Monday, September 22, 2008

Testing, one, two, three...

If the two's are terrible, then the three's are hell on Earth.

Suddenly my very sweet, rule abiding, eager to please daughter has discovered the power of "no". It's her answer to everything. And oh, are we ever testing our boundaries. Suddenly she has strong opinions about everything. For example, her clothes. She has decided that she will only wear her mushroom shirt (ugly), her whale shirt (too small), her Buzz Lightyear T-shirt or her crayon T-shirt (too cold!). And blue pants (jeans, none of which stay up on her skinny little waist). And this includes bedtime as well. Now that it is starting to turn cold outside our house is always a good ten degrees cooler inside than out. It definitely calls for warm, footie pajamas, especially for the one who doesn't sleep under any covers. But no, every night we battle it out over her right to sleep in whichever short sleeve T-shirt (and no pants) she has on. And there is no logic in what her preferences are. She has two identical pairs of pajamas, except that one has dinosaurs and one has lambs. Well, she loves the dino ones and, in her words, "I hate those sheep ones!". As anyone who has ever tried to reason with a toddler knows, well, you just can't. She even has opinions about my clothes now She disapproves of my grey fleece shirt that I like to wear with my fat pants. She tells me to take it off. She won't even come near you if you have that "stupid princess blankie" on you. She despises it with every fiber of her being, despites how soft it is.

For the first time she is starting to have real temper tantrums. Not the meltdowns that she has always had when something freaks her out or upsets/ scares her. No, these are just seriously pissed off, I'm not getting my own way, temper tantrums. Right now I am still mildly amused by them, if only because they are so unlike her normally sweet, passive disposition and also that this behavior is just so wonderfully normal for a toddler/ preschooler. But I suspect it's going to get old pretty quickly.

And then there's the brazen disregard for rules. Like how I told her to keep her beach sand in the box and try not to get it on the floor, only to find her with a handful of it, slowly letting it trickle out on to the rug not 30 minutes later. I told her that I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she just forgot. This time. We know she's testing her boundaries and what she can get away with, and we know that our responses to these situations are really critical to shaping her behaviors down the road. We feel like we're ahead so far, but not by much. And she's gaining. And she may be smarter, or at least more clever and devious than we gave her credit for.

We have never really had to baby proof our house because she never got into things. And even when she did really start to explore, she was still pretty good about respecting the rules of what was off limits. But lately I never know what condition I'm going to find her bedroom in when I go in after a nap. Dresser ransacked, clothes everywhere, dirty laundry put away in its place, dozens of hair "pretties" around the necks of stuffed animals and stuffed into small containers, band aids and diapers scattered all over, sticker tags from new outfits stuck all over furniture... and today a small bottle of (fortunately) clear, sparkle nail polish opened (a month ago she couldn't even open a large jar with a loose lid!) and a quarter sized blob of it stuck on the rug. And an entire vial of fish food gone ("Doggie ate it", Hmm, didn't think Doggie knew how to open jars either). This was supposed to be two year old behavior, and we'd thought we'd gotten off easy.

I've decided that Corinne is basically just 6 months to a year behind her same-aged peers, and that for better or for worse she'll start doing "it" (whether "it" be talking, riding a bike, playing with a certain kind of toy, or just being a brat) soon enough. And while I do long for the return of my "sweet angel girl" at times, I also have a certain degree of respect for the stubborn, strong-willed, playfully mischievous personality that is emerging. Now check with me in a a couple more weeks and we'll see if I still feel that way!

6 comments:

Cameron said...

Way to get into things, Corinne! Andrea, stay strong, and stand your ground. If nothing else, you're still bigger!

Anonymous said...

I knew it. The minute she starts school, she falls in with the wrong crowd and picks up their bad habits.

erinlesko said...

A fashion critic you say? Well, I guess it's time for you to trade in the gray fleece for some Dino PJs. By they way, what does the wee one have to say about Pete's choice of attire? Or Seven's?

June said...

Oh my, this is too funny. I can just picture her tearing up her room.
Sorry Andrea, I know this is tough on you and Pete right now, but you have such a wonderfully curious child.
And good for you, Corinne. You're just exploring your environment and testing the boundaries.
Andrea, keep up the blogging. It's a highlight of my day when you write.
June
June

Meghan said...

emma insists on wear her jeans to bed too. Even though they are dirty, sandy, and sometimes still wet from playing out side.

I don't know why 3 year olds hate pj's but they sure do.

Anonymous said...

Just PRAY she doesn't decide to have a very special tea party in her room like Miss Maeve did..