My child has decided that she would prefer to be only in a diaper in the house.
I suppose this is a product of having her in kimono tops and diapers in the summer the first year she was born and cotton undershirts and a diaper the second summer of her life.
She will pitch a fit if I try to put a shirt on her when we are at home.
We've hit the two year independence mark and it's showing it's head. She used to be so amenable about teeth brushing, clothes wearing, face washing. Now she says no and tries to do them herself. With teeth brushing, hand and face washing, I tell her that she can do the beginning but Mommy needs to finish. This used to be met with agreement. Now an obstinante, "No!" follows my request.
I keep reading my dog eared cracked binding toddler attachment parenting and discipline book as if it's a reassurance that this is all normal.
I keep telling myself that this isn't bad. Some parents have children who will hold their breath, pass out or do something else like hit or bite. Some parents start seeing this at 18 months! One friend has to put her kid in a headlock to brush his teeth. These are all normal and that I should just be glad my kid isn't kicking me.
Today we had a playdate. DH and his friend have finals so I watched their kids while they went to study. It was actually something I was looking forward to. I find I truly enjoying spending time with multiple kids and I like watching them learn and helping them learn and explore.
I knew they were too young for anything too structured so it was mainly alot of free play, dancing, Simon Says, painting, pretend cooking, 1 story book, 2 downtimes (no naps. apparently being with another toddler all day leads to alot of excitement.), 1 poop diaper, 4 wet diaper changes, rice, meatloaf, thai chicken noodles, strawberries, a plum, a handful of bunny crackers and purely o's.
And although cooking was a bit rough with two toddlers underfoot, two girl toddlers seem to want to help and spent alot of time passing me items from the refrigerator. I know I shouldn't keep it open but boy howdy it helped keep them occupied and they did help by handing me stuff. It's educational, right? They learned what tomatoes, lettuce and other fruits were.
The girls seemed to really enjoy laying in bed together with their dolls too. There wasn't any protesting.
What surprised me was how they both instinctively went to the vanity, climbed onto the chair and started combing each other's hair. It was adorable. Freaking adorable, I tell you.
I'm so used to boys playing with TG. When they play together, there is alot of running around, jumping, climbing and general I do one thing, you do something else. With her gal pal, alot of the time was spent doing things together. It really helped.
Ah, but back to the twos. Her friend is not two yet and is still at that 18-24 month stage where all toddlers want to be is helpful as that is a way of showing their grasped knowledge and understanding.
I'm told TG will go back to this helpfulness stage close to her third birthday. Some say I may be lucky and get it around 2.5. For now, I need to take in the preview of the teenage fight for independence.
Fun.
