Terrible Twos

I've heard that the Terrible Twos don't start at 2, but begin closer to 1. Our sweet Lilly has completely flipped a switch and is now at this dreadful stage. The past week has been, well, a bit hellish. Mostly just frustrating. She's always known how to say "no," but now she says it with the true intent of "NO!" while she slaps you or falls on the floor during a fit. Speaking of fits, simply telling her to stop doing something promises a full-blown, fall-on-the-floor, kicking and screaming, crying like you're dying, fit. I thought we'd get lucky and skip this stage, and that somehow my parenting skills would be good enough to teach Lilly that we just don't need to be dramatic like that, but no, I was wrong.

Church today really opened my eyes to it all. Embarrassingly, we have been a bit "inactive" in going to church lately. Sick babies, sick mommies, and lots of other reasons have kept us home for a while. When we went today, Lilly really shocked us both. Any time we told her to sit down or to be quiet, she would scream "NO, NO, NO!" while slapping us or throwing whatever she was holding. She would scream and cry if she didn't get her way, and was just an all-round brat. She was even trying to slap the kids in front of us. Now, I know this is a stage and a normal part of parenting and growing up. It's not really the fact that she does it that bothers me, it's mostly how it makes me feel as a parent. It's embarrassing when everyone around you is looking at you while your child is throwing a fit. Somehow they're able to get their kids to sit still and behave, but mine just insists on being rude. 

I don't know what the best route to take is. We've decided to try and stop saying "no" as much. That's a lot harder to do than you think. We need to let her know that tantrums aren't acceptable, either by timeout or a light spank. I don't know. I haven't really come to terms with the fact that we're at this stage yet. We'll survive. I just hope Lilly does..... :P 

before church started. I needed some way of getting her to stop antagonizing the people behind us.

I have about 5 pictures showing the sequence of this fit. She was throwing herself from side to side and slapping both of us. 

I had no idea Ryan took this picture in Sunday School. She was having another fit, so I pulled out a book. It had a bear and a dog in it, so she was happy.