Caroline - who, to be fair, is generally happy and well-behaved - has learned two vitally important words recently:
"No!"
"Mine!"Sigh...
She is also exploring more of her world every day. This regrettably includes what she can and can't get away with. This means yanking on power cords, and trying to get her busy little hands on computers, telephones, TV remote controls, and anything else that has a button that might make noise if pushed. It also includes pulling the dogs' tails and coats, which is of great concern to us because our dogs, though generally very affectionate and easy-going, are at least as big as Caroline, and a warning nip would be pretty painful to say the least.
I don't want my relationship with my daughter to be an endless litany of "No! Don't! Stop! Quit!", and I certainly don't want to be punishing her every ten minutes, but, on the other hand, she needs to learn - and that right quickly - that there are some things that she simply doesn't need to do and, more generally, when we tell her to do something (or stop doing something else), we're to be obeyed because we have her safety at heart*.
On a more amusing note, she has developed a minor ritual to try to stop ol' Baba making her do things that she doesn't want to do, such as take a bath or go to bed. When she gets the Warning Order ("OK, kiddo: it's about time to ---"), she does the following:
1. Lower lip starts to go out
2. Look of distress appears on vis.
3. Runs to Mama or, even better, Laolao
4. Climbs into maternal lap
5. Clings to maternal neck like it's the last lifeboat on the Titanic
6. Looks at me, waves pitiably, and says, "Night-night" as if to say, "Well, since bedtime is on your mind, why don't YOU go and I'll stay here"
Apparently, she thinks that this will cause me to go away and stop bothering her. Unfortunately for her, it merely elicits a laugh... and she gets the bath or goes to bed anyway.**
I should note that I unburdened my woes to an older friend of mine who laughed and said, "If you think the Terrible Twos are bad, wait until the Terrible Fourteens!"
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(*) OK, yes: her safety, but also our peace of mind and bank account!
(**) I often remark that I don't get her aversion to baths and bed, which I gather is common in small children. I LIKE taking a long hot shower, and the only thing I like better than napping for an hour is napping for two hours.
