.Terrible twos: a sneak peak.

Oy and vey my friends. I have recently realized that "morning sickness" with it's ability to strike well before or after morning is just preparation for the "terrible twos" which it turns out can crop up well before or after a second birthday.
Let me say that Amelia is actually a very "easy" child if such a thing exists. She's a very happy, loving, sweet child that has slept well since she was 5 months old, tries any food that I give her, etc. However, now that Little Miss is waving "buh-bye" to babyhood and running full throttle into toddlerhood we've got a wee one who can throw a Class A full on tantrum when she feels the occasion calls for it. I know that 99% of these tantrums {about 1-2 a day} stem from her being unable to communicate what she wants and feeling helpless and misunderstood. I get that. I do. But lemme tell ya, it takes a strength that I never knew a human could possess to not react to it. Our strategy has been to hold her arms down and look her straight in the eye and firmly tell {not yell} her that what she's doing isn't okay {"Amelia no. We do not hit. No hit." for example}. That usually does the trick {sidenote: she can be really sensitive when it comes to Daddy. If she thinks that he's upset with her she sticks out her lower lip and her chin quivers as crocodile tears well up in her eyes}. When her warning doesn't work it's off to time out for 1.5-2 minutes, we put her down in the designated area and repeat her offense {example: "Amelia, we don't hit. No hit"} and tell her to sit in time out. Cheyenne and I were both skeptical that the concept of time out could work on someone so young but actually it works like a charm. She sits there and just kind of uses the space and change of scenery to calm herself down, her scowl turns into a smile and when we say "okay, you can get up" she walks right over to us for a hug and we say something like "thank you. When you hit it hurts. I love you, we're not mad" and just go on with things.
This was always the form of discipline that Cheyenne & I agreed on and I'm glad to say that we've done pretty well navigating this new territory together. I know that as Amelia gets older that discipline gets harder but I think that Cheyenne & I are laying a good foundation now that will keep us from having a total brat, which has always been a major goal for us :-)