Thursday, March 20, 2008

In an ideal world...

** sorry, you may have to click on these to actually read the captions, as I'm not technically capable enough to know how to make them any bigger










***

You know, no baby book, no parenting story, no advice from friends could EVER have prepared me for how hard this bit is.

Two and a half.

A few months ago I scoffed at the idea of Terrible Twos ... maybe we've missed it, I thought.

HA!!

It was coming alright.

On the one hand with the increasing vocab comes increasing cuteness and wonder, but also raising its ugly head is the delightful spectre of...

Boundary pushing

Limit pushing

And just plain pushing (mostly occurs when the prospect of a nappy change arises).

Lordy, I hope to make it through this phase in one piece.

***

On a far more zen note, I am reading a truly sensational book. A book that I can feel creeping into my heart and mind with every page, a book that is changing my life sentence by sentence. It is called Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

And I am in love with it.

I want to greedily consume every word right now, but I also don't want it to end.

Essentially it is about one woman's search to 'find herself' after a messy break-up, a divorce etc. She takes a year out and heads to Italy, India and Indonesia.

A friend lent me this book and its words are leaping off the page and into my soul.

Eloquent, beautiful, life changing.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Anisha turned two in the middle of the simpson desert, people warned me of the terrrible twos. I had 6mths of bliss, then it happened right on 2 and a half, my little angel changed. I couldn't go anywhere!! The walk to the shops, just couldn't be done anymore!! I couldn't stand people looking at the scenes she caused. So for 6mths i would only go shopping if i had someone else to help me, or just go on my own. When she was almost 3 she chilled out, about the time we started to go to playgroup together ,once a week at the local church. Where we spent a couple of hours, after she got a dose of her own medicine playing with other children, she snapped out of it, 'cause we don't want to be naughty like those other children, do we'
Oh the joys of it all, and i will have to go thru it again in a years time, at least im a little more prepared, i think??

kurrabikid said...

Phew ... good to me it's not just me. Also good to know that this will pass!

kurrabikid said...

I meant to write 'good to know' ... so tired...

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I like to meet other bloggers who are 'aghast' by apostrophe abuse!

I'd like to say, 'Hang in there, once you hit three, it all changes." But with a 4 year old to use as my evidence, the 'pushing' just keeps going!

Welcome to my nightmare!

KPB said...

it is criminal what happens to our smoochable babies at the age anywhere between 18 months and three. Felix was fine - as fine as a screaming non sleeper can be - until three and then it hit hard. For a year.
Oscar never had it - I figure there are few upsides to having a kid with special needs so if that was it, tops.
Jasper - OH.MY.LORD. Use the wrong tone of voice? Offer food or beverage at the wrong time? Put the wrong Thomas the Effing Engine DVD on? Look.at.him.? - then heaven help your soul and do something to protect your hearing. The wailing, the throwing of self on the floor, the need.to.negotiate., the tears, the more tears and then some more.
Combine it with the dropping of a day sleep and hello the best birth control you will ever need.

Just as Juliette didn't got anywhere when Oscar and Felix were about 4 and 2 I didn't take them anywhere other than the occasional gated open-air park for the better part of a year because it was just too stressful. I believe this is the reason Felix exclaimed, 'look at all these books' when I took him to a library when he was about 5.

The thing is - and really, if I hadn't got better at it by #3 and #4 then someone better get DOCS onto my sorry arse - I think I've sussed it out now - I can beat most of the meltdowns off at the pass with distraction, a change of voice, a bribe, a tickle, whatever works in that moment.

But man, is it not the most isolating, solitary, hard thing you've ever done? It is just so tiring and draining and demoralising.

But - and again, some hindsight here - something happens at around 3.5 and definitely by 4 - they just 'get older' and it is delicious.

Oh- and I've heard many rave about that book. She is an Oprah fave apparently.