Wasn't Happy With Daddy

I had a flashback from a few weeks ago that I thought I'd share. I was upstairs with Alyce I think on a Saturday afternoon. I remember that I had to tell her no to something or other; maybe she wanted to go downstairs and I needed her to be upstairs. Well she wasn't happy with not getting her way and she gave me this really expressive pout face but didn't cry or throw a tantrum about it. What made this time memorable when compared to other times Alyce was unhappy was that Alyce went into her room locked eyes with me and then closed door. She didn't slam the door or do anything disrespectful so I let her have her moment of solitude. I guess Alyce got the unhappiness out of her system in her room because a few minutes later she emerged her happy smiling self.

Kicking But No Screaming

Earlier this week maybe Monday Alyce had a little tantrum. One of Alyce's favorite past times is playing on the stairs. She likes to go up and down the stairs and opens and closes the baby gates. Note, If the baby gates are locked she can't open or close them so if she isn't supervised she can't get on the stairs by herself. Typically she just plays on the bottom three or four steps.

On Monday Alyce was going up and down the steps the entire length. After a few trips we told her it was time for her to move onto something else. We took her off of the stairs and locked the baby gate behind us. Naturally she was none to happy about this. Alyce's typical tantrum is that she will collapse on the ground and cry a little bit. Then after a few minutes get up and go do something else. This time Alyce didn't cry as much but laid on the ground and started kicking her legs.

We let Alyce kick it out and sure enough after a few seconds she stops, rolls over, and looks at us. When she sees she isn't going to get her way she gets up comes over to me and sits in my lap. Her tantrum ended there, but she continued pouting for a few minutes longer.

I'm sure this is part of the growing up process and will eventually end. Everything I see Alyce doing the things kids are supposed to do I get such a kick out of it. Mom and I both thought this bout of tantrum was hilarious. Maybe I get a kick out of it because I know that Alyce is developing and these bumps in the road are milestones for development.

Extra Good Lately

Alyce has been extra good lately. A few weeks ago I wrote about the onset of the terrible twos. Surprisingly enough the bad behavior has moved on. I'm not saying it is gone for good, but thought it noteworthy to write about how good she has been lately.

Some of the worst problems we had with Alyce in the recent past is getting her ready for bed. It wasn't that she didn't go to sleep or that we had to fight to get her into her crib. We just had a tough time getting her into her pj's. One thing has helped us the most in fixing this situation, Vitamins. Now that Alyce is two we can start giving her kids vitamins. The vitamins we give her are of the gummy variety; Disney Princess ones if you want to know. Alyce gets two of these before bedtime. When it is time for Alyce to go to bed we just tell her it is time for her vitamins and she runs across the room, sits on the couch, and chews away while we change her clothes. No muss no fuss. Mom's happy, Alyce is happy, and I am happy.

Another area that has developed as of late is her vocabulary and willingness to use it. She can now name most of the animals on her puzzles and in books. She sometimes call the animals by their sounds (meow for cat) rather than by their name. But she is also using simple words like up, down, hold it, and see to dictate what she would like. It is nice because it is taking out some of the frustration on her side.

The last thing that is making parenting so much easier is that Alyce is telling us she loves us. Technically she says La You but we know what she is talking about. At night when Mom or I are sitting in the rocking chair with her bedtime water we tell her that Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Grams, and Grandpa love her. After each person's name Alyce stops drinking and says La You. It just melts my heart thinking about it.

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.