NO!

Wayyy back when my sister and I were in high school we watched a comedic variety show (I think it was All That) where they did a skit involving an exasperated parent and their toddler. The part of the skit that we remember and still quote went thus:

Toddler: I wanna go paint!
Parent: Okay, let's go paint.
Toddler. NO.

It became one of our 'quotables:' "I wanna go paint/Okay let's go paint/NO!" Oh, how we laughed.

Not laughing now. Oh, my God. IT'S TRUE.

This week Lydia has really dived into the parental frustration that is affectionately known as The Terrible Twos. Every single thing is a battle, from diaper changes and food to fun things like coloring, playing outside and reading books. And bedtime? I don't even want to talk about it for fear of invoking Murphy's Law -- it can always get WORSE.

She's still an awesome, very sweet girl, it's just now when she melts down, it's like that volcano in Iceland that even no one on NPR even attempts to pronounce -- all traffic in our household stops until the ash of madness can clear.

One thing that did lift my spirits, however, happened the other day. I learned that she most definitely knows that biting others is VERY VERY BAD and you can get in VERY BIG TROUBLE. She must have finally picked this up from daycare because I have not had to sign an Oops Note in quite a while. The Husband and I were tackling her for a diaper change and pajama time -- it was taking both of us -- and in her anger at this gross breach of personal space she grabbed my finger and brought it to her teeth.

As soon as my finger touched her teeth she stopped -- she did not bite, and her tantrum totally subsided as she looked at me with wide-eyed horror. I gave her The Look that my parents have so many times given me and calmly told her, "No, ma'am; we do not bite, especially Mommy and Daddy. That hurts people."

She was upset nearly to the point of tears and when I asked her for a hug and for her to say, "Sorry," she immediately crawled into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.

The Husband and I are both hoping Lydia will soon better understand and her over her frustrations. The sooner she does that, the more cute pictures I can get. Ha.