We're working on saying "please" and "thank you" (Luci is the more polite of the two). Potty training has begun (led by the hubs, who successfully trained Isabella while I had two infants attached to me 24/7) and both are regularly using the toilet when he puts them on it. And both are chattering up a storm and using complete sentences (although Nicholas is still ahead of Luci in this area).
But in other ways, we're still treading water. Nicholas is still a high-needs grenade who needs careful handling or else he will explode into an epic tantrum from which he cannot be consoled. Luci is still obstinate and an instigator. They fight each other every five minutes, and the screaming is still there. The screaming that is Dante's 10th Circle of Hell. The screaming that I can still hear long after they've gone to sleep for the night.
Luci and Isabella have developed a sweet relationship. Of course, the older sister uses the younger as her personal pack mule and maid-servant, but overall, the two play very well together. Favorite games include "cats," where they crawl around on the ground meowing, and then the variation, "Cat Mama," when Isabella is the mother cat and Luci is the baby cat who needs care and attention. They hold hands in the car and love to dance with eachother.
They also sit together on the oversized chair in the living room after dinner for their TV time and snuggle under a blanket. Luci wants to do whatever her sister is doing, which sometimes works, but often does not, especially when Isabella's much-loved art supplies are involved.
She loves to say, "This is delicious!" and to tattle on her brother ("Nickey eating off the floor!" "Put Nicky in TIME OUT!").And she's mellowed. I can reason with her now, and while she still has an explosive personality when triggered, she does not spend the majority of the day crying anymore (unless she and Nicholas are fighting).
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is another story.
Nicholas is very smart, as Isabella was at his age. He can identify every letter of the alphabet, and knows the sound each letter makes. He speaks in complex sentences, sometimes 10 or more words long. He has a gigantic vocabulary. And he remembers events that happened months ago, and brings them up with no prompting on my part.
But he is so temperamental. Usually within 10 minutes of getting up in the morning, he's screaming. The shirt I picked out for him to wear isn't red. His breakfast isn't ready. His breakfast is not what he wanted. He doesn't want his diaper changed. He wants the brown shoes and not the blue.
His needs are crisises. All of them.
I feel like I am constantly walking on eggshells with him, scared that if I say or do something to tip the apple cart in his brain, he will explode into another of his tantrums, and I won't be able to stop the screaming.
And yet he is so sweet when he's not miserable. Multiple times a day, he will run at me, huge grin on his face, arms outstretched, and bear-hug my legs, saying, "I love you, mommy!" He gives spontaneous kisses (with more "I love you, mommy!"s) all the time. He tells me, "You look so cute!" and "I like your shoes." He charms the pants out of everyone he meets.
I'm hoping for an evening out of his personality very soon.Nicholas is currently wearing 24 month clothes and some 2T. Luci still wears some 18-month clothes, but mainly 24 months. It feels (and I've been told) that there is a huge weight difference between the two. Nicholas is solid. When I lift him, it feels like I'm heaving a cement block. I can actually pick up Isabella easier than I can Nicholas (although she obviously weighs more), simply because the weight is distributed across a bigger frame. Luci is petite and practically weightless in comparison to her brother.
Luci
Current Likes: Wearing headbands, dancing, drawing
Current Dislikes: Bedtime and naptime
Nicholas
Current Likes: Bringing me play-food meals while singing "Happy Birthday," building block towers
Current Dislikes: Following directions, peace, calm, and quiet
Gosh they're cute. I'm glad that Lucy has at least mellowed. Let's hope that Nico's future partner is very in tune with his needs (for breakfast and red shirts!) and also patient. :)
Actually, I'm sure once he gets more self sufficient he'll mellow out a bit.
Nicholas sounds *just* like my younger one too. He will freak out not just AT stuff, but at the THREAT of stuff too. Sometimes when changing the channel on our satellite TV, someone will accidentally hit the 'off' switch on the remote - causing static on the TV and a very loud white noise that is guaranteed to send him crying from the room. But now (just like pavlovs dog) anytime anyone touches the remote, or the menu comes up on screen, he will scream, "NO NOISE MOMMMY! PLEASE NO NOISE!" and even though I tell him a hundred times that there will be "no noise" he will carry on until such time as he himself can see that there wasn't. As for 'not the right breakfast' (or 'brek-fix' as he calls it), 'not the right shirt/shoes/socks/shorts' etc - oh my stinking heck he is exactly the same as Nico. So I feel your pain. Having Luci and Isabella playing together must be great huh? It must give you such 'aaah' moments - I know with my two it does, and it makes the intermittent crying and screaming okay. :)
They are so cute! Nicholas sounds a whole lot like Little Elvis. I often feel like I'm on eggshells with him, and we have no idea what will set him off. It's gotten a lot better, though. And it continues to get better. We've been able to reason some, and I ask him several times a day if XX is worth pitching a fit over. We also try to stop what we're doing pretty much immediately and take him home and to his room if the fits get too severe.