New Stage

Mireya is the cutest, most wonderful girl in the world. I'm so glad that she's amazing, because she's going through a frustrating stage right now. She's definitely testing her boundaries with us. It used to be that if either one of us told her no about something, she would mind right away. If it was the dishwasher it never worked. She has always completely ignored us about that. Now though, she ignores us about nearly everything. To add to it, she can now open all the drawers in the house. Anything that she sees that looks interesting, regardless of where it is, she is all over it. She has played with the printer so much (yes, she seems to have lost her fear of it) that we finally banned her from the office. She even yanked so hard on a cord yesterday, that she pulled Jason's hard drive off of the top of the filing cabinet. She knew that was bad, because before we could even say anything, she cried and started wapping at the air like she does when she gets in trouble. Yesterday she actually hit me in the face a couple of times, when I told her no! I was in shock!

Even though I know it isn't true, sometimes it feels like she is just seeing how mad she can make me. If I tell her not to throw her food, she chucks it. If I tell her not to hit the cat, she does it. If I tell her to give me whatever she's holding that she is not supposed to have, she runs from me! She looks back to see if I'm catching up and I can hardly believe I'm having to chase her! I really don't want it to be a power struggle. She needs to learn that I'm the boss, but that's hard when she's too young for time outs and I can't have a real conversation with her about the rules. Whew. I am so exhausted these days and it's not surprising!

The interesting thing is that she still understands her naps and bedtime. Thankfully, knock on wood, she doesn't put up a fight about those at all. If I tell her it's nap time, she goes straight into her nursery and waits by her crib. Occasionally, if she gets tired enough, she will come take me by the hand and lead me to her crib. It's so cute! If I had to pick one thing that is more important than anything else, it would be naptime and bedtime. I'm really relieved that they are both still going well.

The other frustrating part of this stage is the fact that Mireya seems to get hurt a lot. I have no other children to compare it too, so I don't know if it is any more often than other kids her age. It is awful though, because I feel so bad! Most of the time, one of us is right there to witness it. She runs everywhere and sometimes she'll biff it out of the blue. (That's great genes from her graceful mother and father. lol) There isn't time to catch her and it's like it happens in slow motion. She has also learned to walk backwards. She thinks it's hilarious until she backs up into something and gets hurt. (No, I did not teach her that.) Other times, she will be looking at something else and simply not watching where she's going.

The worst accidents are when she comes out of nowhere and one of us accidentally causes one. I accidentally tripped her with the vacuum today and Jason pinched her finger the other day when he was closing the patio door. Those times are when I feel like a horrible parent, because I was involved. The problem is that even when you are keeping a close eye out for her, she manages to come just when you think it's safe. Certain things I have told her over and over and over that she needs to not do or she's going to get hurt and guess what? She does them anyway. *sigh* I can remember my mom telling me not to run and not to do this or that or I'm going to get hurt and I was just like Mireya. I did it anyway. Now here I am saying the same things and I have very little doubt that she isn't going to believe me until she's got her own little munchkin running around the house. (No mom, you can't call and say that you told me so. I know already.)

I know that every other mother goes through the same stuff, but sometimes it feels like it's just me who wants to scream and pull my hair out. I love Mireya more than anything in the world. She is my favorite little person and I adore her so much. She makes me laugh and I can't get enough of her little baby kisses. I just can't wait until she's old enough for time outs for the other stuff...

These are photos of the time I caught Mireya in the middle of pulling everything out of her dresser drawers, toy box and bookcase. I have given up on folding her clothes, because it's just going to end up in a pile in the middle of her room anyway. She's looking at me like, "What? Is something wrong?"