The Terrible Twos have come to town!

So my baby girl turned 2 on December 2nd.  We had a wonderful "Dora-themed" party which included a cake in the image of her favourite TV character.  The guests followed suit with many Dora-inspired gifts and overall it was a wonderful day.

As 2 was approaching for our little Leah I have to admit that I was noticing the things that we seemed to breeze past with Cooper - namely the things associated with the Terrible Twos.  Most notable would be the emergence of the temper tantrum.  There was a stretch there in the early Fall when I believe Leah spent more time in melt-down-mode than she did eating or playing.  Just the slightest adjustment or alteration to her schedule could send her off like a rocket.

And she she cries, she really commits.  No matter what we do the kid can cry...and cry...and CRY!  And not the wimpery little stuff...my husband once described the sound as compared to what it would sound like if you were skinning her.  Awful!

Unfortunately this meant that for a short amount of time I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy my time with Leah and I found myself leaving her at daycare until the last possible second so that all I'd have was about an hour before we started bathtime.  I wanted to like her...I kept looking for the littlest things but the truth was she stressed us out.

Leah seems to be building a bit of a Dora collection!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

The terrible twos have arrived!

This is when the rubber really starts to hit the road in parenting.  As much as it would have been easier to let her eat a cookie for dinner or to just plunk her in front of the TV we had to hunker down, be firm and remain consistent.  Every time she screamed because she didn't get her way she was asked to go sit in time-out on the step.  After a while she would go there willingly and we'd all calm down and regroup.  I can already see that the outbursts are lessening and the harmony of our dinner hour is being restored.  That's not to say that things are without flaws - just moving in that direction and sometimes all you need is that little glimmer of hope to keep doing what you're doing.