A question

My friend Nino who has darling Anna Sofia (only a month younger than T) asked me this when I said Miss T was becoming difficult.

Tell me more about Ms. T being difficult. What am I in for? It's been 3 long years since I've been at this phase. Anna Sofia is really pretty easy right now ... is it all going to go to sh*t? WARN ME SO I'LL BE PREPARED! lol

Now Nino, the person who wrote that question is an experienced Mom. Some folks have even called her an expert! (Oh, wait, that was me. But I truly am amazed by Nino and her amazingness as a Mom! Or at least what she shares with us. She's brilliant I tell you! And she doesn't even watch Buffy. (I told her I would declare my undying love for her if she did.))

Anyway... Miss T (1 year 1 month) is just starting to assert her independence. Now that she walks she has opinions about whether she is walking or carried places. She, like my other two girls, is very strong-willed (I don't know where they get that! Heh.). She also has a lot of opinions and no way to really tell us about them. That leads to frustration for her. So she screams. Like the T___-dactyl she is. Really loud. And ear piercing.

Here are some examples of challenges...

1. The stairs. She MUST crawl up the stairs. She then must slide back down the stairs. Then up again... then down... Rinse. Repeat. She would do the stairs all day (or night) if I let her. The problem is that I must stand right behind her to make sure she doesn't hurt herself. It used to be fine for her to just crawl up the stairs. She would happily do that and then do whatever we needed to do upstairs. Now, she just wants to play and MASTER the stairs. She screams if she doesn't get enough stair time.


She is still very sweet, cuddly and funny. She is still a gem.

2. Eating... Though she's a good eater (much better than K!) and probably about like N, she now has opinions of what she wants to eat and when. The other morning she demanded fishy crackers. Nothing else would do. She saw the box and pointed to it. She threw everything else I offered her on the floor.

3. Diaper changes. If she doesn't want her diaper changed, she screams. Usually I can sing the ABCs and she'll usually calm down, but it's becoming apparent that soon she won't be so easy to distract and entertain.


I look at T and I look at K (almost 29 months) and I think, there's no way Miss T will ever be like that. Miss K is obstinate in most of her opinions (a post all about that soon). The change from sweet innocent baby to tough toddler is gradual. But I see it happening already. Miss T is becoming a toddler and will soon be a lot like Miss K. I think that between 13 and 17 months is hard, but not as hard as it is at 2 years 4 months (at least with K and N). Between 13 and 17 months is hard because of that screaming thing.

On another note, Miss N is moving out of the F*ck*ng Fours (Nino's term and I love it!) and on to the Fabulous Fives. She is really really really amazing right now.