The "Not All Terrible" Twos

I have been feeling so terribly guilty about not blogging, I've decided I need to get back into the swing of things. I'm going to take a different approach and truly blog - not just about the fun things we take pictures of, but to try to capture all of the cute and not-so-cute moments that aren't necessarily on film. With that said, I'll do my best to quickly re-cap the past few months.

The week following Mia's birthday, my friend Megan asked if I'd noticed a change in her behavior. She noticed it with her son, and I told her I hadn't noticed it with Mia - "it" being what a lot of you know as the "terrible twos." THE VERY NEXT DAY following that conversation - no joke - "it" came crawling out from wherever "it" had been hiding. I'm talking a major shift in behavior. Tantrums, "NO," "I do it!," "Mine!" - we heard it all. And, so did perfect strangers. People in the mall or in the grocery store would say, "hi there, aren't you cute!" only to be met with "NO! MY MOMMY!" Which made no sense - it wasn't like they were trying to take her from me. But, that's what she'd say. I'd just give a red-faced apology. It got to the point where I didn't want to take her out in public because I didn't know how she'd react to people. And, it wasn't just out in public. She was screaming in Little Gym, at play dates, etc. Now during all of this, she was cutting her two bottom 2-year molars. And, just when I'd had it and felt myself losing control of my toddler, the teeth came in and her personality switched back. Which begs the question - are the "terrible 2" behaviors related to teeth? In her case, it seems so. I just dread the top two teeth coming in.

This past month, she's been on her best behavior. She has a huge personality and is so much fun to be around. She gets excited about everything - especially swimming. I take her to the pool several times a week - she's even going completely under water now with me - and she's been at the lake house 4-5 times. She's even been tubing with me (yes, behind the boat - she sits in my lap and gives daddy the thumbs-up to make the boat go faster). We also went to the Isle of Palms with my family. It's 20 minutes outside of Charleston - one of my favorite cities. We had a house with a pool, which is key if you have a little one who naps because you can hang out at the pool while they sleep.

Mia is very affectionate. She loves to give hugs/kisses. And, she's very nurturing. She has a doll - Baby Ava, who she named after one of our neighbor's babies - and she feeds her, wraps her in her blanket, puts her to bed at night, walks her in her stroller, etc. She also likes to brush her teeth with real toothpaste and feed her food when we're not watching, so Baby Ava is constantly getting her face washed :)

Perhaps the biggest hurdle we crossed was POTTY TRAINING!!! After months of peeing in the car seat, in restaurant seats, at the playground, etc., she finally decided to go to the potty full-time. And, yes, it was a matter of her deciding. She got the potty thing the first week. But, if she was playing, or eating, or riding in the car/stroller and didn't want to get out, she'd just go in her pants. Finally, I threw in the flag and put diapers back on her. I calmly explained that if she was going to act like a baby and go in her pants, she'd have to wear diapers like a baby. And, I swear, I went to change her diaper three hours after I put it on her (we were in Richmond visiting friends), and it was completely dry. I said, "Mia! Your diaper is dry!" And, she said, "yea - I hold it. I go potty." And, off we went to the potty. It hasn't been a problem since. So, at 26 months, Mia was potty trained - and I was relieved (and proud - you go girl).