"I want to be heard"!

Ariel is now 17 months. I have discovered that she's now moving into another stage. Some may call it the start of the terrible 2s, while I prefer to call it the start of the "I want to be heard" stage.

Since she turned 12 months, Ariel has been our little cooperative angel. She loves to hear "Good Job!" and see us clap our hands whenever she puts her toys back in the box, and points to the correct animal or letter whenever we ask her.

But now, I realised that my little angel is starting to show some defiance, which is not necessarily a bad thing :) To me, it's a stage of growing up. She doesn't like it when we test her anymore, and refuse to point to any object we ask her to, just to earn that 'over-rated' "Good Job!" In fact, she's probably thinking, "You've asked me a dozen times, and i always get it right, so what's the big deal?"

To get her to help me with the chores, like putting the toys back, I had to change my approach to, "Where do you want to put this?", handing her one toy at a time. Also, during meal-times, she is able to tell me when she's full, by making the "No More" hand sign.

Letting children make decisions are great coz it helps them to think for themselves, and I would think this is one way to tackle the start of the terrible 2s. I am glad that Ariel is progressing to the next stage. My little angel is growing up :)