Our bundle of joy...

See the joy written all over her face...lovely!!!

Our little bundle of joy has officially become a true toddler and this is clear by the lovely fits she gives us often. Lately, it seems the "joy" part is not always there.

Now, what do I mean by this? Well I mean if Lola isn't clinging on to my leg or doesn't get exactly what she wants at a particular moment, she has a tendency to either whine and/or give out red faced blood- curdling screams and at times will even throw herself on the floor in the process and when you try to "redirect" her to something else she rolls around shouting a sharp but loud "NO"..."NO". She's thrown one or two of these lovely fits in public which I won't tolerate. In addition to all of this fun, she's still hitting (usually me or poor lady bird) and throwing things (usually at either me or poor lady bird). To make matters worse, she will no longer stay put long enough in a restaurant for Clay and I to enjoy a meal. It doesn't take long before she is whining and then starts swinging her whole body from side to side in the high chair. What else? Well, she won't stay still long enough for me to change her diaper...she actually runs from me which translates into lots of tinkle on the floor. She also isn't content in the car seat...if she's not sleeping or eating in the car then she's whining or once again throwing a fit. Finally, when it's time to go to bed she's screaming at the top of her lungs and resists it until she finally knocks herself out for the night. Lets see...is there anything else??? Or, is this enough?!?!?!?!? AHHHHH!!! HELP ME!!!

Here's what I know. Lola is almost 18 months and has always been a little explorer. She's gaining more and more independence with age which means she doesn't like to be confined and when she does feel confined or restricted she becomes frustrated which can typically lead to a fabulous fit. Now, this is all understandable right. Unfortunately, Lo's still not mature enough to know what is good and what is bad and is still searching for those boundaries. So, when she doesn't get her way, her reaction can be a little volatile.

I know this is all natural but what do you do about it??? I've googled and done my research and every site seems to have something to say but is there really a solution???? Or, is time the only solution??? I want to know how to control the fits but still let Lola continue to be herself. I don't know exactly how to do this but starting this week I plan to find out. We're buckling down!!!! I will take no more from our little angel face who I'm now starting to think may be a "Damien" child (remember the movie....evil genius). Not really. I should give her a little break b/c she is so adorable and we love her more than anything in the world but I fear she is becoming a brat and it's all our own doing.

Surely this isn't the case. So, in the meantime, I'm going to become a strict mommy. No more laid back/easy going mom...it's time to get serious about this parenting thing. Well, I'm obviously already serious about being a parent but I'm just not going to let Lola get away with some of the little things....those things that I sometimes just let fall by the wayside without a mention b/c I'm too tired to address it at the time. Not anymore, we're going to be consistent and try to get this all under control asap. Otherwise just think what we would be dealing with when she is two or three...Yikes!!!

As usual, any advise you have would be great. I'm thinking I may go buy Tori Spelling's new book "Mommywood". I'm slightly obsessed with the Tori & Dean show and I've seen their little boy, Liam, throw some pretty gnarly fits so maybe she would have some good advice...you never know!!!

Now, enough is enough with the complaining. You wouldn't know it by this blog but we do still have constant irresistible moments. Like when Lola goes to pick "matos" (tomatoes) from the garden with Clay and then wants to hold and coddle them all night long. When we finally put them up on the counter, she'll start screaming "matos, matos, matos". We actually have to cover them up at night and say "night, night" to the matos before Lola will go to bed. Or, another cute moment was when Lo took off my flip-flops, looked at my Safeway feet and said "dirty, dirty" while waving her hands at them and then continued on to say "nasty" about my feet. Or, the moment captured in the pics below. Lola got her sunglasses, keys, purse and strangely a pink shovel which she placed in her purse and she was ready to hit the road!

Lola is putting on her sunglasses. Then she would push them up on her head. I wonder where she gets this from???

She's ready to go! She was saying "Keys...Going to car... " while waving and saying "Bye, Bye!".

After she was unable to open the front door, Lola decided her little race car will have to do and hops on for a fun ride.