She can scream the house down at any time of the day, but often its 3am. Taking her clothes off during a moment of intense frustration seems to give her some kind of emotional freedom and if she doesn’t want to be carried or walk on her own from day care then god help the neighbourhood!

She is fiery, ferocious, moody & dramatic. It sometimes feels like she is an Octopus with the constant challenge of keeping her hands off things, anything and everything that’s in reach is fair game and will be pulled, poked, prodded and investigated. She can be full steam ahead and stop mid stride to check out something that’s stolen her attention, then continue on her merry way, in a hurry!

She is completely obsessed with opening and closing doors of any kind, to the point that I would like to take all the doors off all the rooms & cupboards in the house!

With the climbing abilities of a monkey she can follow big kids up any playground ladder with ease, wiggle her way out of her car seat & basically thinks the whole world is her climbing frame.

She enjoys feeding the dog all of her food, especially breakfast because that’s the meal that’s most likely to stick in his coat.

Tantrums in the supermarket are a given!  She won’t sit in the trolley (front or back), is too little to walk along beside me without pulling everything off the shelves (because of the Octopus arms) and refuses to be carried the right way up without kicking and screaming. Her brother cops a wallop on the head (from her) because somehow it’s his fault that we have to do grocery shopping.

The kitchen cupboards & their contents are preferred over the toy room & anything that’s put out of reach is, in her mind, easily accessible by grabbing the stool, moving it into a strategic position and adding an extra 30cm to her height, if that’s not enough then it gives her a little less distance to climb & there it is.  

Most often she knows exactly what she wants, which clothes, which story, what she would like for breakfast, it’s always a unanimous decision when she’s given the opportunity to make her own day to day choices. But other times, like at the supermarket or at 3am, she wants nothing, no cuddles, no Pink (her comforter), no Mummy, no walking, no carrying, no drink, no story, nothing! When she wakes in the middle of the night she’s asks for a “wink of water?” then upon offering will push it away and say ‘NO WATER’ then “wink nilk?” Then ‘NO NILK’ (not a typo, she calls it milk, nilk!).

There’s been a few night when I’ve sat on the floor in her room while she’s rolling around crying, screaming, offering her cuddles, winks & dories (drinks & stories) at regular intervals and all of a sudden after 30-45 minutes of this I find something she wants, maybe a book of a doll. Now I ask you, who on earth has the energy for this at 3-bloody-am?

So now she’s moved up to a ‘big girl bed’ and I’m currently sitting in the kitchen listening to her rustle around downstairs, I’ve given up putting her back into bed, if it didn’t feel slightly illegal or abusive I’d lock her in there and deal with the consequences (clothes & wipes all over the floor) tomorrow. After one hour I set up the port-a-cot next to her bed and within approximately 10 seconds she’d climbed out, of course! I forgot she was part monkey! She’s standing here next to me staring at me, wondering why I’m not getting off my stool to put her back in bed. I’m trying a new tactic! Perhaps she can stay up and we’ll have a cuddle on the couch.

No doubt this all sounds bad! And maybe you’re thinking “wow, I’m glad she’s not my kid!” (Who’s currently in the cupboard playing with the cups). But all the things I’m writing about are all the things I love about her, her strength, persistence and resilience. I love that she knows exactly what she wants and obviously at 3am I am the one who has the problem because I don’t know what that is or how to give it to her. Her intense curiosity will cause her spills or falls and she gets straight back up (she’s now trying to get herself a drink of water from the cask of Pureau with her drink bottle).

The majority of time she’ll go to sleep quickly and sleep right through, in fact she loves to sleep-in most days, but when she’s having a bad night it can last a week or two. The positive part is that I (& so does my husband) do love those middle of the night cuddles (when she’s decided she wants one instead of the moonlight tantrum).

She doesn’t take any crap from anybody, she is one of the most affectionate and loving kids I’ve ever met and she always wants to make sure everybody is ok. If she thinks you may not understand her or haven’t heard her she’ll ask the question again ever so gently with her face right in yours, about 5cm away in fact, head tilted with questioning eyes.  

Her tones and inflictions are spot on with the inquisitive nature of her mind, she mimics the sounds my husband makes on her guitar and so desperately wants to impress and be like her big brother and is devastated if he ever does anything to hurt her.

She’s a Cancerian (like my Mum and my husband), she’s two and a half years old on Christmas day 2011. Born with the head of a mouse and the heart of a Lion, I love my little girls with every ounce of my being and I only hope I can do right by her as she grows up to make sure her strengths are nurtured and her weaknesses become her strong points. God only knows (if you are religious of course, which I’m not so it’s really just a figure of speech) that she and her brother are challenging my strength, resolve, tenacity, courage, patience and whatever else (I’m too tired to think of more intelligent sounding words) every day, every hour, every minute. But I am better off for knowing & loving them both.

Now she’s in the small appliances draw and she’s hopefully tired enough to go to sleep when her head hits my shoulder (after my head hits the couch) after I get her to stop whacking me with the whisk!!