Surviving the second year – happy birthday Coco!

Today my cheeky, charming little girl is turning two, and the cliché is really is true, time is flying by.  My husband Mark and I often look at her, full of personality and determination, and we wonder if, in a flash, we’ll soon see her with her bags packed by the door, waving goodbye (cue breaking heart).

People often say that the first year is the hardest, the seemingly never-ending sleepless nights and nasty nappies, the colic and constant feeding, but for me, I don’t really remember it being that bad.  Perhaps I have my rose-tinted glasses firmly in place (a necessity when number two is weeks away), but on the whole I just think fondly of the time when Coco was a cute little bundle. 

The second year however, was a slightly different story.  Granted, after a summer spent running back and forth project managing building work on our house, she was slightly out of sorts to say the least, but as Coco turned one being a parent also changed and became a different challenge. 

Our very happy little girl all of a sudden seemed to be very frustrated and at times plain angry.  The difficulty of not being able to walk and talk was taking its toll and the only way of venting was through tearful tantrums that would take place at the drop of a hat.

Her general displeasure was also displayed in other ways too.  All of a sudden Daddy was her number one and Mummy was far lower down on the list.  This resulted in a full on meltdown every morning as Daddy left for work, and if she needed comforting only Daddy would do.  At one stage, it even got so bad that a she would breakdown when Mark would leave the room for the loo.

Around a similar time, Coco decided that food was overrated and dramatically cut down the amount she would eat at each meal.  Old favourites that she used to wolf down were merely sniffed at, and the mere thought of eating any fruit or veg was laughable. After having a happy girl who would eat anything, this left me tearing my hair out with worry every day.

Also, after a relatively healthy first year, Coco was now picking up every illness going.  My poor little lamb became very sensitive to ear infections and for months she was subjected to an endless stream of problems.  This then of course affected her sleep and before we knew it we had another body sleeping permanently in our bed.   This became the norm until very recently, and I am now thankful and frankly ecstatic to say that Coco is sleeping soundly in her own bed. (For more advice and tips on sleep training, read Nat’s brilliant post here). 

Now you might wonder why I’m telling you all this.  At the time, as Mark and I tried our best to negotiate each of these problems, I remember friends with kids of a similar age telling me, “what a magical age” they were and how they were so “cute and funny”, and it made me feel nothing short of rubbish.   What was I doing wrong?  Well I now have the answer.  Absolutely nothing.  I have now learnt that all kids go through different stages at different times and every act of defiance that Coco displayed was completely normal.  However, if I had known at the time that someone else was going through or had previously been through the same thing, I’m sure it would have been that little bit easier.

Today, Coco is a very happy, loud, funny girl, full of energy, character and chatter, and although she is by no means perfect (of course she is to me!), I feel better equipped to deal with the tears and the tantrums knowing it’s a passing phase and nothing personal. 

It’s a good job too as I’m sure I’ll be dealing with a few more meltdowns as soon as Capocci Jr 2 arrives on the scene! Cue my next post…

Gemma x