Joanna: terrible twos

Don't let this picture fool you!  

I love Joanna but oh my... she's going through her terrible twos already! 

 She's not even 2 years old yet.  Well... okay she's close.  She's now 20 months old.  It is possible that a sweet looking toddler can have such attitude?! It's pretty bad and I'm not even kidding.  Joanna at this age thinks she is the boss of Matt and I.  Yep!  For example; we'll tell her to "come here". Her reactions? Sometimes she'll turn away, pout and say "NO".  Or just run away like it's a chasing game.  *gasps* It's funny at first but then over time it's like okay that's enough. We want her to obey. Her attitude sure wasn't pretty! Especially, when she doesn't listen. What has happened to my sweet baby?!  Of course, we're parenting our child.  Child training does works!!  I like to be reminded of this Bible verse. 

Proverbs 22: 6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

And yes, I do get frustrated sometime, don't we all?  Here's why...Joanna cries when she doesn't get her way. She'll even get mad but thankfully Matt can handle this situation pretty well.  We always somehow managed to help each other out.  I have a lesson that I need to learn as a parent.  I need to remember not to give in to my child so that she won't do it again. I've made a mistake when we've ordered hamburger and french fries.  Why?  Because Matt and I wanted Joanna to eat her hamburger first but Joanna refuses and wanted french fries instead.  I saw what she wanted. And what did I do?  Yes, I gave her some french fries and made her happy. I like that she was happy but she wasn't eating her hamburger.  Daddy said what I was doing wasn't going to do any good and that I was teaching her to get what she wanted (I don't remember what he said word for word but I get the message he was trying to help me see.)  Sighs.  I wasn't even trying... I just wanted to feed my hungry baby girl.  Matt assured me she wasn't starving.  I can see where I did not succeed.  I just have to try harder not to let her win, you know?  It's hard but I must let her know that I am in authority, not her.

I like to find ways to look at the good instead of the bad (when she refuses to listen, et cetera) because Joanna still amazes me!  When she isn't bad, she's really a sweetheart!  I like it when she gives me kisses unexpectedly or even give me a hug. When she does, it just melts my heart.  

Hurry terrible twos!  I can't wait for you to pass! (but then there's Peter)