PT with 2-year-olds

We increased Eden's private PT (paid for through our medical insurance) to twice a week at the beginning of the year. Holland gets private PT once a week, and they both see the therapist from the school district once a week. That's five hours of PT a week between the two of them. Eden also has hearing impaired services (teacher consultant and speech and language pathologist) for an hour a week, so we have about 6 hours of therapy at home every week. That's a lot of work for a 2-year-old!

Eden has always been such a good worker. She never complained during therapy, and has always tried everything we have asked her to do. I guess those days are over. The older she gets, the more stubborn she is becoming! I guess it's a good thing, because she is just letting us all know what a "normal" little 2-year-old she is. She only wants to do what SHE wants to do. She yells and screeches, throws herself down, turns into a total limp noodle, or a stiff board, any time we try to get her to do something she doesn't want to do. It's getting harder and harder to get her to work at all.

At first, Eden's fits were so upsetting to me. I had a hard time not crying through therapy myself. The more it goes on, the more I am noticing that she is just being a total punk! I swear, she looks at me to help her, save her, but I can see the smile hidden beneath the snarl that we have become so familiar with. It's a half smile, barely noticeable beneath all the yelling and hitting and pushing us away. She is totally testing us. She will yell and yell and complain and complain, then turn into her beautiful angelic self as soon as you find an activity that she WANTS to do.

The problem has been compounded by the pony walker. We LOVE the pony walker, and Eden is zooming around the house now. She gets better and faster in it every day. Except now, that's all she wants to do. She wants to be upright, and she wants to be mobile. She does not want to do any of her floor work. She doesn't want to sit, and she certainly doesn't want to practice her military crawl. She doesn't even want to climb!

At the same time, she is getting better and stronger at these things. When we are not paying attention to her, I see her pulling herself along on the floor with her head up nice and tall. If I make a move over to help her or to encourage more, she starts yelling and (fake) crying at me. Argh. It can be really frustrating!!!

I've been repeatedly reassured by her PT that this is completely normal for her age. It happens to the best of them between the ages of 2 and 3 1/2. Pam says it will get better again in a year. A YEAR!

SO, like I've always said...Eden is very smart, very determined. She is strong-willed, and persistent. Her attention span and focus for a task is amazing.

OR, you can look at it this way...Eden is very STUBBORN. She is hard-headed, obstinate, and inflexible.

Whichever way you look at it, she is adorable. I love her spunk, and her persistency in making her needs known. Those traits are going to take her far in life. If we can just make it to 3 1/2!!!

***Okay, before anybody freaks out...the scissors were NOT my idea! Markers, fingerpaint, playdoh, and tea parties with shot glasses? I'll take the blame for those. The scissors belong to one of Eden's PTs. Of course, Eden thought they were GREAT, and threw a huge fit when it was time to do something else!