Sugar and Spice

Somethings happened today to illustrate the two sides of my two year old. I think that most two year olds have these two sides. ( I hope so anyway, or something is seriously wrong with my daughter!) The first story happened around 12:30 pm. Jacob had just left for pre-school with my friend Lisa. I finally made my way to the shower and asked Lia Belle to play quietly while I was in the shower. Phoebe was in my room in her pack-n-play sleeping. Lia Belle brought some toys in and ACTUALLY played quietly. When I got out of the shower and was getting dressed Phoebe woke up and started to cry. Lia Belle came to me and said "Mommy! Phoebe needs you to pick her up!" So I said, "Maybe if you sang her a song she would stop crying and go back to sleep." This was a suggestion that I really didn't expect to be taken seriously. However, to my surprise, I hear a sweet little voice singing "I am a child of God". She only sang one round of the chorus before she gave up and demanded I take care of the baby. It was soo sweet! I wished I had the video camera.

Fast forward to just 1 hour later. It is now time to get ready to pick Jacob up from pre-school. I change Phoebe's diaper. I find Lia Belle's socks and shoes. I find my own shoes. I find the diaper bag, the cell phone, the keys. I make sure the car seats are in place. Then I check Lia Belle's diaper. By this time we have five minutes before we have to be in the car. As I check her diaper, I find a very soggy, wet diaper. I sweetly say, "Lia Belle, I'm sorry I neglected your diaper. Let's change you and put on a pull-up before we get in the car." To my surprise this innocent suggestion sets off the tantrum of the century. She starts crying and yelling "NO!NO!NO! I DON'T WANT TO!!" I tried reasoning with her, "If you go pee-pee again it will leak and get you all wet." But she doesn't want to listen. Realizing that if I don't get in the car in the next five minutes we run the risk of being late, leaving Jacob and his friend Justin to wonder if they have been forgotten. So I use force. I pull her jeans down and start to take off her diaper. I now learn how strong my two year old is. She grabs onto her diaper with both hands and won't let me take it off. I am trying to pull it down while she is pulling it up. I can't believe how hard it was to get that diaper out of her hands. A soggy, sopping wet, pee smelling diaper! I finally wrestle it out of her hands and she collapses on the floor in a fury of screams, tears and kicking. She is in such a fit that i pick her and take her to her room to calm down. Of course she kicks and screams and kicks the door. I hold the door closed and try to be calm even though my stress level is rising at an incredible rate. I hate being late! Chad comes out of his office and we shake our heads and we wonder what we are doing wrong. (Chad gets points for telling me I look pretty in the middle of this stress fest.) Finally I get Lia Belle to stop screaming so I can talk to her. I told her if she didn't put on her pull ups and pants that we would be late to pick up Jacob. She submits to put on the dreaded pull up and cries quietly all the way to the car and to the pre-school.

I know I am not alone in the world of two year old craziness. What do you do when your two year old, or three or four year old throws such a doosy of a fit? I love my Lia Belle! She is awesome and terrifying at the same time.

By the way, we finally made it to the pre-school and Jacob wasn't the last one to be picked up.

Oh, and this story also illustrates why I am always late for things. And why I'm always tired. Also why I can't talk on the phone very often. Also why I'm scared for my kids to turn into teenagers.