Terrible Twos

We have officially entered the “Terrible Twos” era at our household even though Scarlett won’t be two until April. Recently, little miss woke up and started hitting right out of the clear blue sky. I once thought kids who hit had to have seen it from somewhere: daycare, other siblings, etc., but since Scarlett is involved with neither of those, I’ve come to realize it must be just a natural compulsion deep down inside them that they just can’t wait to let loose! Scarlett mainly hits when she’s mad at me for telling her no. She’ll hit me, or the cats, or the Christmas tree, or Chris, or whatever poor object or person is closest when she’s mad. The other day, she and London were fighting over a toy. Scarlett hit London, then turned around and also hit poor Lily who wasn’t even involved! Chris woke up the other morning, and came into the living room where we were, groggy and bleary eyed, and she whopped him good before he even knew what was going on!

Thankfully, for now, Time Out works wonders on Scarlett. I don’t believe in fun, cutesy, Time Out chairs so she has to sit on the tile in the corner by the front door. And she HATES it. She cries uncontrollably the entire time (one minute, mind you), and to my complete surprise, she has never tried to get up or walk away. She knows she has to sit there until I say she can get up. It breaks her heart to be in Time Out. And it does put a stop to the behavior for usually the rest of the day. The other day, I said she would have to go to Time Out if she threw, hit, slapped, or whatever it was at that moment, again. She got confused that this was just a warning and marched herself right over to the corner and put herself in Time Out! I couldn’t help but laugh.

Her little emotions and moods are so very volatile right now. (And come to think of it, that probably means from now on; Lord help us!) One afternoon she’ll scarf down a whole cup of green beans, only to spit them out in disgust the following day. One day she’ll go right down at bedtime, and the next night she’ll scream bloody murder, crying so hard she chokes and gags, so that I have to lay down with her to get her to go to sleep. But she never has problems going down for her naps! Some days she’ll let me brush her teeth for five minutes but won’t let me get near her with the toothbrush later. And the list goes on!

I love her passion and strong will. It’s what makes Scarlett, Scarlett. She makes me laugh many times a day, and she certainly keeps me and Chris on our toes. She is still very loving and adoring of us. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She says “Love you!” and demands, “Hug!” a lot. And when she runs full blast down the hall toward me, arms out, ready for a big hug, I forget about all that hitting and drama because at that moment I'm the happiest mamma there is.