Tantrum twos?

OK, so we're not the first parents in the world with a two year old. We're not even the first parents to have a two year old, who is independent, feisty, refuses to admit to having pookie nappies, only wants to feed herself unless she's too tired, and will NOT let you take bandaids off (and for some reason on M they are really sticky. I wish regular bandaids stuck to me like that, I wouldn't need my lifetime's supply of Elastoplast).
I think we had four or five tantrums before we left the house this morning, and that was early because I had a 7:30 meeting. Something terrible happened with Daddy in the kitchen while I was getting ready. Then something else cataclysmic happened over breakfast. After brekky, M played with some pencils Mumma had left on the kitchen bench the night before (doh!). There was a fair amount of coercion involved in getting her into the bathroom to brush her teeth. The pencils came too. Miss M was determined to touch the pencils after brushing her teeth ... but *before* she wiped her hands and mouth. Cue tantrum #3 (not sure how ignoring her in this scenario get her mouth wiped and tantrum stopped??). Number 4 was about getting into the car. And then another one upon getting out of the car.
Sometimes, during the tantrum, I can quiet her down by telling her to sit in the corner and calm down. This seems to be a Fate Worse Than Death, so M generally calms down. She then wants a kuggle (latest pronounciation of cuddle). We're probably not particularly strict about *not* giving a cuddle, and should be (but she's asking for a cuddle, and normally she won't stop long enough to let you kiss her cheek, let alone a real head tucked into the shoulder cuddle).
The escalation from "I'm not getting what I want" to screaming like a limb has been severed is what's shocking us the most.
I keep on telling myself that in the midst of the tantrums and yelling, we are experiencing some Terrific Twos, not just Terrible Tantrum Twos. ;)

You doing, Mummy?

Matilda's favourite question at the moment is:
You doing, Mummy?
(Mummy can be replaced with Daddy, MorMor, GG ... and so on)
This means "What are you doing, Mummy?" and can be uttered at any time of day or night. Driving in to work and day care on Thursday, I was asked at least twice "You doing, Mummy?". "Driving, Matilda" was the response on both occasions.
"You doing, Mummy?" has the potential for being even more annoying when uttered at 2am. Imagine me, bleary-eyed, stumbling into M's room. M has been calling out for the urgent attention of a parent, seeking water or a cuddle ... I walk into the room, making my way towards the cot. M is somewhat awake and sitting up* - "You doing, Mummy?". Generally the response at this time is something along the lines of "Not yelling at you, Matilda".
The curiosity of toddlers ... and we're not even at Why? ... yet ...

*If M is just calling out in her sleep (much like she did from 2-3:30 am this morning), she'll still be lying down when I get there and won't stir when I enter the room. Unfortunately, it takes going in to check on her to figure this out. Perhaps a night vision webcam is called for??

The Eyes have it

We saw M's opthamologist last week for her six-month checkup. She's now almost 1 year post-op.
The Doctor was really happy with her eyes! Yay! She was somewhat more focussed during the tests (following squeaky toys, looking at grey pieces of carboard with white outlines on them) this time around, though still did not want to be patched. We managed to get the patch on, and she continued with her tests. There's still a chance of some long or short sightedness, but nothing clear is showing up right now.
The times we see M's eyes turning are all normal enough (when tired, when focussing on the pencil she needs to press against her nose). We need to keep a bit of close eye on them (ha ha, wht a great pun!) until she's about 3 - 31/2, but otherwise the Doctor is really happy with her. We see him again in 6 months (we'll be seeing him less-and-less-frequently for the next 6 years).

Birthday Girl

Some more pics from the birthday weekend ...Daddy and Grandad providing swingpower!

Wearing the super-cool outfit Auntie Kate brought back from Vanuatu (grass skirt and lovely dress, shame the "bra" to go with the skirt was too small ...or not?)Emma's turn for a swing (in English and German, as Emma speaks both to M!)

The trampoline birthday cake Mummy made.

Yummy! I've got my piece of cake ...

Godsister K pushing M on the swing ... AGAIN ...

Yumm .. marshmallows in easy reach, all through the party!

(As I am posting, I am listening to M squealing on the back deck .. in the fhwing!)

Swinging good time.

Who says a swing needs to be installed to be fun.

Tomorrow I am Two

Today is Matilda's last day of Being One. She started the day by not waking up until the very late hour of 6:45am. After dressing and deciding on the second pair of shoes for the day, Matilda accompanied her parents in the car to daycare.
Car is a popular word. But Bus is much more exciting.
M doesn't really understand that tomorrow is her birthday. I'm sure next year will be VERY different. We discussed that today is her last day of being one, and tomorrow she will be two. M very seriously repeated the words one and two to us. ;)

We've talked about a cake, and tried to solicit feedback from M on her preferences. Cake is pretty much the preference, and she has started to do the traditional kid thing of eating the icing first, but at least she'll then eat some cake, too. Some fun presents have been planned for months, and luckily we have been able to store them in absolute plain sight for weeks now.
M is now talking up a storm. Sometimes her words are hard to understand, but her pronounciation is getting better all the time. Youghurt almost sounds like youghurt now (after a while of sounding like "shok"). M's favourite saying right now is "Tilda hold it" or "My hold it". She loves "holding" things - the Vita Brits packet out of the pantry in the morning, Mumma's mobile phone, the cordless phone, the jammies before getting into them/after getting out of them ...