Terrible-Two's Ain't Got Nothin on Three

Oh, my girl. You know how people talk about the terrible two's? Up and down I said, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout?! Two is the BOMB!"

Okay, maybe not in those words exactly, but pretty close. I loved two with her! She could speak in full sentences, which was awesome because we no longer had to play the guessing game with her. She was eager to do little things for me (like grab a diaper for me from Pato's room) without asking, "Whhhhhyyy?"  

We are now over a month into three...and basically we're pros around here at this three thing. Basically.

And now I get it when people said, "Forget two. No, wait till three!" Three is where it's at, folks. And by IT, I mean the fact that my toddler is now a full fledged little person with thinggggs. Opinion thinggggs. Emotion thinggggs. Whine-y thingggggs. And saying NO to lots of thinggggs. In the words of S herself: "draaaaammmaa!"

Dress c/o Little Hip Squeaks

It's something I'm getting used to. Having a little one who observes all and has an opinion on all things. I feel like I'm re-learning mom things daily. Just when I thought I had my groove down...bam. Time to step back and re-evaluate. Just when I thought I was doing okay on the patience meter, I realized that I could always work on it some more. More and more often I'll find S upset about one thing or another (ie. she doesn't want her her hair up OR down, she wants breakfast but doesn't want anything we have in the house, etc.) and more and more often I've found that I need to close my eyes, take a breath and ask, "Sweetheart, do you need a hug?" She almost always says yes, and thank goodness because part of me really really needs that hug for my own sanity. 

I'm writing this not to complain about my daughter, but to admit that I'm not a perfect mom. I have times where I just open the door and beg my kids to play outside so I can have a few minutes of quiet time. And my kids are not perfect either. The beauty of life is that none of us are perfect, and that's kind of a great thing. 

I'll give this professional three year old some credit though. When she kneels down and says her personal prayer every night, she always prays for everyone she loves. She prays for her cousins, her aunts and uncles, her primary teachers and for our family. Today she prayed that, "Heavenly Father will help us take care of our bodies." She loves having "family-meeting" (FHE) every week, and always wants to give the lesson. She has the biggest heart.

So maybe she's a little extra whine-y lately. And maybe sometimes I would rather rip my hair out than hear another second of it. But, when I hear my little girl's heartfelt (and wiggly) prayer, I know I have a best friend at my side. She and I will do this growing thing together.

I just hope I can keep up.