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1:10 PM, Tuesday, January 7th, 2014:   Part of me has been excited about this moment. That moment when your kid is old enough to throw a full-out temper tantrum test of wills... and that kid has me as a dad. A dad who will absolutely stop the car and turn around. Who will absolutely LEAVE DISNEYLAND when that shit starts. A dad who is excited about getting up at a restaurant if a kid won't sit down and leeeeeeeeeeave. I keep my word. I will never make idle threats and if you think you can yell longer than I can ignore you?   Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit.   Now I know what most of you must be thinking: this has to do with jealousy with Cam, etc. And in almost any other household I would hand you that baton. However the truth is? Vienna's life has had zero effect from Cameron since we basically split the house up and she rarely even sees him. I've moved into the den and am on full-time "single-daddy" duty, while Talya spends most of her time "sleeping when the baby sleeps" with said baby in the bedroom. She pokes her head out with Cameron in the afternoon and evening, and Vienna pretty much looks at him, signs "baby" and smiles... then goes about her business. This is a luxury of having two parents at home during this period - it makes the transition a bit easier.   However, about a month before Cameron got here, Vienna most certainly started the "terrible two" stage a bit early. Doing some research I found that often kids hit that stage pretty hardcore at 18 months and go for a year or so. She's a bit early, but in so many of her developmental stages, she acts like a 2 year old. I've found no other way to describe her actions. Her ability focus, her obsession with books and mimicing us and her intense need to communicate. From signing to talking (even if in her own language, though she says about a dozen words) - she acts "2". And that means:   A BATTLE OF WILLS!!   She wasn't hungy, wet, tired... she simply wanted me to sit with her and read all 47 of her books for the 4th time with her. I haaaaaaaaad to deal with some site issues (changing servers because AT&T blocked my host? Huh?) So she screamed and cried... and at around 10 minutes (God I love this), started flipping through her books WHILE SCREAMING. THAT'S when I knew she was a little bullshitter. That's when I knew we were in the terrible twos. She had gone well past wanting to hang out and read with me... she had moved to the "I'm going to read by myself AND scream at the top of my lungs." So I go in and talk to Talya who is legitimately freaked "what the fuck is she doing?". I giggled and explained everything and put on my headphones and continued uploading files, etc. She got past the 30 minute mark still screaming. At this point? I'm actually proud of her. That's some fight, boy! She already knows I'm not budging but she's gonna keep on pushin'.   We hit the 45 minute mark. At which point I had to update my status:     Heh, funny thread - and I haven't the foggiest idea who William is. Welcome to the friend list of someone trying to social network in 2008. <shrugs>   But it's true, my point was not to embarrass her, but to show an actual amazement in how much passion she had. Eventually her Oma came over and we ate, but the cool part? Today? I put her down again and she screamed for? 5 minutes.   Then quietly started flippin' through books. :) I know all kids are different and this isn't a parenting blog but I'm tellin' you: don't accept whining, outlast a few tantrums and never make idle threats. This isn't "breaking their spirits", it's showing them what works. If tantrums don't work, they'll go other ways... if they do work? You're in for some terrible 2's, 3's, 4's etc.   But ANYWAY - the past week has been a friggin' dream for me. The best part? I can't be on my computer or phone because she wants to see it and play with it - so I spend my mornings sitting with her, drinking coffee... gazing out the window. Just enjoying the hours pass as she talks and talks. There's a calm to being unplugged as we all probably know, but also unplugging from adulthood is a gift. It's just a gift. I guess I didn't realize just how important alone one-on-one time is with your kid since we've always been all together - but wow, it's rather intense. I will certainly make it a point to schedule more of this once Cam is on a good schedule so that Talya can have that alone time as well with them. It's just the most precious stuff ever. And watch this minute and tell me you wouldn't want to sit and go through books with this kid all day?     Exciting age. :-)   Adam

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