The golden age

We are officially over the terrible twos in this house.  Okay, Violet was never really terrible. in fact, compared to a lot of kids, she's an angel.  But from the time she turned 2 till a couple of months ago she did not have great sleeping habits. And by not great, I mean coming out of her room every 5 minutes until 10:30 or screaming at her door for half an hour.  It would alternate from night to night depending on how much screaming I could handle.  She had given up naps, but was still in the phase where if we got in the car any time past 3:00 she would fall asleep and ruin her bedtime. Couple this with a newborn who had gas until he was 6 months old and it becomes clear why I use birth control. 

But Violet is almost 3 now, and it's glorious.  She goes to bed on time, without crying.  She entertains herself.  She is independent.  Charlie is sitting up and almost crawling, so he can entertain himself for almost as long.  And he sleeps in till 9 every morning.  Every person who ever criticized me for sleeping in when I was younger (I got that alot-- "Just wait till you have kids! You won't be able to do that anymore!") can kiss my butt.  I love every minute of late morning sleep I get, and I don't care how lazy it makes me. 

However, this isn't to say that this age is perfect. Yesterday at the pool a kid started playing with Violet's floatie, and she wanted it back.  I told her, "You have to share your toys," and she responded, "Or not. "  Then today I was trying to get her to come home while she was playing outside, and I said, "You can jump three more times and then we have to go home."  And she looked at me and said, "Just don't talk right now, Mom."  And weeks ago when we were still living in corporate housing, we came to our other house and when we pulled into the garage she yelled, "Are you kidding me, Mommy?  I want to go to the splash pad house!"

Ah, yes. Back talking has begun.  But who wants perfect, anyways?  I would take spunky over boring any time.