Two

I remember someone saying once that their daughter's personality changed overnight when she turned two - her sweet, compliant little angel turned into an unrecognizable, screeching harpy. I congratulated myself for several months that this hadn't happened with Melina (no doubt due to my superior parenting skills), but now I have to take it back. Melina CAN be a screeching, demanding, unforgiving, thankless little dictator. Luckily these spells never last too long (a few days here and there), but when they're upon her, it's brutal. Pretty much all she wants to do is eat popsicles (limit: one a day), and watch "Wheels on the Bus" on YouTube. And when she does get to watch Wheels on the Bus, she wants to watch a different version of Wheels on the Bus. And then a different version. At this point I would willingly pay someone to create a new version of Wheels on the Bus for YouTube just so I could watch something new.

And then there are the spoons and forks. Melina has always been picky about which spoons and forks she uses, but now it's a bigger deal. Spoons go in and out of favor (right now she likes the Big Bird spoon, or as she says, "Big Duck"). A favorite spoon or fork one day is out the window the next. And of course the blueberries have to be put in just the right spot on the tray, and the milk has to be put in just the right type of glass or cup. Very persnickety.

And then there's the Scary Slide at Wilshire Park. It's an old 1970s metal corkscrew version, pre-lawsuit, that's 9.5 feet high (I looked it up). If a kid sits in the wrong place and doesn't hold on, they drop straight down the middle of the slide or go flying off. I know of at least two kids who have fallen off. Of course, it's Melina's favorite slide. Usually I don't worry TOO much about it, because she's very coordinated, she goes down safely (holding on), and I stand in the danger zone to catch her if she should fall. But yesterday she observed some older girls going down it BACKWARD. Wayyyy dangerous. Melina started to go down it backward and I had to pull her back up by the arms, at which point she tried again, and again, while all other little kids were waiting below. I couldn't grab her and take her back down the steps (too high and hazardous with a squirming child) and I couldn't let her go down it backward. I also couldn't go down it with her (not big enough for me). Finally I let her go partway down it lying down, and then I descended to catch her in case she fell. She made it without falling, but I think it scared her enough that she didn't want to do it again.

I've thought about calling or emailing the Parks Department about that slide. I know that it's the bane of other parents' existence, too. It says "Not for small children" in big letters, but small children can't read. I don't to be one of those overprotective parents who takes away the favorite piece of playground equipment because her child stubbed a toe or something, but I think that most parents would be relieved if that thing was gone. I guess if Melina keeps wanting to go down it backwards I will just have to forbid it altogether, but that will make trips to the park into a living hell. It will stand there like forbidden fruit, leading to endless temper tantrums - at least until she's old enough to reason with.

Will she ever be old enough to reason with?