Parenting a Toddler...

I always thought "the terrible twos" were just a figment of the imagination - an excuse used by bad parents when their children are misbehaving. Brooklyn isn't quite two yet (her 2nd birthday is in a week) but I am now a firm believer in the "terrible twos". It must be because she can't communicate all that well yet - although, a well-timed fit can say much more than simple words do. Maybe it is because she needs to test her boundaries to reassure herself that she is in a safe environment - how does one make a "safe environment" for a rambunctious two-footer? Nah, I think she just enjoys watching our many reactions to her antics - we laugh, we cry, we scream, we count to ten, we tremble in fear, we laugh, we cry, we scream...
This has been one of those days - we have been riding a roller-coaster with our precious little angel all day. It started out this morning. First thing she does when she wakes up is PLAY. And I should mention that she is quite serious about her playtime. Her favorite thing is her stuffed animals, puppies in particular. She got some new ones (thanks Grammy and Grandpa E.) and she won't put them down for anything. One of the puppies was on the floor and she saw it, grabbed it up in her arms and said "Hay dere puppeeee!" (translated "hey, there puppy"). Her first sentence!!! So precious. Oh, so cute. Of course, her first sentence was proclaimed to an inanimate object and I might have missed it if I hadn't been in the room but cute is cute, even if she won't say more than "No", "Mio" (spanish for mine) or "MMMM... mm-mm-mmm" to me. But then we had to leave the house and the puppy had to stay home and suddenly the darling "hay dere puppeee" slipped my memory as I was struggling to buckle her into her stroller. I swear she hides some extra limbs somewhere or has super powers or something - how else would a 30 pound kid nearly overtake two grown adults? The only way to keep this little beast happy is with a box of raisins and a cup of milk and then - suddenly - she's tranquil again and waving at the guard and pointing out all the "pupeees" on the street. After school and a nap - we love naptime - we wanted to take a few pictures of our precious child to send to Grandpa E. for his birthday. No, she didn't want to sit here or smile or hold this or stay put or look at the camera.... We finally had to settle for a scowl. Gee, won't Grandpa want to hang that one up in his office. Actually, he probably will and people will laugh because "gee, isn't that the most ADORABLE little scowl you have ever seen?" Grandparents. Nuff said. Anyway, once that ordeal was over we went to the store. Parents of toddlers know: DANGER! DO NOT TRY TO TAKE YOUR TODDLER TO THE STORE. TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN BODILY HARM TO YOUR CHILD, YOURSELF, OR SOME INNOCENT BYSTANDER. Somehow we missed that in the manual. We were doing fine until we were at the register trying to pay. One cannot expect a toddler to hold still for a minute or two, so I took her out into the mall and sort of let her roam free...until she walked - no ran - into a crowd of people and I nearly lost her only to find her teetering on the edge of the escalotor. So I picked her up. RED LIGHTS FLASHING - DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PICK UP! That was when she pulled the "whole body go limp" maneuver. Hey, I'm well practiced in dealing with that one so when she saw I had nearly won she hit me with a new one, the "kick legs at supersonic speed and scream" maneuver. This move is particularly hard to deal with when being watched by a dozen people and she knew it. Okay, so I put her down...away from the escalators. Sean was taking a while to come out of the store and it occured to me that he might need some help so I tried to convince Brooklyn she needed to walk with me to the store. Let me tell you, if you want a toddler to do something say "No, don't you dare do that." But I forgot this cardinal law of toddler parenting and so, becuase of my foolish attempt to grab a hand, she ran. And kept running right into a glass wall. CRASH! Poor thing. But she let me pick her up after that. I knew she was okay so I was actually kind of giggling to myself - thinking, I guess I won that one - but I stopped because every person in the mall was looking at us. She was crying loudly and I was giggling. Don't think that made a good impression. At that moment, Sean came rushing out of the store in a tizzy and I thought he must of heard Brooklyn run into the glass and was concerned about what had happened but, no, he just hates shopping. Sean rushed out to the car to escape from shopping, I rushed out to escape the open stares of people watching what I'm sure they were thinking was an insane woman lugging her screaming child over her shoulder. Oh, but there is so much more to this day (just one day) with a toddler. Like the firm "no" that she says in response to each and every question that escapes our lips, or the dozen or so near catastrophes involving juice in a restaurant, or the screaming tantrums as regular as Old Faithful, the red crayon on the refrigerator, the absolute horror of trying to wash her hair, the six hundred times (just one day) that we say "where did Brooklyn go?"... But then she comes up to me and ever so sweetly, with adoration in her eyes gives me a kiss right on the cheek. She gathers up her blankie, a puppy, and scurries up into her bed. She giggles contentedly while we tuck her in. She says "Aman" after we say our bedtime prayers and offers us each one more nightime kiss. Yep, we are parenting a toddler. It is an adventure and not for the weak of heart but one can't help but fall in love with these little people. And when she is going beserk for some unknown, nearly unprovoked reason we are usually laughing behind our hands because yes, that little scowl is quite adorable.