The terrible twos. What exactly is it? On television, it's defined as a small child being covered in flour, or chocolate sauce. It's shown as a kid tracking perfectly laid mud prints into the house all through the livingroom and kitchen. It's giving the impression that the child makes a mess...which can ultimately be cleaned up.
My experience over the last 5 months with my 2 year old has been quite different. I don't think it's a mess that can be cleaned up with Clorox wipes and Bounty paper towels. I think it's a wire that gets cut.
Up until the age of two, Leah was very obedient. She was an amazing listener. Christmas a year and a half ago, she wowed her grandparents on Ryan's side. We only see them a few times a year, so her newest tricks always seem especially great when they see her. She was one year old a few days after Christmas, and she was showcasing her listening skills. While standing in front of the sparkly Christmas tree, she would, under gentle instruction from me and her dad, touch the ornaments with only one finger. She was very controlled and poised. When we wanted her attention, the first time she heard our voices, she'd freeze and look our way for the next move.
She has always been lovingly disciplined and redirected by her father and myself. All of a sudden when she turned two, the wires got cut. It's like she's had one too many ear infections and can't hear us anymore. Not only can she not hear us, it's like she doesn't understand the simplest of instructions. "Leah, take your fingers out of your mouth." Leah sits with her fingers still in her mouth. I have to pull them out for her. "Leah, stop making that snorting sound with your mouth full of hot dogs." Leah makes one more snort, and this time it's directed at me. "Leah, please stop shouting in the car. Logan's ears hurt and he doesn't like it when your voice is so loud." One more squeal blasts me from the back seat and now Logan is screaming.
It's not so much the little things she's doing that bother me. I can wipe off her fingers, and I can laugh along with the funny sounds. I can even appreciate the loud singing from the back seat of the car. She knows all of the words. The part that is hard for me is that just 5 short months ago, she could follow directions. She took pride in following our instructions. All of that time put in to teaching and praising and redirecting have seemingly been flushed down the toilet...along with my glasses and checkbook.
Now I realize that she's older now, and is more able to make her own decisions. She's testing me and her dad, and she wants a bit of control. I guess I just wish that she'd be as well behaved as she was before.
Although, I have to say, with the loss of some of her listening skills has come a great deal of wonderful traits. She tells me she loves me now, all on her own. She takes herself to the bathroom in the morning when she gets out of bed and doesn't wake me up until after she's finished. She enjoys Bible class now and can tell us what all the kids in class did that day.
She still has that same twinkle in her eye. That same Leah twinkle. Whether she's saying "Mommy, guess what? I love you!", or if she's belting the "I see an animal" song in the backseat of the car. She's still my Leah. And I think that I need to remain patient with her and still give her gently redirection and patient discipline. It would be very easy to yell and spank and get frustrated and give up. But she's so special. I want her to always know that I like all of her.
Plus, raising a child isn't as easy as wiping up a mess with a Clorox cloth or with Bounty paper towel. Those commercials are wrong. And I certainly don't look like those mom's they portray in the commercials. I only do my hair once or twice a week. Fake moms. Fake kids. Fake messes.
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