The terrible 2s

She's 5, soon to be 6, but we have entered the Terrible 2s. Don't think that if your two-year-old breezes through his second year of life that you are off the hook. She might just be letting the terribleness fester and grow for awhile.

Has the language demand of Chinese kindergarten caught up to her at last? We have a stack of Chinese books to look at and videos to watch and she will have none of it. In fact she announces to the family at least twice a week that she's "going to the other school" with "everybody else" next year.

Almost everything has become a battle and tonight it was all about the insane soccer socks. She's been playing soccer this summer and has been the only one on the team who doesn't have the standard soccer equipment. I didn't think it mattered to her but when she slipped during a kick and fell on her bum in a game last week, I realized the value of wearing cleats. So I found some cleats on sale and got some cool socks to go with them. (She refuses to wear the shin guards we bought while Hank was hating soccer because "those shin guards are for BOYYYYSSS.") She seemed to love it all when she saw the stuff after I came home from the sporting goods store and was all excited about wearing her new gear. So I was only half-surprised at the 20-minute crying scene that coincided with putting on the new socks tonight. They were "bumpy" and "NOT THE SAME" and "irritating me" and "they have to be the SAME SIZE!" In this picture she thought they looked okay. Gary's got her at practice. I'm going to sit on the couch in front of the TV and lower my blood pressure by petting Peggy.