From the day she was born she's always been a sweet girl and amazingly easy-going, but I have to admit that she might possibly, maybe, hopefully not, be entering "the terrible 2's!" My first clue was when she started getting out of her bed. You see, for the first two months of having her big girl bed, not once did she step even one toe out of that bed. Then suddenly she started getting out all the time! I'd find "evidence" after almost every nap time or night time... sometimes it was a toy that wasn't in her bed when I put her down, sometimes it was her shoes that mysteriously got themselves out of her closet and landed next to her bed, other times I'd walk in and the light would be on and she's be looking at me like, "What, mom?" Now it's just blatant and she makes no effort to hide it. Most of the time I hear her roaming around, so I go in and check on her. The minute she hears the door start to open she'll make a beeline for the bed and start crying, cause she knows she's going to get a spanking. I always sit her down and make her look me in the eyes and say, "Claire, I told you not to get out of bed. You disobeyed. What do you say?" Then she'll apologize and say she was wrong and I'll kiss her and tuck her back in bed. Ten minutes later, she's out again and we repeat the process.
And this process is repeated with everything else too. I tell her not to throw food off her plate. She throws it. I spank her. She apologizes. I forgive her. We resume eating. Next mealtime, I leave her alone for two seconds and when I come back, food is mysteriously on the floor again and she's closing her eyes and trying to hide her face from me. It's an endless cycle it seems. Not to mention the whining, the constant noise-making, the freak-outs when she doesn't get her way... so yes, Claire is growing up and asserting herself more and more, which means sometimes this 2 1/2 year-old is terrible.
But then she's also incredibly sweet. Along with the independence comes lots of mimicking as she tries to learn from me. She's constantly telling me, "Good job momma!!" whenever I do anything she thinks is praiseworthy (usually that's something like dressing Clay or washing dishes). She also like to say, "Oh, oopsie. I'm sorry momma" and then laugh at herself whenever she messes up or does something silly. I guess that's what I do when I makes mistakes??? :)
My favorite thing is having her do her makeup with me. I usually get ready in the morning while Clay naps and Claire likes to follow me into my bathroom and participate. She stands on the toilet next to me and brushes her hair and puts on my "bandaids" (hairbands... she can't differentiate the two because they both have 'band' in them) and often asks me to "make a ponytail in her hair." Then while I put my make-up on, she smears on all three kinds of my chapstick, curls her eyelashes (basically she just puts it over her eyes and says "I see you!") and rubs my powder brush all over her face (don't worry, I don't use that one). When I'm done I say, "We're all done!" and we both look in the mirror and she says, "Ooo we look so nice momma!" Then sometimes she marches into my closet and says, "What you should wear momma? Oh, how 'bout 'dis?" and she'll pull a dress off the hanger or a shirt off the shelf. She's always so complimentary of me. And I try to be positive about her and myself. I don't ever want her to think she's not pretty enough or skinny enough or tan enough because she's heard me complain about myself.
She also loves to sing! Sometimes she makes up songs, but mostly she sings from memory. Every night when we put the kids to bed, we sing to them. I used to think Claire wasn't even listening until one day I heard her singing "There Is A Redeemer" in the backseat of the car. The one that took me the longest to figure out was "In Christ Alone." She only sings "what heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease, my Comforter, my All in All" and then she repeats it. The only problem is, she's 2, so the words are just sounds to her and get jumbled together. I finally figured out what she was singing when I figured that "my tomforter"was "Comforter" and "awinaw" was "All in All." I love hearing her sing, even if it's the theme song from Dora the Explorer. Claire's little voice is just so sweet!
So there ya go! She's still a sunny little girl, just with a bit more stubbornness these days. I am so thankful for her, even when she wears me out. I realize my need for patience and love daily and am constantly humbled by my inadequacy. I'm also amazed by her love for me, even when I fail as a parent. At the end of every day, after all the spankings and crying fits and rebukes and apologies, she still wants me to hold her and sing to her. What a gift!
Psalm 127:3
"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward."
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