The Terrific and Terrible Twos

It's been quite some time since I did a post entirely about Ryan.  I've done so many updates about Rory the last few months, but in reality, Ryan changes just as much from month to month as Roars does.  She is only a couple of months away from being a three year old which in and of itself amazes me, but since she is still a two year old as of now, I think a post about how simultaneously terrible and terrific two years of age has been with our eldest child is in order.

Terrifically Independent:  Ryan has developed such independence these days which is honestly a great blessing, especially when I'm dealing with her little sister.  She plays extremely well on her own, she can be asked to do small tasks like grabbing a diaper or her shoes, she can go up and down the stairs by herself, get into her chair at the table and find a movie on the iPad all without help.  It is certainly nice when, as a Mom, you feel like you finally don't have to do every little thing for your child.

Terribly Independent:  The problem comes with the fact that she also thinks that she can do EVERYTHING on her own.  She wants to buckle herself in the car, get herself food out of the pantry,  walk in the street by herself and basically do everything by herself, which means once simple tasks now take much longer and I have to do things like clean up an entire tub of oatmeal that fell out of the pantry closet as a result of Ryan helping herself to some pretzels.

Terrifically Imaginative:  She has such an imaginative mind.  I regularly hear her playing with her toys, coming up with games to play with the bottles of lotion or pretending she is the mommy to her baby dolls.  She stacks blocks and pushes them around as if they were cars, builds castles with the DVD boxes, does Dr. check ups on her babies and cooks dinner for us all with the help of her play kitchen.  She creates all sorts of fun games in her two year old head.

Terribly Imaginative:  With that ever increasing imagination, she has also begun to be scared of monsters, dinosaurs, and who knows what else at night.  Bedtime has become a challenge and our once great sleeper has recently become significantly more difficult to deal with than her infant counterpart.  I have had some extremely frustrating nights with her because I refuse to let her sleep in our bed and yet I want to acknowledge that her fears are real and therefore I need to help her work through them.  It is a hard line to walk, especially at 3:00am.

Terrifically Verbal: This child of mine has always been quite the talker.  Even at a few months old, she was a constant babbler and that has never really stopped.  She has extremely strong verbal skills and at a doctors appointment around age 2.5 years, the pediatrician said she had the verbal skills of a four year old.  She can communicate anything and everything to me that she needs to.  She sings all kinds of songs, "reads" books, and lets you know what she wants and when she wants it.  She cracks me up daily with the things that come out of her mouth.  She regularly tells me that she loves me and that I'm her best friend or that she loves her "stis-ter" or that Daddy is her pal.  She loves to exclaim that ice cream is "licious" as in "delicious," and whenever I suggest something fun to do, like going to the park, she says "Oh that's a good idea Mommy!"  If Rory is upset or crying, I'll hear Ryan say things to her like "It's okay Rory, Mommy's coming, don't be sad."

Terribly Verbal:  Of course there are many words that come out of her mouth that are not nearly so sweet.  I've heard the word no so many times that I sometimes feel like my head is going to explode. Recently she said "Mommy! I'm made with you!  Why you make me cry?" after I wouldn't let her do something she wanted to do.  She tells me to leave her alone or get out of her room when she's angry and I want to laugh almost every time because it's so hilarious that this attitude is coming out of her little two year old mouth and yet it also infuriates me to no end.  We also need to work on what is appropriate to say outside of the house and what isn't.  For instance, she is very interested in ahem...anatomy these days.  Josh and I have decided to teach her the anatomical words for everything if she asks and the other day at the mall, she exclaimed to a woman in the bathroom, "I"m Ryry and this is my nose and these are my eyes and this is my gina!"  Oh good Lord child.  I left the bathroom slightly red faced but also with tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

Terrifically Determined: When she wants to accomplish something, she does.  Or at least, she works extremely hard trying to.  She loves to build castles and color and organize things.  She wants to do everything the bigger kids are doing or the adults and will regularly follow older kids around the playground.  She will move stools or chairs around the house in order to get things off the counter or table as well.

Terribly Strong-Willed:  Her determination also rears its head in terms of being extremely strong-willed.  She throws stage 5 tantrums when she wants to do something and I won't let her.  There are days where I find it very challenging to deal with her because everything seems to be a fight.  I am the queen of letting her throw tantrums no matter where we are because I refuse to give in to her demands, but that has lead to a number of very loud outings and I'm sure there are many customers out there that are really sick of "The Ryan Show."  I swear I wanted to drop kick her in the grocery store the other day!

Terrifically Emotion Filled:  When Ryan is excited about something, her excitement is contagious.  I can basically light up her whole world by saying we can go outside or that she can have a popsicle after dinner or put color bombs and bubbles in the bath tub or see her best friend Avery.  She jumps and screams and giggles and starts talking a mile a minute, which is saying something cause the kid never shuts up.  She is a little love bug always wanting to give hugs and kisses, hold hands, dance around the house in your arms and cuddle on the couch to watch a movie.

Terribly Emotion Filled: She may be an excitable and loving little two year old when you do something she likes, but oh boy when she's angry, watch out.  Her tantrums make me want to pull my hair out and I've resorted to time outs and being sent to her room recently just so I don't have to hear the screaming as much.  It amazes me that such a little person can make so much noise!  There are days where it seems I can't ask her to do anything, changing her diaper (yes we're still in diapers) is the biggest challenge, and even though she loved macaroni and cheese last week, she's flat out refusing it this week like I'm trying to feed her asparagus.  I gotta hand it to her, the kid knows what she wants and what she doesn't.

Ultimately, Ryan Cathleen is our little spitfire.  She loves life and her smile and laughter are contagious.  She is Daddy's girl, my best friend and the most amazing big sister to Rory.  She may drive me absolutely bonkers some days but I feel so blessed to be this terribly terrific two year olds Mama.