline is such a huge part of it and it is exhausting! Luke and I are determined to do our best every day to help her become a good person. She is such a strong willed, very active,inquisitive little girl who is full of personality. Nothing she does is calm, mild or quiet, so you can imagine this stage! Just to give you an idea and to help me remember when she is 16, here are some examples of what happened in our day today:

I make her pancakes, she says thank you very sweetly and sits down to eat breakfast. Next thing I know there is a very unhappy, screaming little girl who is about to knock her plate to the floor until I threaten a time out and she gives it to me instead. Long story short and many tears later, I determine it was all because she needed a "big girl" fork like mommy's. Once she got that, she was thrilled to eat her now cold pancakes!

Later on in the morning she asks me to watch Dora with her. I turn it on and then she asks for Mickey Mouse, I change the show. She throws herself to the floor as if shot and bawls. What in the world?? Once she can redeem herself well enough to talk she lets me know, in her toddler gibberish, that she wants to watch Mouse and Dora at the same time. Of course, why didn't I think of that! I inform her that the TV will only play one at a time and she will have to pick one, another small tragedy has occurred now. She becomes so angry with both Dora and Mouse that we can no longer speak their names. Nice.

We load up and go to Target to get a few things. While in the basket she randomly throws(i mean throws hard, not just a little toss) her sippy cup across the store. I go pick it up and tell her if she does that again she will be in trouble. She looks at me, and then throws it even further. Then the best part, leans over and spanks herself! Wow. I was so taken back and trying not to laugh. She then got a real spanking and there was no more cup throwing. :)

We get home and I am unloading groceries, I look over at her in the kitchen and she has my purse on her shoulder, chewing my gum, wearing my hospital name badge and drawing with a sharpie marker on her hand. OMG!

The rest of the day looks similar, needless to say, this mommy is WORN out by bedtime. :)

To make up for all of the "twoness" I get to hear many times a day "wuv you", "mommy, watch me!", "mommy, come ere"(as she pulls my hand and drags me to the rocker where she wants to be rocked) and "mommy, I baby" ( wanting me to hold her like a baby and feed her the pretend bottle.)

I wouldn't trade a second of any of it! I just love her to bits, the trantrums and the sweetness. I know it won't be like this for long and one day I will look back laughing and wishing she was two again.

On a side note, she had a great day at MDO on Tuesday. She had cried every day until this week. Yay! I was so relieved to see her happier and more adjusted to it. Her teacher says she minds so well and never needs to be told twice. What in the world?? :)