The twos

Not the terrible twos, nothing about Riley is terrible.  BUT.  Ohhhh boy is she learning how to test boundaries and exert her independence.

Let me give you some examples.  We'll start with her newest developments: hitting and biting.  I will say, this doesn't happen very frequently, and it is clear the reason she does it is either out of frustration, or to get a reaction out of us.  We have started doing a version of "time-out" with her as a consequence for this action... basically we remove her from the situation, and sit her in her room.  Mark and I have slightly different ideas of what a time-out should look like, but we both agree it does not involve just sitting her in a corner and leaving her there.  Mark usually sits her down and makes her stay on a certain spot, but sits with her.  I usually do something similar, but give her the option of cuddling me... both version end with an apology, kiss and cuddle.

Another new development?  Just flat out screaming her head off.  Not for no reason, but if something doesn't go her way?  She either flops to the floor, or just starts shrieking.  Now, I say "something doesn't go her way" but I don't mean this happens all that frequently.  She responds well MOST of the time when she doesn't get something she wants, but every so often she completely loses her cool.  When this happens, she cannot be reasoned with, and any attempts to talk to her or distract her are useless, so she gets picked up and carried to her room.  In this instance, she's not on time-out per se, and I give her two options.  She can come out of her room when either (1) she wants a cuddle or (2) she's ready to calm down and stop crying.  Most of the time she chooses the first one right away, and she jumps into my arms and stops crying.  Every once in a while she keeps screaming, so I tell her that when she's ready and all calm, she can come out and give me a cuddle.  She usually carries on for another minute, then trots out and tells me she's "all calm now."  Then we carry on with our activities.  Toddler emotions are wild, I tell you.

Other recent issues?  SLEEP.  Holy. cow.  Riley has become a master procrastinator.  Bedtime has become absolutely ridiculous this past week.  As in, there have been multiple nights where I haven't gotten her to sleep until almost 9pm.  We've entered the phase of "want a snack, want milk, wanna pee pee on the potty, want a story, want tickles, want more mama snuggles, etc..."  And she mostly only wants me to do everything for her, not daddy.  And she all of a sudden doesn't want to go to sleep on her own... now, she has just recently told me she's "a little bit scared of the dark," as well as "a little bit scared of spiders and crocodiles coming through the door," so maybe that could have something to do with it, but mostly she just wants me to snuggle her and tickle her and stay in her room with her until she falls asleep.  If she was our only child, I would totally do this every night and have no problem with it.  BUT.  Often times Jackson needs my attention too, especially with Mark working overtime trying to write his thesis.  So we've had a bit of a battle lately.  I'm hoping it's just a phase and things will settle back into normal... probably right about the time we move out of our house, into temporary housing, and then across the world back to the US. 

"I'm TWO!" and calling daddy.

And as long as we're on the topic of sleep:  Someone seems to want to stop taking naps.  This one is not a battle I'm willing to lose quite yet.  I KNOW she still needs a nap, and she's not dropping it without a serious fight from me!!!  BUT, it is hard work getting her to sleep.  And she knows that the "need to do poo poo on the potty" is the trump card that will almost always get her out of bed.  The other day I took her EIGHT times to the potty.  EIGHT.  Now you might think I'm a sucker, but on that eighth time she did actually poop, soo I knew she wasn't totally full of it. :)  Today I spent two hours trying to get her to nap, and in the end I gave her a bunch of books, told her to sit quietly for a few more minutes and then she could get out of bed.  No nap.  I think part of the problem is we've been fairly inactive in the mornings this past week.  The weather is not awesome, Jackson takes a morning nap so we're a little bit stuck her, and she has become even more obsessed with books than usual, so we've been spending HOURS each morning reading stories.  Don't get me wrong, I love reading with her, but I think we need to get out and run around and wear her down a bit if she's going to take a nap!!

Now of course, in all this ridiculousness, there are so many amazing and hilarious things developing with her that I sometimes just sit and look at her in awe.  How she can have a story read to her a few times and then she's got it memorized.  How she can recite books without even looking at them.  How she knows and remembers songs I've only sang to her a few times.  How her imagination is taking off.  How I make up stories for her before bed each night, and she remembers them and requests them days later.  How all of a a sudden today she caught me totally off guard by saying, "Hey mama, what's up?  Wanna raisin?"  And then after Jackson woke up and was crying, she looked at me and said "Oh no, baby is so sad!  Probably needs to feed some booby mama, he's hungry."  The girl is sharp as a tack, and could not possibly be any funnier.

What happens when Riley goes to "get Jack Jack" after he wakes up from his nap. 
He was totally pumped that that thing just magically appeared in his hands. :)

What an adventure this whole parenthood thing is!