Whew...

This week will be a challenge. I hope I can survive. It's especially difficult to have a little girl who is so darn cute but so darn ornery. I feel like we're telling her to stop doing something or "NO" constantly. When we're not doing that, she is in a time-out or upset about something. Needless to say, turning 2 has been tough on all of us. Bee's teachers tell us it's the case of "The TErrible Two's" and my mom also agreed that if we get it bad at 2, then 3 will be easier. I sure hope so! Even though she's still our Princess Peanut, she is still Miss Personality and has unleashed a bossy side of her lately, as well as a very VOCAL side too....as in LOUD. She demands me to turn up the music in the car "mommy turn up music NOW!" she'll say. We've been working on saying "please" and saying it nicely--so, we're getting there. Also, when she wants something, she starts yelling, like..."Nooooo want mommy now!"

The biting phase has seemed to have subsided, THANK GOD. But now, she's on to hitting. She hit a girl in the eye the other day b/c she didn't want M. to sit next to her in the circle. Nice Brynn. I am not sure where she is learning these behaviors, or if she's just doing it all on her own, but it is still frustrating. It also explains why M's parents steered clear of us at the zoo last weekend. And who could blame them? Anyway, we're just trying to be patient and get through each of these little "Angry" phases of hers one at a time.

On another note, she's definitely showing that she's jealous of Mr. Big man Baylen. She wants us to hold her hands like we hold Baylen's to help him practice walking. She wants us to carry and hold/cuddle her like a baby. She wants to get in his crib every chance she gets. She wants to try baby food. She babbles like a little baby instead of using her words. She wants us to put her in the bouncer or in the saucer to try it out. She has a fit when he's in the stroller and she's not. So, we're also working through this too. It has helped when I spend time with her--just her and I, like going to the mall together, or to a craft show, or even to the grocery store. She needs that separation from him and time with just me. I feel bad for her b/c she is a great big sister, but I get how she needs time with just "her" without Baylen always gettin' in her space.

Despite the fact that we have been struggling with the Terrible Two's, she is also so freaking hilarious. She says and does the funniest things and we are constantly cracking up at the things that come out of her mouth. It's amazing how she can pick up word tenses/plurals/singulars of different words and how she can hear something once and remember how to use it in the correct context. She's learning how to pretend, and that's hilarious. She also will hear songs on the radio and can sing the chorus after only hearing them a handful of times, or hear a story read to her a handful of times and be able to "read it back" to me from memorization. It's pretty cute and impressive too. :) She is so curious and always asking, "Mommy what is that?" and always listens to my explanations of things. It's so crazy to see how fast she's growing up and how she's so interested in the world around her. She remembers so many things and talks about how she remembers them, like riding the horse at the Farms a couple of weeks ago, her birthday party and the pinata we hit, etc. She tells me what they did at school that day when I pick her up and always asks her daddy and I when we walk in the door, "Mommy, how was your day? and Daddy, how was your day?" It's just so cool.