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| Don't let the sweet face fool you! |
The impending signs of the terrible twos are now a bit too close for comfort. The words/phrases, "no", "stop", "don't", "I don't like", "mine", "I want ______" (insert specific item name here - no substitutions) and so on, have taken hold and Elise can be quite the little tyrant at times. If she asks to wear her Tinkerbell pyjamas - she means business, if she wants her sparkly light-up tennis shoes - absolutely no others will suffice, if she's eating dinner and asks for her princess fork - it had better be clean. At first we found it cute that she was exerting her independence, but not so much anymore as she often resorts to tantrums if she's met with opposition. Nobody else usually sees this behavior, she primarily saves it just for mommy and daddy :| We had to start putting her on time-outs, which usually stem from her throwing a tantrum when she's not getting her way and refusing to eat what we give her for dinner. Whenever she throws a tantrum, we turn her high chair to the corner or walk out of the room and let her have her moment and it usually ends up with her apologizing and saying, "sorry momma", "sorry dadda", "I be a good girl".
The past few months have certainly been more challenging than any we've faced yet. However, I will give Elise the benefit of the doubt, as she has been sick off and on over the past few months, which has further fueled her unhappy mood. I know her outbursts are completely normal for her age, but it often has us wondering where our perfectly sweet and content little baby disappeared to? While she does have her feisty toddler moments, I have to say when she is being sweet it is absolutely adorable and totally makes up for the cranky times. We do our best to reward her good behavior and teach her manners; she is great about saying "please" and "thank you". In fact, her new phrase is "thank you, you're welcome", so all bases are covered.
Also, I should mention that Elise just started at a new daycare last month. Being around such a large group of kids, has been a bit of an adjustment for her, and of course she came home sick her very first week. Overall she is doing very well; her first day she barely cried and was playing and doing baby yoga with the rest of the kids. She's already surpassing most of her classmates in being able to count past five (she now counts to twenty), reciting the full alphabet and in knowing all her shapes, colors and animals. We do think that being around so many other fiesty toddlers has had a bit of an effect on Elise's recent outbursts, because she's been on her worst behavior since she started her new daycare. However, the upside of her new daycare is that she's become more social and independent - in fact maybe just a bit too independent. The other day she gave me the hand and said, "stop momma, I said stop. Elise do it, she big girl"! I was so caught off guard and had a good chuckle, but at the same time it made me think that she is growing up way too fast!
Also, I should mention that Elise just started at a new daycare last month. Being around such a large group of kids, has been a bit of an adjustment for her, and of course she came home sick her very first week. Overall she is doing very well; her first day she barely cried and was playing and doing baby yoga with the rest of the kids. She's already surpassing most of her classmates in being able to count past five (she now counts to twenty), reciting the full alphabet and in knowing all her shapes, colors and animals. We do think that being around so many other fiesty toddlers has had a bit of an effect on Elise's recent outbursts, because she's been on her worst behavior since she started her new daycare. However, the upside of her new daycare is that she's become more social and independent - in fact maybe just a bit too independent. The other day she gave me the hand and said, "stop momma, I said stop. Elise do it, she big girl"! I was so caught off guard and had a good chuckle, but at the same time it made me think that she is growing up way too fast!
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| Just a few of her My Little Pony collection |
One new development is in the activites she now enjoys in her play time routine. She's no longer into the typical toddler age appropriate toys. She now prefers dolls and make believe play. She loves Barbies, her princess dolls, anything Tinkerbell related (which goes without saying), her Disney character figurines, and her My Little Ponies.
The most fun thing that she enjoys lately is story time! We usually read her 3-4 different books before bedtime and she loves her story time. She repeats back all the words and sentences and will often pull the books from our hands and say "Elise turn, Elise read", which entails her pointing out all the pictures and describing them to us. She is talking up a storm and repeats new words and phrases quicker than I can finish them. Her vocabulary is massive and she strings together very coherent sentences. It is pretty incredible to think that in a span of 6 months she has gone from saying only 10-15 words to now speaking in semi-complete sentences. The kiddo has a great memory too and retains almost everything. I still get surprised whenever she identify difficult objects that I had no idea she even knew the name of.
Her eating habits are another story altogether. Only a few short months ago, she ate pretty much any and all food we put on her plate. Now, she protests nearly everything and her appetite fluctuates on a daily basis. She's decided that vegetables are her enemy and will even turn her nose up to certain fresh fruits. She still loves her carbs though; bread, pastas, french toast, waffles, soups with noodles she will almost never refuse to eat. Some other big news is that Elise is now drinking from a big girl cup. She still uses sippy cups when on-the-go, but during the day she drinks from her big girl glass like a little pro.
