26 months

Sophia is now 26 months old. 2 years and 2 months. Time is just zooming by.

She is well into her terrible twos. She is asserting her independence every chance she gets. “I do it” or “Phia do it” is frequently stated. And when she does not get her way or can’t communicate what she wants, a little tantrum ensues. She has not displayed a big tantrum yet (oh, I dread the day!) and we have managed to calm her down quickly by asking her to use her words or to show or point to us what would make things better. The challenge when she uses her words is we don’t always understand what she is saying. I understand she feels frustrated but sometimes, it’s really difficult to keep my cool and not lose patience with her. Finding that balance where we let her assert her independence and encourage her to explore her world, while not indulging her too much, is a big challenge. Plus, I don’t always have the luxury of time to let her do it on her own pace. I am already late for work, dammit! Sigh…

It is very fascinating and fun to watch her personality develop. I love listening to her use new words and surprise me with new antics everyday. I was looking for one of her books the other night and was muttering to myself, “where is that Jillian Jiggs book?”, as I flipped through the books on the shelf. Then I hear Sophia say out loud behind me, “Jillian Jiggs, where are you?”. She made me laugh and I thanked her for helping me find Jillian Jiggs. Too cute.

She enjoys going to daycare and playing with her friends all day. Sophia still loves to sing and dance. Her daycare teachers commented on how musical she is and how she loves to just belt it out. Yup, that’s my girl! She is also a fast runner. This presents a challenge when I am carrying groceries and I need to run with her on the sidewalk. But she loves it.

Mealtimes are usually peaceful but sometimes stressful. I would say Sophia is a picky eater fifty percent of the time. Some days she eats a lot and some days she hardly eats. She has recently started eating grape tomatoes, nectarines, and strawberries. I even got her to eat a little bit kale and couscous recently but refused them the next time I offered it to her. And when she’s not in the mood to eat, she starts palying with her food and dumping it on the table and floor. Then I get mad and take her off the chair, then she gets mad because she wants to keep playing with the food. Yeah, sometimes it’s a battle. It’s up and down. When the mealtime passes peacefully and she eats well, I always say a thank you prayer that we got through that without any battles. I just take it one mealtime at a time.

Sophia is a source of joy, happiness, laughter, frustration, anger, self-doubt, and a myriad of other feelings. And I am starting to appreciate that as long as I am a parent, this is how it will be. And as somebody who has always been able to compartmentalize emotions, having this big ball of feelings all squished together throws me off-kilter. But that is the big challenge - how to just let it be and embrace it as my reality. How come they never mentioned any of this in those ‘what to expect’ books???