Sugar and Spice: Age 2

Sugar and Spice was the theme for the baby shower my friends gave me before Bug was born.  Boy, were they right. My sweet Bug is Sugar & Spice. She keeps me on my toes, while at the same time showering me with so much love it's amazing.

Buggy always wakes up before Boogie by at least 15 minutes. Sometimes more. The other morning, she came in to my room and snuggled with me in bed. While I was holding her and she patted my face gently and said, "Mommy, I'm your best friend."  Yes, she is.  We spends so much time together, that we are best friends in the way that only a mommy and her daughter can be.  I love her squeals of delight when she sees me coming in the door after I've gone out to run an errand.  It's also amazingly sweet to watch her when Daddy comes in the door after being gone at work all day.  She squeals and runs towards the door. She gives Daddy a huge hug and chatters away about her day.  She loves to dance and show us all her new moves from dance class. She adores her big brother and she is quite protective of him.  I especially love the way she tries to help me through my contractions. When I wince she holds my hand, says, "It's okay, Mommy, I've got you" and holds my hand until the contraction is gone. She kisses my belly and then tells her baby brother that she's ready to see him and to come out.

While she is adoring, wonderful, silly, and sweet, she shows her spiciness in other ways.

Recently the poor thing has been prone to long bouts of crying.  They're not really tantrums.  She's not kicking her legs and screaming...it's just lots and lots of crying.  As my friend J. pointed out, Bug is dealing with a lot of changes right now. Even though she loves sharing a room with Boogie, we did move her out of her room and now she's sharing a room.  She's ready for potty training and she's trying to work that out with all of the changes in our schedule.  And of course, soon, she will be a big sister.  That's a lot going on.  She knows that her one-on-one time with Mama will be more limited with the arrival of her new baby brother.

I see her dealing with a lot of these changes by preferring spending more time with Daddy when he is home. I'm perfectly okay with this because I think she needs to bond with him as much as possible. I think that Boogie got a little more bonding time with Daddy when he was younger because my husband was the one to drop him off at my mom's house when she used to babysit him when I was working.

She's also very torn about showing her independence and wanting Mama to be with her as much as possible. Her crying jags often have to do with her wanting to be with me...holding my hand up the stairs, going with me from one room to another, etc. and me trying to get things done and moving quickly. She'll stop and cry and cry and cry until I come back. Then when I ask her what's going on, she says in a sad pathetic voice, "I want you to hold my hand."  She just wants some extra TLC from me.

But even though she still wants me to be beside her, she's showing her independence by saying, "no," using her selective listening skills, or just doing her own thing, even though it's completely opposite of what I want her to do.  Although this can be frustrating, it seems like her show of independence isn't as intense as Boogie's was when he was that age. I remember lots of screaming, yelling, and outright defiance that tried my patience. Maybe she's less intense, maybe I know how to handle it better, maybe she hasn't hit the big time yet, but whatever it is, at this time I'm able to handle it.

I love my sugary and spicey girl and I hope that we continue to have a good relationship. I hope that my being home with her is laying the foundation to a lifetime of bonding and love.