The terrible...ones?

I thought the terrible two's took over at two. Either that's a myth or my daughter is way to much like her mother. My mom always said I matured early. Every emotional stage was hit sooner than my peers. She also stated recently that I was done with the terrible two's by the time I turned the tricky age. I believe my baby is following in my footsteps.

Here is a peek into the daily world of my wonderful one year old:

-I am installing her car seat in the car...I turn around to find her mouth full of mud. A scrumptious meal scraped from the garage floor.

- (same day)We are at our weekly play date with four other moms and babes. The living room is full of toys and tots and the mothers are enjoying something other than baby talk. My daughter is happily playing by my feet when suddenly, at the exact same second, we all see why she was suddenly so sweetly silent. Vaseline is smeared from her waist to the tips of her pig tails. Her hands are caked in great greasy globs. The diaper bag is now water proof for the rest of it's life.

-I am putting on my make-up with her only inches away. She totters off into the other room an less than a second later I hear a "Clink, clink, clink". Suspecting another escapade I follow her footsteps to where I find her dropping change (no idea where she found and how she managed to pull it off the swipe so quickly) down my heating vents.

-I block the stairs so she can't send herself catapulting down on her cranium (an activity she finds especially entertaining) only to be subjected to a full blown toddler tantrum. Kicking and everything. What a terrible mother to deprive her of that fun.

-Any room that isn't closed off becomes a catastrophic mess in two point two seconds.

-She knows EXACTLY what she wants and how she wants it and will point and sign and grunt and gesture until she gets her way....or scream at the unfairness of being banned from eating nothing but baked goodies. She can't say very many words clearly but her level of knowledge and understanding far exceeds her vocabulary. This makes for some very frustrating face offs.

And yet, she is the sweetest sugar plum she's ever been. She hugs and kisses with gusto, is attached to her doll and her twin teddy bears to the point of sleeping with them tucked snuggly under her arms and nuzzled under her neck, and jabbers the most beautiful baby talk non stop. She laughs and teases and tickles and all of life is an adventure. Even her tantrums are quickly forgotten when she realized they accomplish nothing and she is soon snuggling her cheek against mine. My summary therefore is that the two's are not so terrible...just terrifically intense.