Before I get to what "it" is, I must brag about our genius child. Annette will be 18 months this coming Friday, still young enough to be considered a baby but old enough to be a kid at the same time. She never ceases to amaze us with the things she learns each day. She has learned how to manipulate adults into giving her what she wants. It doesn't always work out for her, much to her disappointment. She's figured out that if she wants to be picked up and comforted all she has to do is lay on the ground and kick her legs and slam her fists. She tries this with Grandma after her cousin just a few months older than her is comforted after falling down. Her language is what amazes us most, though.She is able to communicate just about anything she wants with words. In the last week or so I have enjoyed counting with her. We were walking through the store and she started saying "one, two free, four." She said it about three times before I figured out what she was saying. Then the other morning as we were leaving she said "one two free four five sis." I was a proud momma! Since then, I've been able to get her started by saying "one" and then she'll say "two free four five." After five is sometimes six and sometimes seven. If I give her eight after that she'll say "nine" and I'll finish with ten. I'm not sure if she has figured out how to use numbers to count objects. She's been able to count to three with objects before but I haven't seen her go past that. I'm very excited to spend the next week home with her during fall break to see what new things she can learn!
So.... "it" has arrived. I thought we had hit "it" at about 13 months, but now I know it's really here. At 13 months that was just the start of the transition to toddlerhood. I think now at about 18 months, we have hit the "terrible twos." I know that's supposed to be when they're 2 years old, but in talking with other mommies, it seems like it goes for more like 2 years- from 18 months to 3 and a half. She was a pill and a half today. Nap time is usually very easy. She says she's sleepy and asks for night night and then goes to bed. If she decides she's not quite ready to sleep, she'll play until she is. Today she threw a fit and half taking a nap. And because she was throwing such a fit all day today, she ended up taking two shorter naps instead of her usual one long one. So it was two huge tantrums. Tonight we went to put her down for the night and it was an even bigger tantrum than any other today. Just screaming and crying like she might die. Speaking of manipulation, she kept throwing her baby doll (her most prized possession) out of the crib then begging for it to get us to go in there and get her out of bed. I did go in there but to her disappointment I only gave her back the baby doll and left. She has finally calmed down after some attention from daddy.
So there you have it, we are now the parents of a terrible two at 18 months. Still wouldn't trade it for anything, though!
