Terrible Two's But Not Yet Two

Um, wow. I knew it had been a while since I blogged but wow. Novermber 8, 2009? I skipped over all of the holidays. Maybe that's why. So much was (is) going on!

Let's see... Thanksgiving, not much there. Haha... besides the turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, yams, ham.. you know, typical gooood Thanksgiving food. Christmas was nice. It was obviously a different expericence for her from Christmas 2008 since she's older. She looooved opening gifts. Tearing open wrappers or pulling tissue out... she loved it so much she almost never cared what the gift actually was. ALMOST. She even started to re-open gifts. So as she was opening gifts during the family party, I ould put them all in a gift bag that she already opened. Easier to carry to the car when we go home. Well once all was said and done, she still wanted something to open. So she started emptying out the gift bag I had just packed! Not to even see what's in there but more to just take stuff out. Oh and I have to point out, she's a neat gift opener too! we had a trash bag nearby so she put all her wrapping and tissues in the trash bag. That's my girl! After she got past the opening of gifts, then she wanted to open the toys. She got a lot of baby gifts (baby, stroller, etc) and loved it! She is quite maternal. Guess it's a girl thing. I remember being that way as a kid. Of course I was 5 and she's 20 months. Well 20 months and 2 weeks, but we'll say 19 weeks-ish during Christmas. Regardless, my point is she seems to me to be quite advanced.

I know all moms say it about their babies. But really, she is. When I pick her up from daycare, her teachers always tell me she's so smart. That it's amazing how much she can talk considering her age. Don't get me wrong, there are no full on sentences yet. But she can say a few words and you know what she means to say. She can say some small sentences, I guess, like, "Up please," "Down please," "Thank you," etc. Though her please sounds more like, peas. so very cute! She tells stories though you really need to know what she has experienced at that time or you wont know what she is saying. One day I picked her up from daycare and one of her teachers, Ana, told me that they hid the others teacher shoe. For those that don't know, teachers aren't allowed to wear shoes in the classrooms where there might be crawling babies. So Toni was telling me later, "Ana, shoe." So I said, "Oh, Ana hid the shoe?"

"Yah."

"Was it funny?"

"Yah."

"Did you laugh?"

"hahahahahaha!"

Heehee... I love when she laughs after I ask if she laughed. So she's fluently saying mommy and daddy and obviously, Ana. Her name is easy. The other teacher, Johnetta, not so much. So she doesn't say her name much. And when she does, it sounds all mumbled together. But she calls Rachelle, Ninang which is filipino for Godmother. Except she doesn't actually say Ninang. It's more like, Nina. And her Uncle Brian, she calls him Byan. She loves her Nina. She talks about her at least once a day. And usually with mention of "Nina" will be puppy and Byan.

She sings! Everyday we sing, "Do Re Mi" from sound of music. She can't quite sing the entire thing, but she gets bits and pieces in there. Definitely has the "Do-re-mi" part down. She's still dancing as much if not more than she has been. Seriously, she is so animated. Loves to sing, dance, talk, and is social! Today we were at Target and I had just changed her diaper. So we're walking out of the restroom and not far from the restrooms is an old man standing waiting for someone to finish checking out. We're just passing by him, but Toni walks right up to him and says, "Hi!" But he doesn't see or hear her for that matter. So I'm like, "Toni he didn't hear you, c'mon it's ok. Let's go." But she persists. Another quality. Persistent (like her mama) which can be both endearing and annoying. So stood there saying hi for the next what felt like eternity (maybe it was 2 minutes) and this old man can't hear her. People are watching her snickering that she really wants to get his attention. Finally he looks down (probably because he is wondering why I am crouched down in front of him) and notices Toni saying, "hi." So he finally smiles and returns the gesture. She seemed satisfied and then walks away with me. That was really interesting because she often stops people in their tracks to say hi. Most people will return the gesture. Some just keep walking and don't notice. She usually looks at those people like "what's wrong with them?" But if we are somewhere where we aren't walking away like in the checkout line, she will persist until she gets a response. So very social.

However, and more recently, I've noticed that she is also starting to fear a little. So we have our beloved dog, Jake. She loves Jake. All of a sudden maybe a month or less ago, she starts to fear him. And not always either. Just sometimes. Like if he happens to walk by (not even look at her) she'll freak. Even more so when he just sniffs her. She'll go crazy... sometimes! And other times she'll just look at him and say, "No, Jake!" Which sounds more like, no Je. People, she starts to fear some people. Very weird too considering she just says hi to strangers but an uncle of hers she hasn't seen in a while freaks her out. I think she is just getting to the stage where she is more aware and therefore fears some things.

And of course, the tantrums. I do believe the "terrible two's" start before two. All kids are different and so I hear before two, at three, at four... at two. Regardless, it happens. She throws more out-of-no-where fits than she ever did. I can tell her, "Toni don't touch that" and she will turn a complete 180 and throw herself down on the ground and scream and is my words turned into daggers and stabbed her... and in the middle of a store. Sigh... those are always fun. <--- Sense the sarcasm. She has cut many shopping trips short. And then the fight I have with her to get her to sit in her car seat. Quite difficult when she refuses to bend at the waist and arches her back. She even puts her ups up straight so it's hard to hold her under her arms. Sometimes her fits are of her bouncing and arms flapping while she cries. I should record that one day and save it to embarass her when she's older. Better yet, to show her when her child does that to her. Oh... maybe I did that? hahahaha! So I hear the "phase" will continue to get worse until they grow out of it. Lord, please grant me the patience for my child's own safety. hahaha! No really, it's amazing the amount of patience I've gained since being a mother.

Sleep at night? hahaha.. that's funny. So I gained patience to just wait until she would sleep so I could sleep. Rock her to sleep? I gained a lot of patience there too. When she was still and infant and I had to rock her to sleep, having to rock a baby for 30 mins seems like eternity. But then I'd put things in perspective. If I can be patient and just do it for 30 minutes, I'll probably have a good 4 hours of sleep at least. However if I try to put her down before the 30 minutes, I risk her waking up which then means, start over. So again, I gained patience there. So really I've gained quite a bit of patience in my 20 months and 2 weeks of motherhood. But I see that I am about to get to a more advanced level. Can I do it? Do I have a choice? Guess I'll have to blog about that in a later entry.

For your viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRhvXGwfLDI