Being 2!

So I don't know what I was thinking, but I will tell you anyway :o) I thought we would bypass the "trying twos" and that our daughter would maintain her sweetness, obedience, and gentle nature and never give us grief....like I said, I don't know what I was thinking :o) Alas, our daughter is NORMAL and the twos have HIT US!

There are several "incidences" that have happened and I just want them written down to keep forever. I'll enjoy sharing them with McKenna someday when she is able to understand why her mother has gray hair :o)

McKenna does better when she is able to wake up slowly. So in the mornings and after her nap she is allowed to watch a little t.v. After her nap, she watches this Letter Factory dvd by Leap Frog (I HIGHLY recommend this dvd btw). After the 25 min dvd, the t.v. gets turned off...this happens EVERY day. Well, on this particular day, our Princess decides she wants to watch Curious George after Frog. I explained to her that our T.V. time was over and it was time to play. This did not set well with our girl. She went straight into meltdown mode and had a complete come-apart moment. I completely left the room as she threw herself on the floor, totally ignoring this completely inappropriate behavior...until it went on long enough. I got her attention, made her calm down, and explained to her that it was NOT ok for her to act that way and that Mommy's answer is still 'no' and she needs to obey with a happy heart. She had collected herself and asked, "I hold you Mommy?" I said of course, so off we went to snuggle on the couch. Once she crawled up in my lap, she called for her Daddy to come into the room. Dave had heard the battle waging over the t.v. issue from another room. Dave came over, McKenna put her hand over my mouth (so I couldn't speak), and said, "Daddy, I watch T.V.?".....

Yes, our little 2 year old was trying to put Dave and I up against each other to see if she could get away with what she wanted.

Dave did such a GREAT job handling the situation. We were both HIGHLY aware of what was going on and what she was trying to do. Dave got down on her level and sternly said, "No ma'am you may not watch T.V. because Mommy already said No. When Mommy says No, the answer is No. Mommy and Daddy are a team and our answers to you will be the same." McKenna is not used to her Daddy talking to her in that tone, so she knew it was serious business. She was totally OK with our answer after that, and got down to go play.

Dave and I on the other hand...just had to stare at each other for a moment...Did that really just happen? What we thought we were going to be experiencing stuff like this when she was like 9 or 10...not TWO!!!! (sigh)

Story #2:
We were at the dinner table having a "clean out the fridge" type of dinner...so we had everything from tater tots and hot dogs to meatloaf and green beans. Our "trick" to help McKenna eat better is she has to take a bit of something "healthy" to get something like a tater tot. She is well aware of what she needs to do in order to get a bite of what she REALLY wants...but this night she tried to pull a fast one on us.

She took a bite of some of her meat/veges and we rewarded her with a tater tot. She took the tater tot and put it behind her back, reached back around to the table and asked for her treat b/c she took a bite. Dave and I obviously saw her "hide" the tater tot, but we asked, "McKenna, we just gave you a tater tot, where is it?" She shrugged her shoulders, held out her hands and said, "I dunno." I said, "McKenna, is the tater tot hiding behind your back?" "No Mommy"...sigh...

So we had to deal with the sneaky issue and then she got busted for telling 2 lies...Oh the joys!

Our girl has definitely entered into the independent, I wanna do it myself, I wanna go first, I will push the limits TWOS!!!! We are hanging on for dear life and praying everyday that we make the right choices in our parenting. The Lord has seen fit that Dave and I are the best choice to be McKenna's parents and we take that job very seriously. I know we have some more "rough" days and "consequences" ahead...but we wouldn't have it any other way. We adore our little-trying-redhead!