Louna, go to bed now. NON.
Let's go do the potty. NON.
Drink your milk. NON.
What happened to my sweet, ever obeying little Louna? Oh, not a big deal. She's simply growing up.
The terrible twos stage is not a new phenomenon. I knew that it will come and I'm prepared for it. The oppositional behaviour that she sports at the moment is simply her way to stress out her choices - her first approach to independence.
So how do we deal with it?
Bedtime - If she's watching her favorite cartoon movies, then we ask her to say goodbye to the characters because her Tetite (her fave stuff toy) is already waiting for her.
Potty time - Instead of imposing it to her, we ask her if she wants to go to the potty or not. We also tell her to inform us if she feels the need to go. The strategy seems to work.
Mealtime - We teasingly check her cup/plate and tell her Oh, there's still some on your plate so she's quite challenged and finish her meal.
In fact, at this age, toddlers have this need to disagree with their parents to express their choices independently. Some parents would force their kids to obey them without considering this important behavioral change their kids are going through. Toddlers would resist the more you force them. I think the best compromise is to find the best strategy that would work with each kid.
But wait, I'm no saint. She still gets her dose of Time Out Corner if needed.
Some people would seem to concentrate on this bad changes their kids are undergoing. I find it sad because there are a lot of other exciting changes and discoveries at this stage. I'd rather call this stage the Terrific Twos. Here's why:
She's expressing herself more clearly now. She starts to form sentences which is a joy to hear.
Il pleut (It's raining). Rainy days are back and she knows it. She touches her head at the same time when she says this phrase. Most of the time, she says it just because she wants to wear her raincoat.
A demain (See you tomorrow). She barely pronounces a 'main, with her hands waving. But well, it's the thought that counts, right?
Martin. It's the name of the other boy in her Nanny's place. She only pronounces 'Tin. Coincidentally, it's also the name of his cousin. This morning, she saw a picture of Martin, her cousin and she pointed at it saying 'Tin.
Bonbon (Sweets/Candies). We discovered that she's getting bonbons in her Nanny's place because she said the word the first time she saw one at home. Oppps.
L'eau (Water). This goes to all liquids - water, milk, fruit juice, chocolate drink.
Her favorite phrase, as usual, is Il est où (where is it)? But this time, it's taking more precision. It could go from Il est où, le pain (where is the bread)? to Il est où, Papa?
On to the English language, she understands quite good but only have one word for now - car, which she pronounces as cah. She knows where her nose is, for example, but she would say nez instead. Funny because I'm playing nose-to-nose with her, but when it's her who request for it, she would say nez-à-nez.
Other joys of the Terrific Twos are the cute tricks she discovers each day.
Playing Maman. Nope, not the imitating part. I mean, she would take my bag, wear my shoes, give me a kiss and say Au revoir, maman (goodbye, maman).
Cache Cache. She loves playing hide-and-seek. She would count tee tee tee (her version of 1 2 3) and would appreciate it if you hide. One dinner time, Frenchguy and I were busy talking when she started saying Il est où main, Il est où main? (Main = hand, but she was actually asking where is the stuff she had in her hand = her spoon). We started searching for the lost spoon (under the table, at the sides of her chair..), her pretending to search too and was darn serious! After a few minutes, there she was, showing us her spoon which she hid under her legs. Clever girl!
Now, would you still call this stage Terrible Twos or Terrific Twos?
