It has been a wild year with Katherine. She has always always been strong-willed but the day she turned 2 she decided to start doing everything (not just some things) herself and hasn’t looked back, no matter who is trying to help her or why. Safety: no concern, wearing appropriate clothes for the weather: not important, expecting us to go to ridiculous measures so she can win: normal.
A recent example: we had just finished a family trip to Target and Katherine was resisting getting in the car to come home. I don’t remember the details but she missed her opportunity to buckle herself in (I did it instead). She screamed screamed screamed on the way home that she wanted to do it. She calmed down just before we got to our house but when Alex unbuckled her seat belt she found herself frantically upset yet again and in-between screams and screeches she re-buckled her seat belt. I thought, OK, fine, she gets to win, whatever makes her happy. But no, that was not enough for Katherine as she started yelling “Get back in the car! Put Sydney back in the car! Go back to TARGET!! GO BACK!!!”. The funniest part – she was totally 100% serious. Now that she had buckled herself in she found it completely reasonable that we would all get back in the car and drive back to Target and home again just so she could say she’d buckled herself in.
With her strong-will-edness (word?) emerging more than ever and the birth of her baby sister it’s been harder for me to connect with Katherine. I do get my time with her and I am truly fascinated when I attempt a glimpse of life from her perspective, even just a small glimpse. But it still is different, and challenging, and requires patience beyond what I think I’m capable of. And at the same time I am so amazed by her and proud. And I’m figuring out new and creative ways to get through these (many many a day) moments of complete resistance by her. That said, I really, truly can’t wait to see what year 3 has in store for us!
I put this slide show together for Katherine so some day we can show her what her world was like between 2 and 3. Even just a small glimpse.
The amazing song is by Chelsea Lee and even though I don’t know what type of love the song was written about, I find meaning in it as I relate to this past year with Katherine. The song is used with permission. Just click the play button in the middle of the large box to play.
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