We knew from day one we had a strong girl on our hands. A girl with a mind of her own, a will of her own, and a temper to match. Amazingly, much of this has simmered down as she’s grown and learned new forms of communication. For instance, she no! longer! screams! bloody! murder! when she’s over tired. Instead she’ll fuss, rub her eyes, and sometimes even rest her head on my shoulder until she goes down for a nap. We’ll take it.

BUT. And this is a big but – she has learned new means of defiance that have made disciplining her nearly impossible. It’s absolutely adorable and maddening all at the same time. There aren’t many things we discipline her for, of course, as she is only one – but there are certainly boundaries to create and this involves many a, “Ellie, nooooo.” “Don’t stick your fingers in the fan,” “Don’t touch the tv,” etc. etc… to which she responds in one of three ways:

1) She obeys and goes about other baby business and receives oodles of praise.

2) She shakes her head no and ignores what we’ve just said.

3) She gets super frustrated, puffs her cheeks out, and blows/spits through pursed lips with as much intensity as any one year old can muster.

The latter is most hilarious, and in some ways great that she’s learning to communicate frustration without crying, but at the same time oh-my-gosh!!!! It’s like her own version of punching our lights out for telling her, “no Ellie, you may not jump off the changing table mid-diaper change!”