My first encounter with the term Terrible Two's was while watching a
child care programme on TV. I did not pay much attention to it since my
daughter Anushka was just a few months old then. I will cross the bridge when
it comes, I had thought. I have reached
the bridge now. Anushka turned two few days back and this birthday has brought
a load of new nuisance and surprises with it.
For those who are not aware of
this funny jargon, let me make it simpler for you. Terrible Two's is a phase in a child’s development where s/he
plainly refuses to understand the meaning of NO and throws some unimaginable
tantrums. This so called definition is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so
much more to it if you try to fathom it.
So, how can my daughter be
different in that sense?
For a start, Anushka is becoming
fiercely independent. She no longer wants her mamma to feed her. She wants to
see how she can create a mess with food, eat less and drop more on the floor. She
wants to try a particular food with spoon though it is meant to be eaten with
hands, chappati being one of the examples. And if you hand over a spoon to her for dal or
vegetables, she would poke the food as long as she can and till it starts dancing
out of her plate. She wants to soap herself during the bath. She wants to wear
her dresses on her own. This is a good development but exasperating when you
know that she will take half an hour for a job which you can do just in 5
minutes!!!
Next, she is jealous of her mamma
relaxing and taking a break from household chores. The moment I sit on
the sofa and close my eyes for a while, there she comes with her preschool
books, nudging me to teach her. Before you think that she is such a sweet child
who is interested in books from so early days, hold on. She has learnt every
book by heart and knows each picture in and out. I am tired of teaching her
same thing repeatedly. And I do not want to buy new books because they will
meet the same condition as the old ones –each page dissected from its original
place.
What do I say about her mood
swings? One moment she goes gaga over the new crayons her papa bought her and
next you know, she throws them away, crying at the highest pitch of her voice because mamma refused to let her paint the
walls. And I thought it is only us women
who have mood swings thanks to the games that our hormones play!!!
How does she vent out her anger
or frustration? She loves to watch us scream in pain when she would appear out
of nowhere and bites us anywhere she pleases to choose. And I must say sometimes she makes interesting
choice of our body parts to dig her teeth into.
She is a big time attention
seeker. Her highness needs to be entertained and kept engaged every second of
her waking hour. Or else, the TV remote control would be snatched away.
Newspaper and magazines would be pulled out of our hands. Laptop keyboard would
be hammered nonstop till we switch it off. And so on.
Anushka has mastered the art of
switching between being an infant and toddler. She would listen to the
instructions carefully and execute them thoroughly to your utter surprise. You
would think that she has matured. Few minutes later, she would not heed anything
I say, no matter what. As if I am talking Latin and Greek to her. As if I am
talking much above her intelligence level. She would look innocently at me and just
give a million dollar cute smile. I fail to comprehend if she is mocking me.
Exploring things around her is
her latest pastime. Fearlessly. The word dangerous does not ring any bell to
her. She would precariously sit on the armrest of the sofa seat or climb on the
edge of chair to get hold of something on the dining table. As if some sixth
sense tells her that there is someone behind her back to look after her. I wish
we adults had the same liberty and daring to act before thinking. Her favourite
amusement is to play hide and seek games with her mamma. Especially during brushing the teeth, potty training, changing diapers and change of clothes. She makes me run to and
fro after her. I have a gut feeling that she is challenging me into losing all
those extra kilos piled up on my body after pregnancy.
This girl drove me crazy even
before she was born and hasn’t stopped yet. She was born 17 days after her due
date with a C section operation. She would not sleep a single wink during the
day during her early months. She crawled at 10 months. She walked at 17 months.
And now, she hasn’t started talking much yet. I mean I sometimes feel adult
abused by her. I wonder why people just talk about child abuse. What about the
mental and physical harassment games that the children play with the adults?
I understand that Anushka is just
being her age. It is a normal growing phase for her. I also know when and where
to discipline her. These days would soon be sweet memories captured in my heart.
It would not be long before I miss her pure and innocent joie de vivre. BUT all the things apart, this Terrible Two's thing is
giving me a ride of lifetime…
I am going to leave you to read
this beautiful and the most appropriate poem on Terrible Two's I came across on a website www.poems-and-quotes.com.
There's crayon marks on my walls,
and toys up and down the hall,
There's something that used to be a couch, its true
now it's turned into just a cool-aid stain for two.
This morning i found a toy in my shoe,
but then again i guess that's nothing new,
There's a girl who screams" no, no!"
until my anger starts to show,
There's a girl who wants a cookie and whines until she gets,
I do have to say she's getting good at those little fits!
There's "Sponge Bob Squarepants" on my t.v. all day long,
I swear I'm gonna scream if i hear another "Blues Clues" song!
She tells me NO! when i say it's time to sleep,
and there never seems to be a time she don't make a peep!
Everyone says it's a natural thing she's going through,
But i swear i don't know what I'm gonna do!
These terrible two's are going to kill me!
i guess I'll just hope it gets better when she's three!
