2011. We turn over the calendar yet again, 26 months into our Great Vogts Girl Experiment. It's cliche and somewhat arbitrary to take stock in one's life at a random day in winter, significant only because of the whims of long dead Popes. Indeed, how would I even measure success or failure? In theory I'm the co-captain of this ship, in charge and determining our heading, but the Secret of Parenting that no one ever tells you (but you figure out about 18 hours in) is that really you're mostly just along for the ride. It's more like a bobsled run; there's a measure of control, but that control is not always evident, outshone by the speed and chaos of the moment.
We face several major challenges this year:
- Potty Training. A difficult negotiation, to say the least. Overtures have been made, bargains struck, treaties spoken of, but our adversaries have been fickle in holding up their agreements. And let's be blunt: The will to achieve victory on our side has been lacking at times as well. Lately, however, we've been hearing more and more mentions of the P word from the other camp, so it's probably time to redouble our efforts.
- Big Girl Beds. I'm not going to lie, this one scares us to death. We've spoken of the difference between girls before, notably their sleeping habits. Kayla would probably put in 16 hours a day were she an only child, whereas Megan will, quite literally, throw her entire body around in a desperate attempt to stall sleep for a precious few additional minutes. Bedtimes usually are not a traumatic event, but we generally do hear the girls talking to each other for a while, and then hear Megan talk a little louder when Kayla falls asleep. Lately we've learned a game where we insist on being tucked in, only to immediately throw off the covers as soon as Mommy or Daddy's back is turned and need tucking again. One can only imagine what will transpire when they have free roam of the room, and access to toys/clothes/etc. We've toyed with various ideas on how to approach this, but the only one that makes any kind of sense logistically is to just swap cribs for beds one day, and be done with it. Our nightmare scenario is basically reliving our first month all over again. Again, we have stalled this one in deference to our convenience and comfort, but the day is fast approaching.
- Generally not being evil. Overall the girls are happy and well behaved. But they are 2 years old, hence the modifier. We tend to test our boundaries a lot, especially when we're tired. Supper can sometimes be an interesting experience.
Of course, it's not all doom and gloom, as we're on the precipice of other very exciting and wonderful things:
- Real learning. In the past few weeks, we seem to have figured out the color thing, achieving probably a ~90% success rate, with only minor corrections still necessary.
- Counting skills progress as well, with several "successful" counts of three items coming from Kayla in particular.
- Big Girls Helpers. Both girls have had great fun recently helping Mommy make muffins in the kitchen. This has translated to imaginative play as well, as Megan in particular will find a toy muffin pan and muffin/cupcakes and bake us up some treats.
We love using the iPad as well, to the point it must remain hidden most of the time. Anyone who follows me on Facebook has perhaps seen the fruits of coloring sessions, using a Drawing Tablet app. We also love looking at "pictures of babies" (though they do recognize themselves if the pictures are from the past year or so) and videos. I told someone the other day that in about two years, they'll probably be the primary users of the iPad, and not just because it'll be out of date.
It seems like we may be turning a corner here, in general. This could arguably be said about any random point in a child's development, but now, especially, we're very nearly ready to become fully functional human beings. We'll see how it goes.
