neander-devil

so, we've got a neander-devil living amongst us. she must have been here the whole time, but wanted to wait until just the right moment-between sleep deprivation and spit up spells-to show her face (but what an adorable face she has!)

we've been working on "no throwing" recently. as in, no throwing food off the table. no throwing toys (at us) when she's mad. no throwing punches (or balls) at the animals when they're sleeping. we try to redirect, we try to not use "no" too often so it still holds meaning, we try time-outs. but still the neander-devil persists.

and tonight her poor little sister paid the price...with a toy bonk to her forehead. :(

no one told us it would be this hard to feel incredibly protective of your innocent little bear cub, but have the rascal that caused harm to be your firstborn who is near and dear to your heart as well. no one told us how hard this phase is--the neanderdevil is old enough to be dangerous in certain situations, but not old enough to be mean or deliberate in her devilish ways (;)). she's old enough that we can't just ignore things, but not old enough to understand reasoning or explanations. no one told us that we'd feel grateful for the idea that one day they'll both be kids and will be on a more even playing field when it comes to duking it out.

ah, the days of "when will we sleep through the night again?" being my biggest concern...if we can get through the days now with no bruises or hurt feelings, we're good to go :)

ps, speaking of sleeping through the night...nola slept from 7:45-12:30 last night. granted, zane and i were only sleeping for an hour and a half of that chunk, but still....
pps, avery, we still love you and all your phases. just don't hit your sister again until she has the chance to protect herself or hit you back.