Here Come The Twos

This past weekend Alyce hit 23 months old. And the terrible twos have come early. At times Alyce just loses control. Let me state that a bad day for Alyce is better than most kids good days. 95% of the time she is a little angel and if we give her an outlet for her energy we don't have any problems.

The majority of our terrible two experiences come from us needing Alyce to do something she doesn't want to do. From laying down to changing her diaper to getting her to stay in her high chair it seems like things that she used to do fine are now a struggle. What is worse is how she expresses her displeasure. Examples of some of the things she is doing to resist are not listening to instructions, kicking and screaming (big one with the high chair), outbursts of noise and shaking of her head (big one with the car set), and your basic temper tantrum stuff like laying on the ground and crying.

I know it is just Alyce trying to assert her independence or being frustrated at not be able to vocalize what she wants. I figure this is just a stage and once her vocabulary improves and she is better able to control her emotions things will return to normal. I just hope returns to normal happens before the new baby shows up.

One area that I am wondering about is if I should try to distract her when she is in a tantrum which usually ends it early or if I should let her cry it out. In public I think the former is preferable for my sanity. But with the later I wonder if it would do any good to let her put herself back together after tantrum. Perhaps it is based on her level of development and I should read a few books to find out where Alyce is along the path.