Gracie Lu Who - Oh, What to Do?!

Lukie loves to cuddle. He isn't always the best listener, but if you want to get his attention just tell him "Okay, Lukie, bye bye then! I'm not going to play with you if you won't listen. Bye bye!" and walk away. That gets his attention right away.

But Gracie Lu Who is a different story. If you won't let her do something or won't give her something, she'll either get it herself (even though you told her no) or she will pitch a fit of epic proportions. These fits are so epic that I am always sure the police will be knocking on my door any minute thinking she is being ripped from limb to limb! There is no calming her. As long as you continue to say, "No" she will scream, cry, throw herself on the floor, hit you, hang on you, and act as if the world were coming to an end.

She's a challenge. Sometimes I stand there and stare at her as she writhes around on the floor when I take away the box of Goldfish she was dumping all over. I don't get it. I truly don't.

Being two is really hard. I get that. You think you can do so many things and all these big people are telling you:

"No."
"Later."
"Not right now."
"Sorry, kiddo."

It is understandably frustrating to a little kid who is used to the world bending to your ever whim.

So what to do with Gracie Lu Who? Oh, what to do?

Here's my new game plan:
1) When Gracie gets crazy or is a bad listener, I will take her aside and give her a moment to calm down. I'll speak with her calmly or ignore her until she calms down.
2) I'll use the power of distraction. Distracting Gracie sometimes works, so I plan to use it to my advantage.
3) I'll use short, easy to understand sentences to tell her what I expect before we go places. So far, the phrase, "No street" has helped enormously as we exit the house and start to the car. She will repeat it to herself as we walk to the car and will remind Lukie if he passes the car.
4) I will discover what wakes her up at night and do my best to make sure that it doesn't happen any more. The less sleep Who gets, the crazier and worse listener she is.

I'm hoping some of this will help. Frankly, I'm feeling superchallenged by my once 3 lb 7 oz baby girl. Being small seems only to have brought the fighter in her out into the world.

Good gracious! Can you imagine what she will be like as a teenager?