Wow, the kids are not yet even 19 months old and I already feel like we are in the Terrible Twos - this is not good! The kids are actually doing really great, but I can't wait until they can be reasoned with/bribed/threatened - I don't really care how the disciplining is accomplished I just want it to be possible. Right now they have no comprehension of if you do that, then this will happen and that is what is so frustrating! The meltdowns are more abundant and seemingly over more and more trivial things. Just last night there were probably five or six (from Tyler - not even counting Katie who was in full cling-on/whining mode). The first was because he wasn't allowed to continue to beat on the garage door and avoid coming in the house when we got home. Actually getting him in the house required a chase down, pick-up of him thrashing and writhing (and looking like I was trying to steal him probably), and then him being put down only to have him start kicking and beating his head against the floor (yikes). The others were because he wasn't allowed to eat dog food, because he was told to stop opening the oven door (gotta get a lock for that), because he ran out of ketchup, because Katie stole a carrot from his tray, because I wouldn't let him turn on the hot water in the bathtub, because I let Katie sit on my lap too when we were reading a book, and of course when it was bedtime.
Katie, meanwhile, was just miserable. She was crying and whining and wanting to be picked up and then wanted down and then wanted Lance to hold her and then back to me. She didn't get out of her funk until we put her in her chair for dinner and she devoured everything and asked for more. It wasn't even one of her favorite meals - chicken nuggets and carrots and peas- but maybe the deal is she is going through another growth spurt. She is noticeably lighter and shorter than her brother so maybe she is playing catch-up (she just went through one a couple of weeks ago). I get very little time with them on weekday evenings so all of this "drama" with her and her brother happened in like an hour and a half!
After dinner was done she was just fine and happily playing, but we also gave her Tylenol before dinner because those teeth still aren't all the way through (she has been getting five all at the same time) and we thought they might be hurting her. So, we don't know if it was food or pain relievers that turned the tide, but hopefully this is short-lived. I really don't mind holding her, but if she is unhappy either way I usually put her down and try to prepare dinner or do something productive that can't be done holding a baby. That typically proves to be ineffective though because she will then follow me around grabbing on to my leg which makes Tyler think he is missing out on something so he starts to want to be held too and it just isn't pretty! I was telling my mom that I think the biggest challenge right now is trying to stay ahead of them and what they are going to get into. That is true, I think, but I also have to try to remember that their tantrums and whining and clinginess is not malicious or because they are trying to be bad - they just don't know how to communicate well, get frustrated easily, and sometimes are just inexpicably in a foul mood. My little babies are growing up and getting such fun personalities and there are going to be some growing pains as they sort out how to tell me what they do and don't want and as they learn that sometimes they don't get what they want - that's a challenge too!
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