Ugh!

Anna is officially two! Well, as many of you know, she turned two in March (and it's June 19) so she's been two for awhile. What I'm talking about is the terrible twos! The last few weeks Anna has just not been her noraml happy, cooperative self! I guess it couldn't last forever!

It started with her throwing food and her bottle and then her pacifier! The pacifier was a quick fix - we just got rid of it. Anna only used it during nap time and bed time, but I was pretty nervous about her having difficulty falling asleep without it especially if she woke up in the middle of the night. We just finished our third week without it, which is definitely a good thing. She's done a lot better than I thought she'd do without it, but with the good comes the bad! Anna used to look forward to going to sleep. In fact, at nap time, I simply changed her diaper, gave her her pacifier and said 'see ya later'! Now she's been a bit more unpredictable. Overall, she only puts up a small fight about going to sleep, but occasionally she really has a fit. Tuesday night, it took close to an hour to get her to settle down and go to sleep. Luckily once she's asleep, she sleeps until around 8 am, but I have to say there are nights when I wish she hadn't given up the pacifier so quickly. I was willing to let her go until 2.5 before weaning her off it, but instead she went cold turkey! Even though she mostly wimpers a little, it's still upsetting to leave her for the night in that state rather than the happy little girl eagerly rolling over and going to sleep!

The food has been a different story - she has been really ornery about how she eats it, not necessarily about what she eats. It seems that our big girl doesn't enjoy the high chair that much anymore and isn't that interested in spooning food herself anymore. She's perfectly capable of it even though it's a bit of a mess, but she always wants me to help or at least stand close by while she does it. I've been trying to teach her that if she doesn't do it herself, she doesn't get it, but that lesson is not exactly working. When I first take it away, she cries, but then she gets over it and moves on. I'm thinking it may be a lesson for another time!

Currently we've been letting her drink her milk in the morning while she watches Sesame Street. Then I give her some banana and some cheerios and she's set until a snack with grandma or lunch time. Grandma still uses the high chair because lunch is a messier meal. And then at dinner time, she sits in the high chair, and she, Dave and I eat together. But for some reason, she gets annoyed when I present her with a bowl so I've been simply putting pieces of food on the tray. I'm trying not to give into her every whim, but I also don't feel like fighting with her over something that will seem trivial in a few months' time! And we haven't given up on the spoon feeding, just not making as much of an issue over it so we're not constantly battling with her. If I've learned one thing over the last few weeks, it doesn't pay to tell her no and give her time outs. She just gets really mad and continues to do what I don't want her to do. So I'm trying to take a more light-hearted approach and go with the flow. After all, she still eats everything I give her, and she won't be two forever!