Tales of a 2 year old

As I've mentioned a few times now, my eldest daughter tends to keep us on our toes. She was born intelligent, no I am not boasting or biased, it's just a fact. Her intelligence has absolutely nothing to do with me, I can guarantee that! She was also born with ants in her pants, she literally cannot keep still. When I was pregnant with her I used to say it was like having a ninja octopus growing inside me, I had bruised ribs for weeks and have a video that clearly shows her jumping on the bed.. from inside my womb. Freaky doesn't even cover it.

The first day she was born she stayed awake for over 8 hours and as we didn't really know any different we just assumed this was the beginning of the normal baby induced sleep deprivation. It didn't take us long however to figure out that actually our little one week old was suffering from a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out). Any noise, any movement, anything at all would stop her sleeping or eating and excuse the over sharing but my nipples were raw from her suddenly pulling off them to spin around and see what was going on, she actually tore one at one point and as soon as her first tooth came through I decided I wasn't risking it any more!

When she was a little older and we were trying the whole "put her in the cot half asleep and let her fall asleep herself" malarky we were despairing at how someone so small could fight sleep for so bloody long! She moved so much and so continuously that we had to pin her down to give her a fighting chance of going to sleep. I have pictures from the baby cam that look like major child abuse is going on as you can't tell that the hands are only gently holding her still rather than in a vice like grip, even so it could take 30-40 minutes holding her still for her to finally drift off. I used to think it was something I had done, was I too quiet at the beginning, did I let her fall asleep feeding too often, did I not do the pat-pat shh-shh correctly... A few people have tried to blame me for it, and thank god we have had another one since because otherwise I might have thought they were right. Now at least I am well aware that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with me!

Our second one sleeps like an absolute angel so far, I cannot tell you the difference. It's like I've been awarded a prize for dealing with all the sleep issues that the first one (still) has! Put the second one in the cot and off she goes all by herself without so much as a squeak. She sleeps in the car seat, in the pram, in her cot, on the sofa, in 35 degree heat... she's even fallen asleep mid playing on her play mat. Don't even try to tell it's because we are more relaxed with the second one or anything like that because I will only say to you over and over again.... There is no way I could have got it SO wrong in the first 24 hours of E's life that a brand new day old baby would stay awake for 8 hours. Not a chance.

So with all that said, we now have this intelligent, hyperactive, inquisitive 2 year old who still has major FOMO. She drives me absolutely crazy on a daily basis, mainly because at the moment her favourite question is "what are you doing?" which sounds so benign until its the 40th time she's asked it in the space of an hour and you're still doing the same thing you were when it started. I have resorted to asking her what she thinks I'm doing and most of the time she answers correctly, then asks again anyway. She's also going through the horrific phase of wanting whatever it is she said two minutes ago that she didn't want. We have endless conversations that go:

"Can you get ready for the bath please"

"No thank you, I don't want a bath" (yes she is very polite and always says please and thank you!)

"You don't want a bath? Ok, would you like a shower?"

"NO!!!! (starts crying) I want to get in the bath!!!"

It's not so much the terrible twos more like the terrible indecisions! 

Some days she has us in hysterics with the things she comes out with. When in England earlier this year we were out in the forest and a HUGE horse walked towards us, without thinking I said "woah, hello big boy" which went totally unnoticed by her, or so I thought. A few weeks ago my husband walked into the kitchen to be greeted with a deadpan "Hello big boy" from our 2 year old. He stoically managed to keep a straight face and breeze on past it.

A few days ago she asked him "Daddy like big girls?" it took us so much by surprise that neither of us could help but fall about laughing. I know I've put on a bit of weight but it did make me wonder what he had been saying! It turned out she was asking if he liked the song "big girls don't cry" but it did take us a while to get to the bottom of that one!

Sometimes it's hard to remember that she is only just 2, and I always get upset when I realise that I have been expecting a bit much from her and not letting her just act/be her age. Other times, I am painfully reminded of her age and the vulnerability that it brings, especially now when so much in her little world is changing. She woke me up countless times the other night and I decided to try to get to the bottom of it. Instead of getting annoyed I hugged her and talked to her. When her sleepy little voice said "mummy going away again? now?" my heart could easily have shattered for her. She had been so fine about me going to work and had made barely any fuss each time that I hadn't even thought that it was affecting her at all. The night before this one I had put her to bed and had left for work before she woke up, so now each time she goes to bed she is wondering if I'll be there in the morning. Thats a lot of worry for such a little person.

All I can do is keep trying to talk to her. I have never and will never lie to her, so if I have to go to work I will tell her thats the case, I won't be slipping out while she's sleeping without telling her, or leaving while she is distracted. As I say to her every time and she repeats to me, "Mummy always comes back" and for now, that will have to do.