The terrible twos

There is no doubt that we have reached an age of defiance and a search for independence. Lily continues to want to do things herself...except when she doesn't. She'll let you know. And then she'll probably change her mind about a dozen or so times in the process. Most of the time she wants things that are not humanly possible. For example, she often wants to make a try on the potty and wants my assistance in helping her get onto the potty but then immediately says "No mommy!" because she does not want me to hold her while she is on the potty. If I could just move faster than the speed of light maybe our problems would be solved. When she decides that she wants something, it has to be right now, like I should have sensed her desires and then had it before her immediately upon request. As Carl would jokingly say, "Get used to disappointment, kid."

Our current struggles are rather humorous, really. She craves yogurt like no other. Last night we went to bed with her screaming all the way because she wanted a fourth yogurt in about a 3 hour period. Sorry, there are limits, even with the healthy stuff. Also, no matter how many times we reiterate that we only take one vitamin a day, she will insist that she needs more. Of course, there are the continual reminders about being gentle with the doggies, not feeding the doggies, not playing with mommy's and Aunt Ingrid's computers, not playing with our phones, not touching cords, the tv, etc. - normal toddler stuff.

The fact of the matter, though, is that I honestly love this period of discovery. Even the continual testing of limits (and nerves) is all an attempt to figure out the world and how to operate within it. Just tonight she said the following:

- As we were getting the mail after school/work, she said, "Mama, I'm sick. I need medicine." Where that came from, I'm not sure, but I love that she has figured out the purpose of medicine. That deeper level of understanding is so cool.

- When I was putting her diaper on after her bath, she put her finger on her left eye and said "My eyeball can't see." The eyeball part threw me, so I mistakenly said, "Your eyeball can see?" She repeated, "No mama, my eyeball CAN'T SEE!" I said, "Oh, your eyeball, can't see." She said yeah, then she moved her finger over her right eye and said "My other eyeball can't see." All I could do was laugh and say "You're right, baby, your eyeball can't see when you hold your eyelid closed."

At school, she keeps everyone laughing...and guessing. She once again was telling her teachers all about her baby sister, Annie, and how Annie sleeps in Lily's bed and how she cries and how we feed her. Clearly, she has gotten her wires crossed and has a vivid imagination. Annie is the baby sister of one of her classmates.

Lily's favorite word right now is probably "sompthin", which she uses a lot, usually in the sentence, "I need sompthin". She also requests "parrots" (pears) almost daily. It's really funny how you slip into the habit of adopting her language, like everyone should know that "yogi" is "yogurt".

So, terrible twos? - yes, maybe sometimes - but mostly terribly cute and completely lovable.