Day 105: ‘Being a toddler’

ERIN is just on the edge of hitting those terrible twos. I know this, cause when she’s tired and fed up, she will sometimes screech, or throw her dummy, and occasionally just sit and put her head on the floor in a despair that can only be articulated by an incoherent, high pitched whining babble.

I’m generally a very tolerant and patient person. I have mastered the art of closing my mouth, and breathing out slowly (as if in labour) and finding a reason to laugh at life, when even the most frustrating of situations arise. So when Erin has a tantrum, I’m pretty good at dealing with it quietly and calmly. But should I? Is she just testing me, and I should be far more firm?

I really don’t want to shout and scream back at her. I can’t see that achieving much, it would be misplaced effort in my mind. So how can I be firm, calmly? 

I think my reticence when it comes to being firm, is because I like to think I understand her. When I watch Erin, and her little friends at nursery and Puddleducks, I realise that as fun as life is, being a toddler is pretty hard. Here’s why:

Dear little one

I get it.

You’re starting to get pretty certain on your likes and dislikes - of course they change like the wind, but on any given day, you know what you want to do - but not everyone around you seems to understand.

You want to grab a handful of raisins every hour or so, but for some reason your Mummy denies you this pleasure - and of course you don’t want the raisins handed to you, you’d like to get them yourself.

You absolutely, categorically, under no circumstances want to lie still to have your nappy changed. I mean why can’t you wander round with a bare bum and wee or poo all over the carpet? Why does Mummy look so shocked and stressed at this?

What really is the problem with throwing things down the toilet? Daddy said it was ok to throw the ball in the garden, or even throw that bread for the ducks in that pond thing - what’s the difference?

Why does nobody understand when you’re in the middle of a shop that you just want to grab things, and have the free rein to treat it as a toy room? The only way you can tell them you don’t want to walk nicely and quietly, is to do the opposite, so you’re going to sit still and scream! And now they want to pick you up and cart you away? Well then you just make your body go limp to make their task just that little bit more difficult!

One day we’ll laugh about this, but for now, excuse me if I say “No” a lot and sound a bit more tough than normal - it’s for your own good, I promise.

Love your tired but understanding mother xx

It may be flippin hard work, but every smile, snuggle and laugh makes it totally worth it - and it’s a hard life being 20 months old, you can’t be cute and angelic the whole time!