My daughter is two and a half now, and people keeping asking me if she is going through the terrible twos yet, even before she turned two random people would tell me that the "terrible twos' are coming.  It made me a bit nervous because I worried that it would be really bad and the first year was difficult enough.  But, instead of terrible it's just wonderful!  So here are a few of things I love about this age:

1. She is communicating better and actually says I love you mommy without being       prompted.
2. I can reason with her, and she understands.
3. The way she mimics us
4. Her mischevousness - OK 80% of the time I love it - sometimes it's too much
5. Her independence
6. Playing hide and seek & tag
7. The conversations - she's two going on twenty
8. Making snow angels
9. The once in a while mid-night call for hugs (If it was every night it wouldn't be so sweet)
10. Looking at the world through her eyes.

This stage is not just fun and games, it's challenging b/c she is really testing us.  She wants her independence so everything takes a lot more time.  She is sometimes stubborn and throws a tantrum.  She doesn't always do what I want her to do.  She sometimes invades other people's space and takes other kids toys.  She gets very frustrated when she is trying to communicate and we don't understand.  But it's not terrible, it's all a part of being a two year old.  I try to correct her behaviour, teach her to share and respect boundaries, but most of all at this stage I'm just loving the sweet little girl I get to hug and kiss everyday.

We share the challenges, so let's also share the good.  What are the things you just love about the toddler stage?

My sweet Ever is 19 months old, and can communicate very clearly with us, in 2-3 word sentences.  She is friendly with even people she has just met, and loves meeting new people all the time. 

She talks about people who are not present, and remembers people whom she has only seen once.  She remembers details about people, like how they look, and what objects they carry with them, and recalls them to me often as we are going to sleep at night, and lying in the dark.  I find it really interesting to see what her thoughts are about when she is not receiving visual cues, and as her mind settles down for sleep.

She knows all her numbers and letters, both upper and lower case, by sight, and can name them when she sees them.  She even knows some of the sounds the letters make!  She can sight read a few easy words like dog, cat, and baby, and count almost to 10, habitually, for some reason, skipping the numbers 5 and 10. 

She learned recently to do a forward roll all by herself!  She has made several pees and poops in her potty, and was so proud of herself.  I don't want to push any of these early activities, but I make a huge deal over all of them when they are happening, so she knows that I heartily approve of all her special developments.

This is, indeed, a very exciting and rewarding time for Ever's family!  I feel so blessed by her presence in my life.  :-)

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Spiral out!!!

Sylph

spiralsylph@gmail.com

 

My daughter Aliyah is turning 2 in two weeks and I love being her mother more and more every day.  She is very expressive and uses her words to convey what she's thinking.  The best part about that is that out of no where, she will say "I love you so much mommy".  I don't think there's anything better than that!  She talks about what we did yesterday, or at the park, or at the store and she'll even recall facts from last week!  I love that she tries to copy everything I do, and she enunciates words in the exact same way I do.  (I have to be super careful with what and how I say it.) She challenges us and throws temper tantrums, but she gets that she will be punished in time outs for inappropriate behaviour.  I'm also able to negotiate with her most of the time which I love because it shows what an independent little person she really is.

Just this week, I've come to the realization that I would love to have another one.

We'll see what the future brings:)  But one thing's for sure- children do get better with age!