<\/p>\nLucy is taking the world by storm as a full-blown toddler these days: walking everywhere, feeding herself with a fork, “learning new words”:\/news\/2007\/vocabulary-update-october-12\/, and throwing some mild tantrums when she doesn’t get her own way. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
p{color:gray}. Photo: “You want a piece of me?”<\/p>\n
For awhile now, I’ve been expecting we’d see new expressions of Lucy’s quest for autonomy. It has been lovely that, for so long, we could just distract her with a new activity when she was crabby about hearing a “no.” But it is becoming increasingly clear that occasionally she understands our prohibition and just doesn’t want to comply.<\/p>\n
Most amusing are the times that she starts doing something she is not supposed to — like climbing on the kitchen table or opening the trash can or reaching for the spinning wheel as she rides in the jogging stroller — all the while saying to herself, “No, no, no.” It’s like watching her have a conversation with a tiny devil\/angel pair perched her shoulders.<\/p>\n
So, these days I tell her “no” or “stop,” and I take her away from the situation. Often, if I just turn my full attention to her and play with her for a few minutes, she is content. But sometimes she cries and fusses about a “no,” and although I don’t give in, it is hard to have this break in our relationship. As much as I’m glad to see her progressing through this normal stage of separation and individuation, it is sometimes hard to take! It sure was easier when she agreed with everything I said. :)<\/p>\n
On my best days, I am glad to see Lucy growing up into a young girl with opinions of her own, even if they differ from mine. I try to remember that this is the normal and healthy stage in her development now, and to always have a good reason for rules (“We buckle up for safety,” or “You may not throw food on the floor because it is difficult for me to constantly clean it up.”). But it is a challenging transition to go from the intensely bonded relationship of mother-and-infant to the more independent interactions of mother-and-toddler.<\/p>\n
I suppose some of my anxiety about my relationship with Lucy has to do with “our new pregnancy”:\/news\/2007\/our-little-announcement\/. How will our relationship change when Baby arrives? Will I have enough (energy, time, love) to give both of them? What does it mean that Lucy isn’t my “baby” anymore, that she is growing up? <\/p>\n
Additionally, it is difficult to know how to discipline these days. We haven’t yet tried the “time-out,” but my distraction tactics are not working like they used to. I’ve noticed that, for the most part, Lucy disobeys when she wants me to just pay some attention to her. If I can just discipline myself to stop peeling garlic and pick her up, she is just fine. But sometimes I need to cook dinner! Is this where frozen pizzas come in?<\/p>\n
Despite Lucy’s occasional mini-tantrums, I’m grateful to enjoy closeness and intimacy with her in new ways — snuggling on the couch together reading a book, blowing kisses to each other, giggling through a tickle-fest, or enjoying a long good-night hug. I’ll just need to keep trusting God that he is knitting our hearts together as a family, and watching for all the good gifts he has for us in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lucy is taking the world by storm as a full-blown toddler these days: walking everywhere, feeding herself with a fork, “learning new words”:\/news\/2007\/vocabulary-update-october-12\/, and throwing some mild tantrums when she doesn’t get her own way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}