Advanced For Her Age

She ain't giving up that bink w/out a fight either!

DD2 is hit a new level this week. She’s become a complete TWO YEAR OLD. Why yes, she does have several months before her official birthday, so she must be advanced for her age.
OMG has she stepped it up. Her fuse is so short! She can’t stand it if you tell her “no”, she will immediately throw herself on the floor kicking and screaming. Doesn’t matter what it’s about, we are merciless and her life, it is tragic. Yes, at 21 months, her life it is already a tragedy, because her mean, mean mother will not let her have a cookie 10 minutes before dinner. I still haven’t hit this status with DD1. You know what they say about each kid being different? Like night and day folks. The biggest milestone she’s passed this week is that she will now promptly do exactly what you told her not to do. People w/no kids would call it "asserting her independence." Tonight it was about climbing on the leather cubes/tables. We have these in lieu of a coffee table, so the kids won't crack their heads open on them. No one told me we needed to get all the neighbors to get rid of their driveways too. New hobby of hers; climbing on everything she can & standing up! She likes to be TALL! She wants a matching scar above her other eye. Mommy is not impressed. So tonight, I catch her pulling herself up onto one of the cubes and I tell her to get down. This isn’t news to her, we’ve had this conversation before, almost daily this week in fact. She responds by STANDING UP! Because she’s independent and smart! I change my tone and tell her to “get on her tush” and get down. She ignores me. I walk (quickly, because I’m not in the mood for another trip to the emergency room) and pick her up and give her a time out. (Time out for her consists of being straped in her high chair and moved to the next room. I set a timer so they hear the beep when the time out is done, she gets a one minute time out, because she is one. However, by the end of this little episode, I decided she had more than graduated to 90 seconds; being advanced and all.) After the timeout she gets down, walks over to her sister and (insert any one of many negative behaviors here) bites, scratches, hits, pulls hair… her. She immediately gets another time out. After this timeout I make her apologize to her sister, which she does. She then she walks back over to the cube. She watches me watch her do this. She reaches to pull herself up (watching me) I tell her she’s going to get another timeout. She responds with a grunt/screech-like sound of displeasure. Lovely child. She continues to pull herself up I count “One!” She pulls herself some more, now on her stomach on the cube, still smiling at me. “Two!” and I start to walk over, she pushes herself off, smiling. I tell her, “You do it again & you’ll get another time out.” (God, I sound like my mother.) She sort of grunts her understanding, then she puts her hand on the other side of the cube, watching me the whole time and smiling. You can see the wheels turning in her head, “Hmmm, is this pushing your buttons yet mama?” You know all those things you wish for your child when they’re growing inside of you? To be smart, independent, a leader, creative, funny…Not so much what you’re looking for in your toddler. I’m just saying.