it's gonna get terrible up in here.

we're hitting the terrible twos early, i'm afraid.

this is why i haven't been posting much. i can't get on the computer without (not-so) helpful little fingers trying to type or some sort of trouble happening behind my back.

why do they call them the terrible twos? for the sake of alliteration? because i think a lot of other words might fit instead: wild, cranky, mischievous, hysterical, demanding, whiny, destructive, and restless... to name a few.

or loud. loud would cover most of it.



despite the fact the my daughter has become a wild thing, she is still a smart and sweet little girl (sometimes).

stories:

the other night, she emptied out a basket and pulled it into the front room. she was sitting in it and yelling something that we couldn't understand. "i riding on the arson!" is what it sounded like and she repeated it over and over, because that's what toddlers do: yell until you figure out what in the blankety-blank they are trying to say. finally, she grabbed the sides of the basket and said "whoa! whoa! whoa!" and shook her body and suddenly it clicked.
she was in a boat.
on the ocean.
"yeah! yeah, mommy!"


here's an admission that i am a a horrible human being and mother, she now recognizes both the walmart and the mcdonalds logos. i had some pictures that were printed at walmart and she saw the logo and immediately said "walmart!" and, of course, she spots every mcdonalds that we happen to pass while we are driving. in my defense, she does always want me to read the "abc's" (aka the words) to her whenever she sees writing.

 
she is always saying funny things. i mean, not just like it's-funny-because-a-little kid-said-it stuff but really funny.
the other day when we were at our appointment weighing poppy (who is now up to 9 lbs 12 oz, that's 6 ounces over the weekend), i said "poppy, are you ready?" which prompted ellie to say "i ready... to go home!"
wah-waaaah.
and when judge ran off in the woods, she stood at the back door yelling, "juuuuuudge! where are youuuuu? come heeeere! we have fooooood! and waaaaaater!"
the way she sounded, i'm not sure if i would come out of the woods either. it sure sounded like a trick to me. (he came back.)



so anyway, when this happened today:

i got upset for a few minutes and thought about giving up on christmas entirely, but instead i whipped out the camera and took pictures of the carnage and then of her in time-out.

and if you're thinking that she took the time to remove all those ornaments from the tree, you're wrong.
she knocked the whole darn thing over.
because she was trying to run from me after i caught her locked in the laundry room, kneading two handfuls of gum.
which she got after hiding in my closet and removing everything from my bag.

this is one reason why we will never have nice things. 

and it all happened in a matter of minutes, while i was trying to get the baby ready so we could go to the park. 

and what is poppy doing while all of this is going on?
sleeping like a little angel.


i'll just have to hang on for those few moments when the stars align and everyone behaves like angels.

those few, few moments.