Being 2

Sometimes I have to take a step back and realize how much harder other people have it. Take today for instance.

Laurel is 2 and 1/2. OK, thats pretty tough right there. But today, ooooh... today. She had a ROUGH day.

She wanted more Mighty Bites in her princess bowl and I accidentally poured Cheerios in there.

She wanted to wear her kitty dress to school and since the kitty dress is blue and white I put her in pale grey leggings with it. Princesses don't wear pale gray. Ever.

We settled on her pink princess shoes, and then we put her princess lunchbox and her princess pacifier in her princess backpack.

Laurel likes the new Tiffany's catalog that just arrived. The Tiffany catalog is her "princess book". She likes to leaf through and show me her princess earrings and her princess necklaces.
I wouldn't let her bring her princess book to school. Princesses don't like that.

I told everyone it was time to get in the car. Time to wear our backpacks. Holden helped Laurel with her backpack. Princesses like help. " Thank you Princess Holden" she said, thereby bestowing on him the highest compliment in her world. 6 year old boys don't like being called Princess. Holden was mad. Laurel screamed because her compliment was rejected.

So we went to get in the car, but we have to take our backpacks off in order to get strapped in to car seats. Princesses don't like to take off their backpacks.
Tears.
We drop Holden at school and carry on to Griffin and Laurel's school. Finally the backpacks can go back on. But when we get inside guess what? We need to take the backpack off.

No! S'Mine! My Pwincess backpack! Is not funny!

The day got worse for poor Laurel. Not only was she stripped of her backpack, but the backpack was then eviscerated and the princess lunchbox was put in the refrigerator. Could things get any worse?

Well, I don't know what happened while she was at daycare. Who knows what assault to princesses was in store for her there. But I do know that she continued to struggle after I picked them up in the afternoon.

Laurel wore her backpack as we headed back to our car. In a surprising turn of events she learned that she couldn't wear the backpack while she was in her car seat. I had Oliver with me at this point. Oliver likes to be buckled in the second he sees the car. By the time Oliver is actually sitting in his seat the tears and snot are flowing and the decibel level has reached a level which inspires neighborhood dogs to begin howling. So Oliver and assorted afflicted animals are howling and Laurel is trying to make her princess displeasure known.

Finally Oliver is buckled and Laurel is holding her princess lunchbox and her princess backpack on her lap.

We drive south to Oliver's appointment. Laurel needs to bring her princess lunchbox and her princess backpack. She sees a pink sweatshirt in the car and needs to bring this beautiful princess item as well. Laurel's side of the stroller overflows into the second seat. Laurel can barely see because she has so many accessories piled on her and over her.

I dropped Oliver. Griffin, Laurel and I head to Whole Foods to buy enough to get us through the night. I picked them up before their snack at daycare so I planned on buying them something.

Whole Foods has automatic doors. Griffin doesn't like automatic doors. He sees people go through and then he sees the door shut. I guess he worries that we missed our chance. I explain that we too will be allowed inside.

I usually get them an apple or some berries and some jicama. But I wanted to avoid the fruit today for reasons no one really wants to know about. I head down the cracker aisle where they of course spy fruit bars. Griffin inexplicably calls them " barns". They begin clamoring for barns. I pick up a box of apple bars and give them each a bar in the store. Blissful silence as I quickly pick up a few items.

At checkout Laurel hands me the final crumb of her bar. " I don't like it" she states.
I guess she ate it to be polite.

We hurry back to pick up Oliver. Laurel drops her backpack. It landed in leaves. Her princess backpack has been tainted by leaves. I assure her the princesses are fine. She remains unconvinced.

I try to speak to Oliver's therapist for a few minutes while Griffin screams to get out of the stroller. Laurel decides she doesn't like the placement of Griffin's feet so she screams too. Its hard when someone else's feet are improperly placed. Its just so ... disruptive.

We get back to the car. Its very hard for Laurel to get out of the stroller while holding a princess backpack, a princess lunchbox, and a pink princess sweatshirt. She dropped the sweatshirt. She screamed. Things just have not been easy for Laurel.

Then we do our little routine. Oliver shrieks about being buckled in, Griffin won't get in his seat, Laurel can't get in her seat because she can't climb in or sit down while holding all her princess accessories and princess accoutrements. Eventually we all settle in and we drive north to pick up Holden at soccer.

On the way Laurel manages to wedge her lunchbox between her seat and Griffin's seat. Can you imagine the horror of a stuck princess lunchbox? Hard to fathom. Then she dropped her princess backpack. Then her dolly was inside the princess backpack when she wanted it in the outside pocket.
NO NO NO NO NO
Dolly was supposed to be half in and half out of the outside pocket. I had positioned the dolly WRONG.

NO NO NO I DON"T LIKE IT AAACCCKKKK WAAAHH WAAHHHH

Its not easy being two. Sometimes I forget that.