Life with a frustrated, determined and loud toddler

Kiya is doing fantastic. In fact her physical therapist was just so impressed with her. She couldn't believe how well Kiya was walking, bending, etc with her cast on and her ankle supports. She doesn't think it will be all that long before Kiya takes up walking full time. Right now it is a part time activity but standing is much more comfortable and as she gets used to her ankle supports that will help too. She also commented on how great Kiya's hand/eye coordination are, her verbal skills and just how well she will imitate sounds, words etc. The two of them had fun yesterday.

That said there are times when Miss Kiya gets frustrated. And her frustration leads to screaming. Sigh. Bring on the terrible two's. If she tips over and is in a corner somewhere she has a hard time maneuvering herself to be able to get out. Also since she still crawls at times and wears a lot of leggings, she slips and falls a lot on the carpet and the linoleum floors. Both of these require a scream and usually mommy asking if she needs help. If she says yes I help her otherwise I encourage her to try again and do it herself.

She also really wants to try to climb the stairs again. This Mama is not ready for that one. She is top heavy and only been in her cast a little over a week. Maybe in a few weeks....maybe....or not. Sounds scary.

She is very determined to do things herself yet sometimes she just can't, hence the frustration. She has a great vocabulary so we are encouraging her to use her words and not scream and if she is to whiny/screamy/frustrated we take a break. A break includes her sitting in her chair with her blanket (also known as tee tee thanks to a girl her age at daycare) and calming down. She gets up when she is ready and is usually in a better mood after that.

Volume control is an issue in that she doesn't have one. She is set to LOUD all the time doesn't matter if we are inside a store, at home or outside at the park. Screams of "hi, bye bye, nigh nigh" are all common.
We also hear a lot of "Mommy, Daddy, r you?" (as in where are you). Or my favorite, "Mommy, now or Daddy, now." She also repeats everything and since Badger can be a tad naughty at times and is told no a lot, she has been yelling at him. Poor guy. So we are also hearing, "Doggie, no. Sit." Doggie is Badger, Bassy is Sebastian. She rarely yells at her Bassy. Though I was calling for Sebastian to come inside and she was behind me saying, "Bassy,  Bassy, r u?" We are working on not saying no to Badger but that is tough. He has issues but we are trying to praise him and teach Kiya "Good Doggie".

Yesterday we were at the grocery store and she was singing which she does all the time and when she finished "wheels on the bus" she screamed "yeah". I told her she was being loud and she repeated "loud, loud, loud" to the tune of "wheels on the bus". Sigh. And no there was no inside voice at all. She is just loud and loves to hear herself and wants to make sure everyone can hear her too. It always cracks me up when a former teacher at daycare says that she doesn't hear Kiya talk much. I was like, really, try spending 30 minutes with her in the car.

So life has returned and we are settled into our new normal. Kiya is just a remarkable kid and I am truly in awe of her. Nothing is going to stop her and I think that is a great quality. Next week she starts her transition to her new room at daycare. I am not super thrilled about it as we will have brand new teachers that she doesn't know and will now have to deal with her cast. I foresee this Mama Bear having to step out and set up some guidelines but we shall see. I am trying to be open minded about it but I know what they are going to want and it isn't what I want. For example, Kiya falls asleep on her own. She doesn't need to be rocked and while I complain about nap fail she does just fine if she chooses to skip one. Apparently these teachers want all the children to sleep. Kiya sometimes sleep 13+ hours a night and therefore doesn't necessarily need a nap. In fact even in her current room on her daily sheet there was a frowning face because she only napped for a little over an hour one day. Sigh....sorry she is a curious kid and just can't be bothered with sleep.