Little Miss Opinionated

My little girl is getting so big and opinionated these days. She is such a little princess, and has started saying that she doesn't like things, but she leaves off the "don't." So "I don't like that" is "Like that!" and "I don't want that" is "Want that!" But you can definitely tell by her tone of voice that what she is saying is negative.

I'm really trying to work with her about not whining so much. It's gotten out of control. It's either the terrible twos, or she's just gotten used to getting her way, but she can throw a fit like you wouldn't believe. Lately she has been demanding to sit in the back of the shopping cart, and if I don't oblige for some reason, she kicks and screams and makes such a scene.

If she doesn't want to clean up or do something I've asked, she'll say "Mommy do it," and if I'm trying to help her but she doesn't want my help, she'll say "Arden do it." You never know what it's going to be.

Some Arden-isms:

"flone" - phone

"gobbles" - goggles

"copy cart" - her shopping cart

"panpapes" - pancakes (sometimes she also calls them "canpapes"

"marmles" - marbles

"1, 3, 5" - the way she counts anything and everything. If you ask, "Arden, how many are there?" She'll say, "1, 3, 5!"

One of the most tiring things about her during the day, is that she'll all of a sudden want some random toy and start demanding it, and though I have no idea where it is, we must search the house until we find it. It's usually something weird, like a collection of plastic cards, a set of three small plastic balls, a set of three books that she likes, a certain shape (like a triangle) that's missing from her shapes. She loves things in collections and always knows when one of her items is gone. She'll say, "Missing one! Missing one!"

All these random objects she likes to hold frequently come with us on our shopping trips. She likes some numbers from a Bingo game, and if we're about to leave to run errands, she'll say, "With us! Numbers, with us!" Of course, halfway through shopping she loses interest in them, and then Mommy is responsible for not losing them (because I know she'll be demanding them again before too long).

It is so adorable to watch her play. She loves to push her shopping cart around and loves putting things in her shopping cart or stroller. She can get so involved in her own little world. She loves bath time, loves reading, and loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. But we discovered she has a terrible fear of "Monsters Inc" and "Up!" because one day when Huston was watching "Monsters Inc" I was holding her and realized she was trembling violently. I immediately turned it off and if she ever wakes up from her nap and Huston's watching one of those movies, she yells, "All done! All done!" When I was talking with her about it, she said, "Scared...Arden scared." So, only Mickey for now.

Arden knows most of her colors now, which were really tripping her up for awhile, but not her letters. She can identify the numbers 3, 4, 5, 0, and a few others. She likes singing her ABC's and "Jesus Loves Me."

She's difficult, precious, opinionated, adorable, trying, and wonderful all at once. And she's almost 2! How did that happen?