18 to 24 Month Lessons Learned

As a dad of 3, I thought I knew what to expect. No surprises this time! We've seen it all once or twice with the first two kids. Boy was I wrong, This little girl has taught us a whole new series of tricks.

1. Hugs are great, but so is sleeping. These last few months, we've learned that she is a daddy's girl. Oh, it's cute. I love her for it, but we've had to break some of it.
   
   It started when she was just weened from nursing around 1 year. I wanted to let my wife sleep, so I would rock her back to sleep. She got a minor cold, and rocking back to sleep became more. Eventually, it became falling asleep on daddy. More than once, I woke up at 6am, with her still sleeping on my chest.
   
   I was exhausted. My wife tried to help, but this little girl wouldn't have it. Daddy or nothing. Now whenever she wakes up, I have to go. Slowly we are retraining this behavior, but it's painful. Both in the fact that she won't fall asleep with my wife, hurting her feelings and that I can't sleep in.
   
2. Leader, Follower, Rebel - At an early age, we could see that my oldest liked being the leader. For her school's 'professional' day (aka we're a school that doesn't celebrate Halloween), she wanted to be a teacher, telling the other kids what to do. My second followed her, doing as she wanted. He's right there with you doing things, but seldom wanted to go off on his own. Number 3 is stubborn, willed and off on her own; our little rebel. After talking with a few other parents of three, I've found this is a common trend. The order may be different, but the mix is almost always the same. The good news being, the rebel grows up to be sound and stable. Having tested all the rules early on, they grow up to be well-adjusted, so I hear.
   
3. To Binkie or Not To Binkie? 
   
   This is our first child that we've tried to not give her a pacifier. It was a bit of a mixed blessing. Yes! We don't have the constant worry about where one is, if it fell on the ground, the ADDICTION. Instead, we have a bottle addiction. She cannot fall asleep with out her bottle. If she wakes up in the middle of the night, it's an hour of rocking her, or 5 minutes with a bottle of milk. Hmmm..
   
   One positive thing we have noticed is that she's much more fluent than (we remember with) the first two. By 24 months she's rather talkative and making complete sentences. Pronunciation isn't bad for her age, especially when comparing her with others at daycare, Comprehension is awesome.
   
   But, could this all be related to her other odd 'teething' behaviors? I've jokingly told my oldest daughter, we don't need a dog, because she has a younger sister. Her crib rail, corners of walls, dining room table, the blanket on our bed! If one didn't know better, they'd think we have a bored puppy in the closet. Though, in all honesty, I think it's more related to her being the rebel, not something more serious like, pica.
   
4. Expect the Unexpected.

   

   ............................squirrel?

   I now think I understand. Having my leader and follower first, lead me to believe that all kids will be well mannered, obedient babies. Those kids on leashes! Ha! Their doing something wrong! See my boy here holding my hand, I am an awesome dad!.
   
   OH MY, Baby three has a mind of her own. I don't own a leash yet, but have considered buying one. Take her to the park, she'll be playing on the slides, then next second, she's running out towards the street. Making dinner, turn around to stir something on the burner and she climbs up on the table dancing to some music.
   
   Tantrums! You've never seen something so cute, until you see a baby tantrum. "i want baba now!" No. "Now!" (pointing to fridge). No. Cry, stomp, run around kitchen, stomp, lay on floor kicking fridge door, stomp, run around. All very cute coming from a 2 year old. We find that it's better to calm her down, then distract her. Often it will pass until later. "Time for a break. Sit down here, help me make dinner." 

I am sure there are more, but darn, this post has been in my queue now for 6 months. We're now 5 months from her third birthday! At 30 months old she potty trained herself. We are still trying to break the bottle addiction, but it's very slow. Sleeping through most nights, so everyone is getting more rest. Overall, our baby is growing into a awesome toddler.