Terrible Twos

So the Bug is going through the Terrible Twos. And believe me when I say they are terrible. I don't know how parents do it. She fights us with feeding her food. She screams and yells and flails her arms until we manage to get that first spoon in her mouth. Then she stops and she eats. Until the last spoon, when she does it again. Nap time is a fight. Changing her diaper is a fight. Nighttime bedtime... worst of all. Try an hour of screaming and flailing and refusing to take her last bottle. Now, I know at some point you're supposed to ween them off that night bottle anyway. But having her throw it across the room isn't the image I had in mind.

Mur and Dig are out. I caught the Bug at 6:30am when she woke up. I changed her diaper, wiped her off from a leak during the night, and gave her her morning bottle. I made sure she had toys in the play pen, and sat with her, talking to her, interacting as best I can given I cannot chase her around the house. I played Blue's Clues for her on Netflix. And at 10:30am I fixed her breakfast, brought her over to the seat and had the normal temper tantrum over the first bite. She didn't fight me on the last bite, and she didn't fight me with the diaper or putting her down for her nap.

Which has me waiting for her to start screaming when she finishes the bottle.

And on the off chance she isn't going to scream, it leaves me wondering if she's throwing these tantrums simply because there are usually 3 of us there. I know she knows her parents are both gone. So is she really behaving because there's just one person here? If three of us make such a difference, why? Is she trying to get one person's attention, or just pit all three of us against each other?

I realize people will say she's only 20 months old. She has no idea what she's doing. I call Bullshit. This little girl will pitch a holy fit and then pause, tilt her head and peer at you to see if she's getting the reaction she wants, and then launch back into the fit. I'd believe her more if she could carry the fit on while looking at you. But no. Mid-scream she stops, water works and all and tilts her head so she can see your face, looks, and then starts in again. That, my friend, is an act. She knows what she's doing and is looking for the response she wants. Therefore, she knows what she is doing.

And that same child is capable, in my opinion, of great lengths of fakery. I have a feeling now that her tantrums at night are little more than that. An act to get whatever it is she wants. Problem is, she is not yet speaking, so whatever she wants, we have no idea.

But this has defined, for me, the terrible twos. I get to watch her act, scheme, and fake her way into whatever she is trying to get. I have images of her in a few years screaming because she wants ice cream for dinner, throwing things across the room because she wants to watch some cartoon rather than go to bed, and throwing herself in the aisle of a grocery store, full tilt because she can't get pudding cups or some sugary cereal.

Terrible twos are more than just this moment. It's a glimpse at what she could become in a few years. And it is a definite scary picture. Be afraid. Be very afraid.