Thursday, July 17, 2008

The Princess


I love the terrible twos. In fact, I don't think they're terrible at all. I was not a big fan of the terrible ones (really from about 14 months to 22 months), but two? Two is great! Becca is full of personality and imagination. She has always been pretty even-tempered and continues to be. We don't have many tantrums or crying, and if we do, they are short-lived. I can reason with her, bargain with her, bribe her with lollipops....what's not to love? She can play by herself (for a few short moments) and is rarely whiny.

Since I'm not doing a good job of writing this stuff down anywhere, I figure I should at least do it here. Here are some of my favorite things she is doing these days. She says:

"Scoop over!" instead of scoot over.

"Plip Plops" are flip flops.

When she wants me to pick her up she says, "I wan' hold you."

She is obsessed with princesses. We spend lots of time reenacting scenes from Cinderella, especially the scene where the mean stepsisters rip Cinderella's pink dress. Then, "Cinderella" runs to the garden to cry and to wait for the fairy godmother. Becca spends lots of time draped over the bottom steps "crying" after I "rip" her dress.

Since she is usually Cinderella, she has started assigning everyone else personas as well. I am currently "Gus Gus," one of Cinderella's mouse friends. Come to think of it, Gus Gus does appear to be in his third trimester. She just calls me Gus Gus all the time, instead of "Mom." The other night, she woke up crying at about 3 a.m. When I went in to check on her she said, "Gus Gus, I need something to wipe my tears."

Sometime she assigns me other personas. Yesterday she yelled down the basement stairs to me, "Prince Charming! Come up here right now!"

She refuses to take this blue dress off. It used to be my sister's in the 80s and my cousins' in the 90s. We use it as a dress-up dress, and I have to wrench it from her white-knuckled grip to launder it (as you can tell from the picture, I may have to fight that particular fight today as it has fresh cherry juice on the front). She thinks it looks like Cinderella's ball gown. I think it looks more like an Amish farm girl. But, potatoes, pahtahtos. Either way, she has to wear her Snow White princess shoes with it.

Her grandparents sent her this adorable princess cowgirl hat from Texas. She delightedly put it on and was prancing around the house, until I called her "cowgirl" one too many times. Then she declared, "I am NOT a cowgirl. I am a PRINCESS," and took it off. Only after pointing out to her that this hat has a princess crown on it did she put it back on.
She is obsessed with things matching. When she gets a reward M&M she only wants whatever color matches her outfit, which is usually this blue dress. We are running out of blue M&Ms.
Life just seems so much easier these days than it did this time last year. We can spend a morning together inside the house without either of us going (too) crazy. We can talk, hold conversations, play, decide what we want to do today....it is a great phase. I now know why people stop us in the store and say, "That was such a wonderful age. Enjoy it while you can." I am enjoying it....I really am.

11 comments:

Kayris said...

Two was easy. Three, on the other hand, was really hard. The closer Johnny gets to 4, the easier he is and the more pleasant it is to be around him.

Both my kids love hats. They'd go bananas over that pink cowgirl hat!

Angie said...

Katie, our little girls would have so much fun playing together! Ashlyn also plays out that same scene from Cinderella, and has for nearly a year.

I also didn't think two was so very terrible, though it was probably more like 26 months that I thought things improved. Of course, there are still days that I want to rip my hair out, but it is so much nicer to be able to communicate easily. Of course, then I was freaking out because things were going so well, and here we were messing it up with a baby! (which turned out to be less stressful than I anticipated.)

Allen and I were also just saying that we enjoy Ashlyn even more now that she is 3. So, so far 3 is good, too. You know, the whole 3 weeks of it we've experienced!

Unknown said...

Not feeling it as much on this end. Today, Olivia cut her hair and her sister's hair. Where was I? Who knows, who cares, she knows better (yes, kid safety scissors do cut hair)!

She's afraid of the Cinderella movie - but, will watch Lord of the Rings with Matt and not bat an eye.

She tells me daily that I don't understand her and recently threw her sister off her bed and caused a nasty bruise on her cheek.

However, right now, she's pretending an ironing board is her bed and earlier played nicely at the beach with a friend. The cut hair is barely noticable. So, I guess it evens out...most days.

Lila's still at the age I find adorable. She's screaming "jump" in Portuguese and trying to play nicely with her sister...

The Quinn Report said...

Salem is getting to the "fun age"; we're not fully there, but halfway!

When she wants me to pick her up, she says something similar: "Mommy, I hold you!"

How's the nap thing going? Salem has been banning them and it is driving up the freakin' wall!

Andrea and Ben said...

How fun!! She looks so cut ein her "cinderella" dress (though I agree, amish may be a better description) and pink hat - too cute!!

Anonymous said...

That just made me really excited for the coming months with Saffran. Maybe she'll start talking soon or perhaps get some more teeth (we're currently at 3).

Anonymous said...

I, too, think 2 is fun, but I am envious of no-whining. Bo is such a whiner and it drives me up the wall. It has only gotten worse now that Sam is around. Hopefully this phase won't last very long because it sucks (but overall, 2 is a fun age).

Tracy said...

And you were afraid of the princesses? I am LOVING Cait's age. So far 3's are pretty good.

Jen said...

Gus Gus. HAHAHA! That is hysterical. And then that she called you 'Prince Charming'. Too Cute.

Becca is just beautiful, Katie! She looks so much like you in these pictures, too.

I think you are probably right on the twos. I think that is one of the hardest things about having my girls so close in age - I don't feel like I get to spend much quality time with each of them alone. When I do, they are both so fun, though!

Joel and Angela said...

I thought two was great with the girls too! Now Luke on the other hand is quite different than his sisters. She is so adorable in her pink cowgirl princess hat. She seems like such a sweet girl!

Anonymous said...

I got so sick of princess dresses during age 2 & 3. That's ALL Taylor ever wore, and I remember several times telling her "today you're wearing normal clothes like a normal person for a change!". Looking back, it makes me realize that's one of the things I liked best about that age. She wore it because she thought she looked beautiful and it didn't matter that no one else at the grocery store was dressed like that. Sadly, I think that's the last time most girls ever feel that way, at least for a long time. Even at 5, it's all about what the other girls are doing. Sigh....enjoy it. : )