Incidentally, T is also for ‘two’, and that’s how old Kaitlyn has been for a while now.
She is definitely going through her terrible two’s (😝 another T word) and between now till she turns three, so much is happening for her developmentally.
T is for Talking
From monosyllabic words to short phrases, Kaitlyn is now speaking in near-full sentences, and she actually makes sense most of the time! Not everyone gets what she’s saying, but I usually can figure out what she’s trying to convey and will translate it on her behalf 😄.
Not only does she verbalise what she wants, she also asks inquisitive questions, describes something she sees, and sometimes just blurts out hilarious statements. Like once she came out of her room to look for me and saw us busy at the computer. She shrugged and said “Oh, everybody doing work” and toddled back to her room.
With toddler talk, there are definitely some issues with correct pronunciation, but that’s the best part! Hearing these little gems of mispronounced words are amusing and something I’ll definitely record down…because eventually, she’ll get it right.
For instance, she says “dirtysock” for dinosaur, and “bubble-loo” for W. But when it comes to most food names, she’s on point and always gets it right, even avocado!
I am certainly kept entertained at home as she plays in her room and chatters to herself and her soft toys, even sometimes mimicking what she has heard us say. Looking forward to having meaningful conversations with her!
T is for Tantrums
Ah, terrible two’s means lots of tantrums, especially from a headstrong and stubborn little girl like Kaitlyn. She’s sweet and all, but when she doesn’t get her way, she cries and screams. I mentioned this briefly here.
I had it easy with Joshua for he was an obedient boy and never threw tantrums. Dealing with Kaitlyn is a whole new ballgame. Whenever she’s on a verge of a meltdown, I will leave her to cool down in her room and re-enter when she’s stopped crying or calmed down.
She has learned to ask politely for things she wants, like “May I have music please?” or “May I have cookies please?” and most times we comply. However, we have also said no with an explanation, like when it’s bedtime, or before a meal. I once told her after her shower to put on her clothes first before I turn on the CD player, and she immediately plonked down on her butt and cried. I repeated my instructions and told her to look for me once she’s stopped crying before leaving the room. She continued wailing and thus didn’t get her songs for that evening. The next day, she followed instructions accordingly and got to enjoy her music, so it shows she understood her behaviour the day before was not the way to get what she wanted. I can’t wait for this phase to be OVER!
T is for Toilet-Training
Kaitlyn had been waking up with a dry diaper for quite some time, and every morning without fail, she’d go in the potty. She was able to identify when she needed to poo, though not always making it to the toilet in time. It was the pee part that she seemed unready for, until recently. The great thing about peer pressure at school is that when a child sees her friends doing it, she’ll want to do it too. So, with the teacher saying that Kaitlyn was following her friends to the toilet to pee, and doing it quite successfully, we went full-force at home over the long weekend. We’d been reading books on potty-training for some time, and Kaitlyn had been eyeing her big girl underwear in the wardrobe — I’ve told her that she can wear them once she no longer goes in her diapers. Till then, she could wear her training pants instead and be out of diapers. Armed with a sheet of stickers and a simple homemade potty chart, we set the rules: each time she goes in the toilet successfully, she gets a sticker. When she earns 7 stickers, she gets a little treat (either a chocolate or a jelly).
This worked like a charm and soon I kept hearing this little voice announcing that she needed to go potty, and each time a success. Makes me wonder if she had it in her all along 😂.
Soon she reached her first reward and she chose chocolate. While she enjoyed the chocolate, we reinforced how the chart works, and she nodded excitedly. We went about our day and the next time she got a sticker, I went in with her to watch her place it on her chart…guess what I saw?
She had moved the stickers previously earned all over to the reward column! You can see what I mean in the photo.
Smart little thing right? It’s like she realised when there’s a sticker in that last column, it meant a treat. Can’t believe she thought up that trick… 😄. And if you’re wondering about the scribbles, she decided to add some artistic flair to the chart herself. 😂
How time flies. Soon she’ll be three years old and talking even more. She’s developing a strong personality for herself, is clear on what she likes or doesn’t like, and has this unending love for learning about the world. While I’ll miss her baby days, I look forward to watching her grow up each day!
Let me love you a little more before you’re not little anymore.
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