Trials and Triumphs of the Terrible Twos

I have to say that being a Mom to a "2" year old is every bit as tough... and fun... as everyone says! My days feel very full with WAITING (it takes forever to go anywhere or do anything with a toddler who insists on doing EVERYTHING by herself!), WORRYING (am I doing this parent-thing ok?), WISDOM (praying for it constantly), WARNING (be careful, don't stand in that chair! don't touch! hot! you have to hold my hand in the street!!!), WALLOWING (oh, being a mommy is such a tough job, Jake has no idea how tough I really have it... poor me! :-)), WATCHING (my baby become a little girl), WISHING (that I could freeze time so she could stay little, but then sometimes that I could push fast forward and get through this "tough" stage)... and WONDERING (at all of the little miracles and gifts along the way)! A few glimpses of our recent days...

1. I tell Abby pretty regularly that she makes me happy... a few times this week, she told me "Abby happy making".

2. A new CD we have been listening to in the car puts Scripture to music for kids & Abby's favorite song is "Be Patient with everyone" from 1 Thessalonians 5:14. She sings "patience" all day long. The song lasts only 15 seconds... the moment is it over she says, "Mommy, more patience"... and if any other song is playing, she insists over and over, "Mommy, patience"... I can't overlook the irony that she so impatiently insists on hearing a song about patience. I have had to keep the "repeat" function on that song for over a week now... ughh, I need more patience.

3. She melts my heart when she says with her little drawl, "more kisses," and then, "more side" (as she turns her face so that I can kiss the other side).

4. Lately, she has been telling Daddy in the morning as he kisses her on the way out the door, "Mommy, more side"... to make sure Mommy gets a kiss from Daddy too.

5. She loves baby dolls & has a growing collection, all named "baby" until recently when she started calling one of them "more baby". Well, "more baby" is an older doll, perhaps an antique, and her head came off the other day. Even after Popop fixed it, she nearly runs away from it, as if fearful of her. And she repeats over & over throughout the day, "baby boken."

6. I went to pick her up at the gym "kids club" last week & was momentarily horrified to discover that her brand new Stride Rite tennis shoes were missing & had been replaced by a beaten up pair of purple knock-off crocs that I had never before seen & that did not even fit her! After searching around, I uncovered her new shoes & had her put them on. Just then, one of the kids clubs "teachers" walked by & said, "oh there are so & so's crocs!" Apparently, another kid's mom had to take her child home without shoes because they could not find them. They never thought to look on Abby's feet! But now she has a reputation...

7. Daddy tells Abby "adios muchacha" when he leaves. Now Abby tells him "bye-bye chacha"

8. She surprised me last week with her first complete sentence... "I want more popcorn". It has been quickly followed up by a litanty of sentences with a very predictable consistency.... "I want down Mommy (out of the cart at the store)"... "I want MMs Mommy" "I want seche (leche for milk)"...

9. She is making big strides in potty training, all on her own initiative. On the advice of a friend who has 3 older children, I had decided not to attempt potty training until after Abby got settled with the new baby. However, we have had a potty sitting in her bathroom for almost a year & she knows what it is for. In the last few weeks, she has been telling me "potty" &, most of the time, she goes & she cheers & claps excitedly for herself! Today, she had a major milestone... for the first time, poopy in the potty! I expected major cheering, but got a crying fit instead. She was so distraught by the sight of it in the potty, she could not be happy. For 5 minutes, I tried to calm her down enough to cheer for her, but she could not hear a word I said.... it makes sense that might be a frightful experience for the first time...

10. Lady! I admit, in frustration, I exclaimed "lady!" when a lady irritated me in traffic yesterday. Well, as you probably guessed, my little backseat driver now says "lady!" quite frequently as we drive along.

11. Kitchen help abounds! There are probably grooves in my wood floor in the kitchen where Abby pushes her little chair all around the counter to be in the middle of whatever I am doing. Last night, she added hamburger meat (cooked thankfully) to my homemade salad dressing & seasoned Daisy's food on the back porch with the entire contents of a brand new jar of sesame seeds.

12. Detours, detours, detours... ughh! We can't go anywhere without thousands of little detours! This is probably my biggest challenge right now. I feel like I spend more than half my day waiting on an almost 2-yr-old to decide to come along... Just getting to the car, I have to intercept her at least 5 times in the house, prying things out of her hands that we do not need to take in the car (b/c we already have 30 other unnecessary things from the prior few days still littering the floor of the car under her seat)... then I have to convince her that Daisy does not need more food (she has already fed Daisy at least once)... and drag her away from playing with Daisy, then wait for her to climb into the car by herself, argue with her about getting into the car seat, wait for her to buckle it herself, all the while fussing at me if I even look while she does the buckling... boy, it takes all of the patience I have & more to remain calm... so I sing to myself, "Be patient with everyone..." it's not so much the everyone, but this little one, that I need patience for (oh, and that "lady!" daring to cross my path in traffic). It's clear that God often uses indirect avenues to reach me with the truth/lessons that I need... even through the song preferences of a toddler! :-)