Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Oh No!

I had heard about the terrible twos. In fact I was told the terrible threes are worse. I was not then prepared for the terrible 16 monthses. Our dear sweet little one has discovered the power of the word “No.”

She now says “no” approximately a four billion times a day: in the car, out shopping, having breakfast, having dinner, playing with her dolls or her cell phone, getting dressed, changing her diaper, getting up in the morning, or just when the mood strikes her. And the mood strikes her quite often.

Now I realize that even at this tender age children begin to assert their independence and test boundaries. What I hadn’t realized was how crazy this makes mommy. It seems no matter what I do my little angel has turned into a mule. (I’m being polite here). In the morning: “Its time to get up honey”. “No!” (while she rolls away out of my reach). At home getting a snack out of the cupboard: “No!” In the evening feeding her dinner “Nonononononono!” At night getting in our jammies “Nooooooo!” *sigh* Is it wrong to want to gently throttle your little one on occasion?

The problem is that sometimes the “no’s” are so stinking cute you can’t help but want to laugh. As with many things in a child’s life I think this is God’s plan – make them cute so you won’t hurt them. So, for now I do one of three things… 1) take a “hard line” stance such as “Cora, this is what we’re having for dinner – this is not up for discussion”, 2) turn my head so she won’t see me laughing, or 3) throw up my hands, give up and go get Daddy to let him work on it for a while.

God give me strength for the twos and threes to come…