I am going to admit it:  we have absolutely no routine or any semblance of schedule to our days.  It is 11:15am and Norah is still asleep.  Wake her up?  Are you crazy?

Yesterday, she woke at 5am.  Bedtime?  Sometimes 8pm.  Sometimes 11.  We have tried the bedtime “routines.”  Didn’t take.  Quite frankly, if she’s ok with our ever-changing days, then I’m ok with it.  Scott and I aren’t big on routine either.  She perfectly fits the description of children who are not biologically wired for routine in Raising Your Spirited Child.  The author of this book writes that you can peg these children from birth.  Yep.  My life involves dragging Norah with me to groups, appointments, coffee shops (which are not kid-friendly at all!).  Whoever coined the phrase “stay-at-home-mom” must not have met one–we’re rarely at home. 

I love having a two-year old.  She is so much fun (and yes, so challenging).  Eavesdropping on her play, one sees her do things like: bake a turkey in the oven (the oven is beneath the kitchen baseboard and the turkey is a wooden xylophone), comfort her baby (the baby is an inkpen and yes she does pretend to nurse it, wrap it on her back, and swaddle it with my kitchen towel), or build a duplo tower–this weekend her tower was 32 blocks high and she was standing on the couch to hold it.

The challenges:  a few days ago, I was hurrying her (we had to get to the coffee shop!) and she said, “Hold your horses, Ju-ie.”  Or the day she popped every key off my laptop.  Saturday, she ran toward the road and when I caught her, she whacked me between the eyes.  We went inside the house and talked about safety.  Yesterday, when we took Jude out, Norah warned him not to run toward the road.  I know you’re not really supposed to reason with a 2 year old, but it works sometimes with Norah.  Like, putting a toy she wants back on the store shelf because “it needs to stay with it’s mommy.”  And now my sleepy little one has wandered in.  Must put away my Kentucky Derby pie, pumpkin coffee, and computer.  Must slice apples.  Thank you, mom, for the apple slicer.  How did I ever live without it??