Turn, No, Mine!

So, I posted quite a while back (maybe 6 months ago) regarding Janna.  I think the post was called, “The terrible twos are a comin.’”   I talked about how Jesse went through the 2’s closer to 18 months, and I suspected Janna was doing the same thing.  Well, after my morning today, I can admit I was clearly wrong.  The terrible twos are most definitely HERE NOW!

Janna’s favorite words to YELL these days are, “NO-MINE-and TURN!” She balls up her firsts while she shrieks these and gets red in the face and shakes.  It’s almost funny- except it really isn’t.  There are many examples I could give, but I’ll just talk about the first 2 hours of this morning to demonstate. 

TURN!

After breakfast we all went upstairs to get dressed.  Janna took an interest in Jesse’s underwear.  Poor girl...she really wants to be pott y trained I think....but I ain’t ready!  Anyways, as Jesse is putting on his undies, she runs over and starts pulling them down and off him as she screams, “TURN! TURN! TURN!”  Poor Jesse! LOL!   She understands the concept of taking turns...but not how to go about asking for one?

NO!

Next we went into the bathroom to brush our teeth.  Janna LOVES brushing her teeth.  At night- we tackle brushing them for her, but in the morning we let her go to town on her own.  I pull up a stool to the sink, run the water and put the paste on her brush.  She will stand there for as long as we let her, dipping her brush under the running water and then poking at her teeth a few seconds, then reloading with water.  I suppose this is good for her teeth and independence skills...but not so great for the water bill and environment.  So, every morning , after a few minutes, I turn off the water, take her toothbrush and brace myself for the fuss.  It used to be just a bit of fussing- then she’d be happily distracted.  But - all week I’ve been getting a mini tantrum from this act. “NO NO NO NO!!!!” She’ll wail, and then burst into the craziest crying face with tears flying everywhere, feet stomping, fists balled.  I keep waiting for her to smash her head on the counter or hit me!  She’ll stand there wailing for a while,  and I have to pry her away from the counter and downstairs.  Where she might snap out of it- or she might continue on with the shouting and grimaces.

MINE!

So, we came downstairs and I got Janna out of her fury by pulling out the cars and car mat for her to play with.   I laid down the mat, and pulled out a HUGE basket of dinky cars.  She took one, and started to “vroom” it all over the mat.  Jesse came over and politely asked if he could play?  I said “sure,” and as he went to reach into the basket for a car, Janna practically body slams him in an attempt to protect all 22 cars and she SCREAMS, “ MINE!!!!! Mine mine mine mine mine.”  Ugh !  I convinced her it’s important to share, and so she tossed Jesse ONE car in a disgruntled fashion with a glare on her face.  Jesse pulled up beside her to “vroom” his car around on the mat and Janna took fit number 2.  She grabbed this car mat and bunched it all up on her lap while hollering, “ Mine!”  Followed by what sounded like a fast string of African cursing at her brother “ Mana AAA! Ba Dad OH NO! Wa da da!”  Sigh....

So, I have discovered that working on the 2’s is MUCH harder with child 2.  When Jesse was 2, he never really had to share his toys with Janna- as she was a 6 month old darling happy just hopping in her excersaucer or chewing on the corner of the book.  I never had to negotiate an older child pestering Jesse, or exacerbating the situation.  Right now, when I try to talk to Janna in her moments, I have Jesse behind me lecturing her.  I also have a harder time negotiating this age right now because of the age Robyn is.  My hands are often just tied up-changing a diaper, nursing or rocking the baby to sleep.  So- the actual physical part can be quite the challenge as well- getting on her level to talk to her- or putting her in a timeout. IT’s busy!  It’s as if I’m being torn in 3 directions?!  Lol.

All the same, as frustrating as 2 can be- it is also just the most adorable age.  Janna is putting the world together, and her communication is coming along quite well.  But-she still has some gushy baby cheeks, belly laughs, and loves to cuddle and give kisses.  I am realizing that these things really start to phase out around 3!  So- I will enjoy it while I can and try my best to effectively deal with the “NO-MINE-and TURN” rants I get several times a day.

Anyways, had a few minutes, so just wanted to share a bit of my morning, and the new challenges I am discovering in dealing with a “middle child- 2 year old.” Thanks for reading. I’m out.