surviving the "terrific" twos
Today, I have a two and a half year old. You know when your child is an infant and every day, week, or month that goes by is your favorite? Well, two is definitely NOT my favorite...I was told by my realtor that instead of calling it the "terrible twos", we needed to call it the "terrific twos" just so that this time in her life didn't leave us with a bad taste in our mouth. I'm trying. Really, I am. But, 6 months in to the "terrific" twos, I'm not really feeling it.Don't get me wrong. I absolutely adore my daughter. She is still and always will be the best thing in my life. She is at an age where she understands everything, can communicate exactly what she wants (even though it might take me 5 minutes to understand her), and can do so many more fun things. Just this past weekend, we took her to her first movie to see "Frozen" at our local $1 movie theater (awesome, right?!). She really did great and I absolutely loved watching her as much as the movie because her face just lit up with every song that came on. (We have been singing to YouTube videos, so we have been dying to actually see what happens after "Let It Go".)
And this weekend should be really fun as well with several Easter egg hunts, and her basket full of goodies (including the "Frozen" soundtrack)!So, really, I shouldn't exactly say this age is terrible. But it is really. freaking. hard. This is the age of whining and tantrums. It doesn't take much to set her off on a tantrum, usually because I'm not giving in to whatever she is wanting at that time. And the tantrums are only getting worse and more frequent. Yes, most of the time she is my little sweetie pie, but man, when she's upset, everyone in a 10 mile radius knows. (Thank goodness I work 20 miles from the babysitter...)
Disciplining is also getting more and more difficult because she just doesn't "get it". For example, last night, she was being a brat and hitting me (more on that in a second) and I yelled at her to "stop it" (her favorite phrase for the last 6 months). And what does she do? She laughs. So, of course, the awesome mama I am starts laughing too. Ugh. We put her in time out but she just doesn't understand exactly why yet.She's also jealous as all get out. She doesn't want anyone else getting the attention she feels she deserves, especially with me or Matt. We can't even touch any other baby without her going, "No! My mama!" Which, of course, freaks us out if we ever want another child. She has actually talked in her sleep saying, "No, Baby Hailey, No!" (Hailey is the baby who follows Kenna around everywhere at the babysitters.) I will admit she is getting better at sharing things with other kids, but sometimes it takes some convincing, and she's especially stubborn with sharing her Mama and Daddy.But, the thing that is making two more difficult than any other age so far is that MacKenna has become a hitter. At first, it was just hitting herself or banging her head against a floor or a wall when she got frustrated. This is fairly normal for kids her age, but it has gotten a little worse recently. She now hits Matt and me frequently. This gets her put in time out, but like I said, she doesn't quite get it and it surely doesn't stop her from hitting.
I didn't get really worried until Monday night, when she actually hit another kid at gymnastics. We immediately took her out of the gym and into another room to calm her down, but I'm afraid it's only going to get worse. What do I do? How do I fix this? You think as teachers, we could discipline our own child, but how do you explain to a two year old that they can't hit? She just doesn't get it.So, yeah, right now, we are just surviving. And I'm told 3 is worse than 2... Dear Lord, pray for us...