Toddler

It's official: I am the mother of a toddler. 

The other day when I picked up my daughter from daycare, I was informed that she had thrown her first tantrum. Immediately I chuckled. Her first tantrum? She had waited until now to throw her first tantrum at daycare? She didn't wait that long to start showing her toddler tendencies at home!

Last month, as my husband and I were reflecting on our daughter turning one, I made the comment that now we will have a toddler. Which presented the question - when does a child go from "baby" to "toddler?" Let me tell you - the google search that followed this inquiry was not very assuring. We discovered that some children can show toddler traits as early as 9 months old. Which made sense to us - I am pretty sure that was when the tantrums started showing up in our house. 

I feel like our response to each new stage of parenthood has been to go with the flow. React and move forward. This stage is no exception. 

That child is an expert at throwing herself to the ground in distress at the latest injustice she feels she has suffered. 

We are getting better at ignoring this flagrant show of emotion, while attempting to stifle the involuntary laughter from her clear show of pageantry. 

As my mother would think (but wisely not say), it is payback for my own actions as a child. 

She is her mother's daughter. And I am in for it.