Fearing the terrible twos, and threes

I’ve realized that all those things people mercilessly warn you about during pregnancy are not nearly so bad. Those people must get some sort of sick thrill out of scaring nervous pregnant women.

Example A. You will never sleep again.

We’ve had our share of getting up during the night, but really you’re on this new baby high, you’re all pumped up. Bring on the feedings! And hopefully most women get a decent maternity leave if they plan on returning to work. So, if you are sleep deprived, it’s not like you have to do rocket science, mostly it’s feed, change, rock, repeat, feed change, rock, repeat, ….

Example B. You will never go out to the movies or have fun again.

Yes, people really say this. And it’s true we go out a lot less. But, my sister said it best when she said “Whatever you really like – movies, hot baths, whatever, you can make it work. You just can’t do all the things you used to.”

So, anyway, here we are, Ella’s one and we’re just moving happily along, out of all the baby stages and really starting to have fun, but I keep hearing about those “terrible twos.” You may remember my doctor warned of backarching and tantrums in our future.

So part of me wants to believe it’s some sorta conspiracy or fear tactics used to amuse others. But I actually really trust my doctor … and I’ve seen some scary things lately.

Last week I was at Meijer’s and this woman was walking out holding her 2- or 3-year-old while he was screaming “die, die, die, die.” I heard him well into the store, while they were far away, outside. Woah. I’m glad I didn’t witness that scene while I was pregnant. I think it would have sent me into a hormonal meltdown.

Yesterday, I ran into an old friend who has three daughters. She said her 2-year-old is starting to turn mean. She said it like it was just a fact of life. Her girl has even started saying “damnit.”

My sister and sister-in-law have had some troubling experiences lately too. Rachel went on about how sweet her little boy, Grant, has been lately. She thought that his bad phase was done with. Today though, she reported things weren’t so good. He kept taking things away from a little friend the night before, and when Rachel sent him to the corner he threw a cup at her. Hard. She had a red mark on her face.

My sister Sara said her daughter turned evil at age 2. Last week she called my sister stupid at Ella’s birthday party. The scary thing is she’s 3 now. It doesn’t even end at 2?

Shoot. Well, I’m going to live in denial as long as I can. For now, my baby is really sweet and doesn’t do anything wrong. And who knows, maybe Sara was wrong with her implication recently – she saw me holding Ella and said “My baby was just like yours when she was that age.”

Can she really be bad?