OMG - Parenting Just Got Soooo Much Easier
By
on
August 12th, 2008
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My daughter turned two this week, the past six weeks have been the best ever with the kids. I might jinx the good momentum we've got going but I must say that being a father has just gotten 5100% easier. The nagging has decreased dramatically, language development is through the roof, understanding and agreement has been fantastic, and to top it all off, Annika has potty trained herself! Being a father has become so much easier less difficult and it feels like things will keep going in this direction.
The complaining, saying "NO", and refusal started way before a word could be spoken. It started the day she was born. Annika had some colic and acid reflux, what a great thing to combine with stubbornness….. There was crying and clear signs Annika didn't like ANYTHING. As she got older she was pissed off about not walking even though she was sitting at 4 months. At 10 months she was angry about not running even though she walked. At 15 months she wanted to bike, at this time she was actually running. You get the point, Annika's previous way of handling things was to say "NO" any way she could. She's one strong minded Swedish-Mexican girl.
This kind of behavior is tough to handle day in and day out. But we got used to it and it was fine. Then, the big change came out of nowhere. Annika started saying "YES" to many things. I noticed it the first day, it was amazing to actually hear her in agreement about something. This change came at exactly the same time as her language development took off. She now speaks more than almost any mono-lingual kids even though we're raising her tri-lingually.
I've always known things would be just fine as she a got a bit older but the recent change has been so fast it's difficult to believe. I've always felt Annika would go very far in life and become something very special. She might excel in a good or bad way. Worlds greatest drug dealer or the best chief of UN in history. Hard to say which way it will go…….
While all the new words, the word "YES", and her daily behavior was great, the potty training adventure was just weird. Great but strange. A couple of weeks ahead of her second birthday she woke up one Saturday morning and didn't want to use diapers. She wanted real underwear instead. We explained that means peeing in a toilet, she agree and went straight and did just that.
Our approach to potty training is to take it very easy and slow, we hadn't even started trying when she decided diapers were for little babies. For the past 10 days she's been wearing underwear and there have been some accidents but not too many. Just one poop in pants so far which is amazing. Diapers are still used during the night but the potty raining is going amazingly well, even though we haven't actually started trying yet. I don't really know what to say about her self trained potty training, I'm stunned of the great progress she's made in less than two weeks. Maybe she will be potty trained before college after all.
I know most parents have great fear of the teenage years. Personally, I can't wait. At this pace, Annika will be the one keeping track of me as she becomes a teenager.
Belated birthday wishes to Annika!