3 is the new 2

Please. I beg of you. Believe any parent of a 3 year old when they tell you the above. The "terrible twos" is such a crock. Firstly, because they begin at 18 months (kind of like that pregnancy is 9 months misnomer thing - 40 weeks, does not 9 months make my friends - it's a lot closer ten!) And secondly, if our case is any reflection of the norm, the calendar 2 year was not so bad. Maybe it's just because each new challenge just builds on the last and we're due to be adapting to them until the kid is at least 21, but 3... is tiring. Don't get me wrong. The kid is still a great kid and provides us endless (its that endless thing that's so exhausting) entertainment and surprises day in and out, but as soon as she hit 3, she just became THAT much more sure of of herself, THAT much more a daredevil, THAT much more demanding, THAT much more vocal, THAT much more cognizant of what buttons she could push, THAT much more able to turn on the crocodile tears in a split second with very little prompting, etc... etc...

We've been faced with huge bedtime challenges since we moved (as in the kind of challenges that don't allow mom to sit down w/ her nightly glass/es of wine until well after 10 many nights - OK, not even sit down with a glass, but start the dishes, lunches etc...over a glass, which does NOT a happy Lisa make) mostly of our own making, yes! I was so focused on getting her to sleep in her new room, in her big-girl bed, that I was willing to lay down with her for "just two more" Princess ballads, which translated to I'm going to keep a death lock on your finger and if you try to slip out before I've fallen and been asleep for a minimum of 20 minutes I will throw the tantrum to end all tantrums. I'm proud to report, however, that bribery does seem to work. We established a sticker calendar and each morning after she's fallen asleep by herself (after those 2 and only 2 Princess ballads with mom) she gets to pick a sticker to put on the calendar. Once we hit 10, she gets to pick out a new small toy, book or DVD. I have no qualms about this bribery thing if it gets me to my vino in the 9:00 hour! We're at 8 stickers as of today. The next round will be to get 10 CONSECUTIVE stickers. We had a few slips, but we're getting back on track!