Lately Marida has been in a hectic/frantic/destructive/desperate mood much of the time. There are days when she is all smiles and giggles, but (more often) there are days where all she does is roam the house, screaming at the top of her lungs while giant tears of agony roll down her face. These are the times when she is all but inconsolable, and it has become nigh unbearable for Steve and I to handle her. Why is she crying? What's the matter with her? What on earth is so wrong in her world? These are the questions we've been asking ourselves for weeks. And today - this nondescript, cloudy Tuesday - I've come up with the answer. The TERRIBLE TWO'S.
The realization hit me this morning as I was lugging bags out to the car in preparation for our 8 day Spokane trip (which starts tomorrow). Marida saw me walk out the front door and, devestated by me going outside while she was left to wallow in the prison that is the house, she stood at the front window, squeekily wiping her fists up and down the glass and screaming her little head off. Tired, exhausted and cranky Micah thought, 'What the hell is the matter with her?!' Then calm, rational and focused Micah (who has not been making nearly enough appearances lately) piped up with the thought, 'This must be why they call it the Terrible Two's.'
OF COURSE!!! It all makes sense!! THIS is what everyone has warned me about! THIS is why my hair has become 1/5 more gray in the last 5 weeks!
Now I know what you're thinking: 'Of course it's the Terrible Two's Micah, what the hell else did you think it was? It's not like this is your first kid, afterall.' But the fact of the matter is, in some ways this IS my first kid. You see, Maron was such a good baby, and such a good toddler that she lulled Steve and I into a false sense of security. We had no idea that Maron's behavior and attitude were the exception and not the rule. We spent the first two years of her life enjoying a calm, happy bliss and wondering what all the other parents in the world were bitching about. Then Marida came along, and it turns out SHE is what babies and toddlers are really like.
Can I just take a moment and say... HOLY [EXPLETIVE DELETED]. This girl - this sweet, beautiful, smiley little girl - has suddenly turned into this 30 lb ball of angst and defiance. She's turned into the girl who climbs onto everything, and reaches for everything that she's not supposed to have. And when I take the sharpie away from her, or pull her down from the exercise bike, she starts screaming and crying like the world is coming to an end. Apparantly every day that I tell her "NO" is the worst day of her life. And her denied chance of pulling the scaliding hot cup of coffee onto her head? That's the worst thing that's ever happened to anybody in the history of the world.
I love my daughter. I really, really do. And no matter how much she screams and cries I will continue to love her to the end of the world. But today is one of those days when I ask myself, "How did any child anywhere ever live past the age of 2?"
