The throes of the Terrible Twos

Jasmine is now 2 1/2. That must mean we've dealt with the "terrible twos" for at least the last 6 (7) months, right?

I love her even more today than I did when she was taking her first steps, saying her first words or taking her first breath. She is a constant joy. She tells me everything on her mind now. She has a terrific sense of humor. She loves to help me (yesterday I was vacuuming the radiator with the attachment, and she was helping as I did it). Yesterday she decided Bekah's baby doll was tired, so she "nursed" her to sleep.

She is still high-needs (or at least higher-needs than Bekah). She still needs to nurse to sleep for her naps. She has definite ideas about what should be done, when it should be done, and heaven help anyone who doesn't understand her (though most of the time a complete stranger could understand her, as long as they remembered that "Esla" is Cinderella and "uppadupt" is pullup. Everything else is pretty accurate, with 90% of her R's and L's in the appropriate place)

We have moments. Every so often, more often when she's short on sleep or hasn't had enough snuggle time, we have a meltdown. She does test us, kicking gently when I tell her not to kick, just to see how much she can get away with.

But those moments are very infrequent.

I know when I'm having a bad day, it's easy to focus on all the "bad stuff" in my life. And when I worked at Wegmans, it was the one cranky customer I remembered instead of the 19 pleasant, normal people. So I know how easy it would be to focus on the meltdowns, and to say, "Oh yeah, she's in the terrible twos."

But that would be short-changing her. I love how sweet she is. I love her games. I love her voice (and almost inaudible whisper). I love that she prays for us when we're hurt. I love that she says "snuggle daddy" if we're outside and it's windy. And that she likes to choose the shopping cart to ride in.

On that note, here is the top ten list of life with Jasmine.

10. did you know you can get a milk mustache drinking from a sippy cup?
9. better learn what "baydayday" means (bandaid)
8. some of the more obscure lines of movies may become her favorites ("Mary Poppins. Is that your name? it's lovely.")
7. batteries make everything work.
6. remote controls ("clickers") make all DVDs play, even when she wants one that's not in the player already.
5. all parallel lines (pinstripes) mean Yankees.
4. All card games should sound like Pit. ("two-two-two-two-two")
3. "spider" is not an 8-legged critter. (It's apple cider)
2. Just because Jenny is a doll doesn't mean she shouldn't look at herself in the mirror when she has a hat on.
1. one word: "jumpoline"