You knew it was bound to happen. I mean, it happens to all kids at some point. Usually sooner, rather than later. It has definitely happened for us. My little baby, my sweet little baby, is now a toddler. Yeah. A toddler. Having a toddler is harder than having an infant. Toddlers are hard.

Toddlers are hardheaded, determined, demanding and mobile. Toddlers have opinions they aren’t willing to compromise on. Toddlers are loud. Very loud.

Cheeks is no exception. As a matter of fact, I think she may be the most hardheaded, determined, demanding and loud toddler ever. For real. I’ve always said, since day one, this kid is full of personality. Oh, is she ever!

And did I mention dramatic? We’re talking Emmy material, here folks!

This kid is hilarious. When she wants something, she yells at us. (Of course she doesn’t get what she wants unless she uses her words. Ever.) She scrunches up her face and yells. And if that doesn’t work, she cries. She cries this very pathetic, fake cry that isn’t fooling anyone. But God is it loud and it breaks our hearts. Every. Single. Time.

Cute!

And do we give in? Yep. Sometimes we do. We make her use her words, but if what she wants isn’t going to hurt her, we let her have it. The other night we had a friend over. This friend has a baby. This friend’s baby has a bottle. Cheeks wanted the bottle. Oh, she wanted that bottle BAD! So Mama warmed up some donated breast milk and we gave her a bottle. She was happy, she got a few extra ounces of milk in her and the noise level was appropriate for having a conversation. Everyone won.

When we don’t give in or she refuses to use her words, it’s ugly. There is crying. Lots and lots of crying. And screaming, did I mention the screaming? This kid is determined. When she wants something, she wants it now and she won’t take “no” or “later” for an answer.

Oh, and if one mom tells her no, she’ll go to the other mom and cry and complain. Never fear, we’re not falling for that one. This isn’t my first rodeo.

We’re desperately working on expanding her signs and vocalizations. She will repeat just about anything we ask her to say. Our goal is getting her to ASK for things, as opposed to screaming. Oh, the screaming. We’ve been working on ignoring it. If she starts with her screaming, we’ll ask her what she wants. She will stop screaming immediately and tell us what she wants.

Up.

More.

Milk.

Eat.

Diaper.

I think it’s going to take quite a bit of time for her to understand she gets further with her words than with her screaming, but it’s a process. Parenting is a process. Being a toddler is certainly a process!

Belly Laughs

I’m sure people think she’s a brat. I’m sure they blame the way we choose to parent as the reason she screams and acts like a brat. The fact of the matter is, she’s a toddler. She’s learning how to manipulate the world (and the people in it). She’s figuring out how to communicate her needs and desires and it’s HARD. We try to keep her frustration level as low as possible and teach her the appropriate ways to ask for things.

When she’s not screaming, she’s a delightful little girl! She plays independantly and she absolutely adores music. She self-feeds and is getting pretty darn good with a fork and a spoon. She’s affectionate, but doles out hugs and kisses at her own discretion.

She is not a fan of being in the car and let’s us know. Once she succumbs to the fact that she has to be in the car, her goofy chattering cracks us up. She is a vocal little thing! She sings along to the radio and chats away with anyone who will listen.

She tries to shove her tiny feet into big-people shoes and the other day she figured out how to take her pants off! She tries to put her clothes on and she’s a rock star at self-help skills. She washes her own hair, combs her own hair, brushes her teeth and can clean her ears with a Q-Tip.

She’s a bright, bright little girl. She can figure things out like nobody’s business and she’s damn proud of herself when she accomplishes what she’s trying to do.  She can show you where her nose is.  We’re working on ears, eyes and mouth!

She loves to play with her baby dolls and has figured out how to cover them up, give them a bottle and take their clothes off.

She’s gone from walking to running and she’s still quite the climber! She’s also a bit obsessed with walking. She has to walk everywhere. She has no patience for being carried. She knows how her legs work and she’s determined to use them as often as we’ll let her. This includes at the mall, in parking lots and wherever else we may be. She’ll hold our hands, but she refuses to let us carry her. So much for attachment kids being unable/unwilling to be outside their parents arms, heh?

Did I mention her love of water? If there is water available, she’ll be up to her elbows in it. The toilet is her favorite, but she’ll settle for the dog’s water dish. Nothing gives her more joy than dumping a dish of water all over herself. Bath time is a blast. She loves it!

Whenever you ask her a question, she answers with an emphatic, “Da!” Apparently, she’s part Russian. She’s learning how to shake her little finger at the dog and tell him “No, no, no!”

Oh, and being a toddler, she wants what anyone else has. It doesn’t matter if there are two of what she wants, she doesn’t want the one she has, she wants the one someone else has. This pertains to toys, drinks, food and anything else you can imagine.

She loves to be chased, tickled and rough-housed with. She loves it when you swing her around in circles, toss her up in the air and throw her onto the bed into a pile of blankets and pillows.

She’s a bit obsessed with Kevin the Dog. As soon as we walk into the house, she goes over to his cage and SCREAMS at us until we let him out. When we were having to administer IV fluids to him, she would sit in her high chair (we needed her out of the way) and scream at us until we were done. When he was contained to the bathroom, she would go over to the gate, shake it and cry for us to let him out. She is constantly hugging on him, curling up with him and playing with him. His name is usually the first word out of her mouth in the morning. When he goes outside to go potty, she stands right by the door and waits for him to come back in.

Christmas Card Reject!

Her giggle is beyond contagious and she loves to laugh! If we’re laughing, she’ll laugh along, even though she has no idea what she’s laughing about. She will also walk up to us and just start giggling, like she told us a joke or something.

Each morning she walks over to Bubba’s door, bangs on it and yells, “Bubba!” until we let her in. Then she crawls all over her big brother, giving him kisses and patting him on the back. If he’s upstairs, she’ll stand by the gate leading to the second floor and yell, “Bubba” until he comes down and acknowledges her. If neither of the moms are available to pick her up, she’ll put her arms up to her big brother. She’s also tried to nurse on him a few times, which is beyond comical.

She’s starting to learn boundaries and she’s testing them to the fullest.  When we tell her, “No!” (even in our strongest “I’m serious” mom voices) she looks at us, laughs and keeps doing what we’ve told her not to.  If we remove her from whatever it is she’s not supposed to be doing, she giggles and runs right back to do it again.  Did I mention how stubborn she is?

We’re still totally and completely in love with her and her strong personality. She is an amazing little girl and I love the challenges she presents to me. She is so much like her Bubba was at this age. She’s smart and determined. Adorable and strong-willed. I love watching her interact with other kids and discover the world around her.

Now, if we could just nix this entire screaming thing!  Any advice, links to articles, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Mommy's Screamer

*As I was writing this post, Cheeks climbed up on the dog and crawled onto the coffee table. Her Mama took her down and told her no. Cheeks walked back around to the other side of the table, climbed up on the dog and crawled onto the coffee table a second time. She sat in the middle of it, looked at her Mama and smiled her signature shit-eating grin. Mama AGAIN took her off the table, told her no and set her on the ground. I’ll give you three guesses what she did next and the first two don’t count. And no, she didn’t scream!

Related posts:

1. Cheeks and Her Lovey
2. Cheeks Update!
3. Cheeks Update!