You look like an angel
Walk like an angel
Talk like an angel
But I got wise
You're the devil in disguise
Oh, yes, you are
The devil in disguise --Elvis Presley
As I put Leda in her crib yesterday for probably her 4th...maybe 5th?...I don't really count...timeout I had a conversation with her that went like this. "You better get used to it. You and me are going to be doing this the rest of our lives. I tell you to not do something. You do it anyway. I have to punish you."
Cole never had this problem. Or, rather, he did and wised up quickly. He never gets timeouts anymore. In fact, he was on the verge of one yesterday and I realized that I hadn't even had to think about what to do with him since the big boy bed arrived.
Leda is in everything. She eats the dog food. She plays in the dog's water. She eats toilet paper. She chews on cords. She goes into the kitchen and wants the bottle of Murphy's Oil Soap under the sink. She wants to spill the container of dog food. She wants to chew on the recycling. She spills drinks. Chaos is thy name.
And here's the kicker...you stop her and she stops. For two seconds. Then she casually smiles, laughs, and continues on while giggling as you tell her no. The more angry you get the funnier she thinks it is. It's to the point where Kelly is making a real effort now to be emotion-less in case it's the reaction that Leda is looking for.
But Leda doesn't mind being in her crib like Cole once did. Granted, he eventually got over it, but in this phase he saw it for what it was--timeout. Leda plays. I actually had some luck yesterday getting her to nap this way. Go figure. But you can essentially put Leda in timeout and then go do chores. Laundry. Vacuum. Do dishes. She'll get tired after maybe 20 min and you think she's "learned her lesson." But no.
The sleeping is getting to be a real issue with her, too. Oh, she'll sleep through the night now. But getting her to fall asleep is another matter. She requires absolute quiet and absolute darkness. Usually around 10pm to 11pm. So by the time she's ready for bed, so are mom and dad. Meanwhile, Cole climbs in his big boy bed around 7:30pm and we don't hear another peep.
Forget the Terrible Twos. It's the Onerous Ones that are killing us right now.
She's a clinger, too. Which we're not opposed to per se. It's just amusing how different your kids can be from each other. Her brother, I always joke, you could set down in the middle of the mall and he'd be in Macy's playing in the dressing rooms without a second thought about looking back to find dad or mom. He wouldn't care if you followed. And he probably wouldn't think to look for you for hours. He's independent.
Leda, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be so much an attention hound as she is interested in being in the action and wanting to do what she wants to do. I picture her being the girl who one day is going to smash her cellphone apart with a hammer just because she wanted to see the inside and will do it again to yours now that she figured out it bothered you.
So the next time you hear me say that Cole kicked her and stole her toys...don't feel sorry for poor defenseless Leda. It's a very equal match. She just laughs at him.
I love my kids.