The frustration of toddlerhood

Two and a half has been one of the most fun and frustrating ages at the same time. Every day seems to be a roller coaster of emotions with Stasa. She normally wakes up and is immediately happy, but if you don't put away her chew blanket fast enough, she notices.

::swing:: <---------(that's the pendulum of emotions swinging toward crazytown)

She's chewed on blankets for the longest time. We used to let her chew on them whenever she wanted, but recently we've put some rules in place and only let her have them at nap and bed time. So when she wakes up in the morning, we get her to put her blanket away, but if we don't do that at just the right moment, she melts down. In a major way.

::swing::

Then she's all of a sudden happy again and chatting up a storm with Lexi. ::swing:: Now upset because she DOESN'T WANT ANY PANTS. WANT BUNNY DRESS AND PINK SOCKS. ::swing::

And it goes on and on like that until she's dropped off at daycare and then we pick up where we left off the minute I pick her up after work. Then there are those days when we're just coloring or building castles and she looks over at me and says "wuv you mommy." Of course there are also those days when we've spent too many of our precious evening minutes in time out. See what I mean? Emotional roller coaster. And what kills me is SHE KNOWS IT. I'm certain of this. The kid *knows* exactly which buttons to push to frustrate me and then in the blink of an eye she's her sweet loving self again. WHAT GIVES TODDLERHOOD?

Enough complaining out of me because it's really not terrible. There are more moments of happiness, silliness, and sweetness than those frustrating moments. And even though I swear she knows how to push my buttons, she's not a malicious kid. She's got a heart of gold and is so surprisingly good when we least expect it.

She cleans up her toys when you ask her to.


She builds the best princess castles.


And she makes the best dinner and serves the tastiest tea.