Who are we?
hard times
Sure, we all know she’s cute, but Claudine is now well into her 2s and with that comes the inevitable shift from sweet, quiet baby, to typical toddler antics, some of which have been hard to adjust to. For the past month, there have been lots of screaming, wrestling into the stroller, general whiny-ness, and a whole lot of “Nooo!”. If there is one thing I have a hard time dealing with as a parent, it’s the whining and now I have two whiners in the house, sometimes in stereo.
So a few things have been going on with Claudine. First, her sleep had gone to crap though it seems to have improved in the last week. For over 2 years, she slept peacefully and was the easiest thing to put to bed for night and naps. There was never any sleep training with her - we just plopped her in, she flipped over onto her stomach, stuck her thumb in her mouth and that was that. It was comical how easy it was. For a little while after storytime, kisses and hugs, she would go turn off the light herself, standing on her tiptoes to reach the switch. She would then stand there with her head bowed down, eyes closed with fake snoring noises as she pretended to go to sleep while standing, then open one eye, laugh and walk over to her crib. But something snapped about a month ago and we felt like we were dealing with an infant again. Suddenly, she was waking up at night and shouting that she wanted to sleep in our bed. Suddenly, she was crying, sometimes hysterically, when we put her in at night because she didn’t want to go to sleep. We didn’t know what to do. She never woke up at night once she learned to sleep though the night at 4 months, not even once. So what the hell?? Why now?
And her picky eating habits? Terrible as usual. Her 4 food groups still consist of cheddar bunnies, yogurt, cereal/milk and any processed meat product like sausage, bacon, salami, hot dogs or chicken nuggets. French fries are her best friend, as is chocolate when she can get her hands on it, but dinner usually consists of her circling around the dinner table while the rest of us are eating and then maybe, just maybe sitting down after 15 minutes of cagey procrastination. Some of you might be interested to know that her constipation has gotten a lot better, but we are potty training so it’s not like things in the waste department are filled with happy dances these days since the still-empty sticker chart on the bathroom wall is like a constant reminder of our failure (was it this hard with Mia? I don’t really remember).
All this to say, it’s a good thing she’s so funny and cute or else I might be tempted to throw myself out the window one of these days in frustration. Her behavior is no different than any other 2 year old. I know this and it all comes with the territory, living with a toddler as she grows into a kid. It’s not all chubby cheeks, cute faces and pretty dresses. Like she saids in her own words when I kiss those cheeks and tell her that she’s delicious - “I’m not delicious! I’m a person!” Okay then, Miss C. I guess you are.
