So guess what? I don’t know if it’s because she’s entering a phase of self-actualization or that my baby girl is actually not the docile, sweet little sugarmuffin we all thought she was but she’s recently started to develop an OPINION on everything.
Not that I have anything against having an opinion because hey, I’ve got lots of those in case you haven’t already noticed. One time, I had to eat an entire raw carrot because of an opinion that turned out to be rather erroneous so let’s just say that I don’t get judgey on opinionated people. No, it’s because my mild-mannered child has taken to screaming those opinions at the top of her lungs. Usually at me.
See, there once was a time where she would smile and accommodate all the demands of her big brother. She was the perfect complement to her brother’s rather more angsty personality, the yin to his yang. She was momma’s easy baby.
Not anymore though.
At first, I thought it was still part of her Terrible Two phase, but she’s since outgrown those unreasonable screaming fits that cannot be pacified. These days, she puts up a very convincing argument of why she needs to have things her way. In place of all that frustration is a sort of confident understanding that she’s entitled to an opinion and is determined to flaunt it to the world.
Part of asserting her independence requires her to be in a constant state of disagreeableness.
“Sweetie, it’s time to bathe!”
“NO!”
“Mei mei want to play trains with me?”
“NO!”
“Give mommy a kiss?”
“I SAID NO!”
“Want ice-cream?”
“NO…um, yes.” (very reluctantly and only because ice-cream is as of right now, the object of her heart’s greatest desire)
She’s learning to tell her brother off in typical wannabe-big-sister fashion. “NAUGHTY BOY KOR KOR, YOU MUST PICK UP THE TOYS. U WANT NAUGHTY CORNER???”
She’s coming up with increasingly peculiar demands like I’m not supposed to put her soup in the orange bowl, it’s got to be the pink one. She has to feed herself and walk around drinking from a proper cup even though she spills about 78% of the water on my living room floor. “I WANT THE CUPPPPPPPP”, she’d yell and should I decide to challenge her autonomy, she goes into gorilla-face mode and lets out the mother of all screams. Which she stops promptly the moment she gets her way.
In a way, I’m glad that she’s listening to reason but I’ve since come to realize that an-almost-two-year-old’s idea of reasoning involves a very bizarre set of rules that mostly involve them getting their way BECAUSE I WANT IT NOW.
It’s a little tough to argue with that.
2 Comments
Always funny to read… When it’s not your own kid. :P
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I’m having my fair share of the impending terrible twos with my 21 month old tot as well. I wished I had a remote control to mute her once she starts her screaming fits when she doesn’t get what she wants. And don’t even get me started on her emotional blackmail with tears!
But reading about Kristen’s bossiness with her brother is so funny!
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