How to keep the terrible twos away

This weekend, Mike, Sophie and I travelled down to Lexington for a conference. We haven't taken Sophie on a trip for a while and I had feared the worst. However, it turns out that all the newness kept her so engaged she didn't have the chance to get enraged. She loved the hotels we stayed at, and during the day while her dad was off at the conference, we went to parks and the kids' museum. She was a model child. Even sleeping in different beds or cribs didn't phase her much. In fact, she slept better in the hotel rooms that had the industrial curtains that kept the light out (note to self, check out new curtains for Sophie's room). We just might extend an invitation to her for next year if we go back.

best dinner ever!

We found this cute Mexican restaurant we decided to try. By the time we got there, Sophie had fallen fast asleep in her carseat--she skipped her nap. We deliberated on what we should do, this isn't a problem we've ever had before. I decided we should go ahead and take her in. Since we were early, nobody else was there, so there wasn't much noise. We asked for a booth and laid her down next to me. The food came out quickly and was fantastic. Sophie never budged. Mike and I actually talked like real adults and I didn't have to force feed a small wiggly child on my lap. The waitress wasn't very good, but I left her a generous tip just because we enjoyed ourselves so much and the food was crazy cheap. When we left, Sophie woke up. Everybody felt rejuvenated.

Melt Down

Give me a binkie, I want a binkie. NO! Nooooooo! Don't give me a binkie, I wanna get my OWN binkie. Nooo! NOT on the left, on the RIGHT--I wanna pick it up from the RIGHT!!! No! NO NO NO! Why are you doing this? I don't want the binkie at all now! You've ruined it! Why do you hate me? I want a blueberry! I want more milk! DON'T TAKE MY MILK CUP! That's my milk cup! Why would you take my milk cup look what you've done you've made me throw myself on the ground and now i'm on the ground WHY????????? WHY won't you give me a blueberry? I just want a blueberry. NO!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T give me the blueberry, I wanna get the blueberry myself. I wanna put my hand in the bag. UGH! Ucky! My hand is gucky! Why did you let me get my hand gucky? Now you've made me throw myself on the-- DON'T PICK ME UP! Why would you pick me up? Why would you even think of doing such a--now I'm on the floor again, you let me get on the floor again WHY? Why--YOU'RE LAUGHING AT ME!!!!! I see your smile. DON'T SMILE!!!! You make me roll around on the floor and i'm gonna get ucky and it's all your fault i just wanna BINKIE BINKIE! Gimme BINKIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!don't you don't you even dare you're PICKING ME UP!! THIS IS EGREGIOUS! AAAAAAAAARGH!!!!! WHY DO YOU HATE ME WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TOO ME WHAT DO YOU--

Oh look, a bubbly bath.

How lovely. Yes please, ha ha ha ha!

melt down over not flushing

Sophie lost it this morning in a near-total meltdown because I forgot to let HER flush the toilet. Just as I was flushing, she ran over yelling, "My flush!!!" I tried to let her flush again, but apparently it was too late--the good stuff was gone. She burst out crying. Her dad managed to distract her with something else before she totally lost it. Who knew that flushing was so important?

laser-like focus produces many small turds

Potty training, I think, has as much to do with the adults as the child learning to use the potty. Watching the child sit on the pot for many minutes a day, sometimes with no results, is a challenge. The path of least resistance is to keep the child in diapers and not deal. But recently, Sophie's decided diapers are lame and she'd prefer to be without them so getting diapers on her has become a wrestling match. She doesn't understand that no diapers and no potty are incompatible. As the adult, I decided I need to get serious again about getting Sophie out of diapers. So tonight, I put her back on the toilet. We sat and sat and sat. Then mostly out of boredom, I turned the water facet on to see if that would help. Immediately, she focused in on the water and her face started turning red. I heard the joyous noise of a few small turds splashing down. I turned the water off, thinking that was the end of it. Noooo, Sophie wanted that water right back on. I turned it on and she stared at it intensely, dropped a couple more turds and peed. Victory. Is this the beginning of the end of diapers or merely a false hope?

let's call a spade a spade

Every day from school, Sophie gets a mini-report card, summing up her day, what she ate, when she slept, how she felt. I look forward to reading these when I pick her up so I have some idea of what she's been doing. Today I laughed when I read her report: "Pushing the boundaries of sharing--taking duplicates of what she had and saying, 'mine too.'" What a diplomatic way to say your child was greedy today.

Me, myself and I

It's been interesting watching Sophie's speech develop. For the last several months, she uses "my" for I or me. Just today, for the first time, I heard her use "me" correctly. Oddly, she still doesn't quite have her name down. She'll call herself Tegel (sometimes), but responds to Sophie (sometimes). What a curious sense of self.