New phase of terrible twos

So, when you hear people discussing the terrible twos, they all tell you about the tantrums. The arguing and the “no’s” and the horrifying outbursts in public places.

Everyone failed to tell me about the whining.

I think they must have just subconsciously blocked it from their minds. Because when you ask a fellow, more seasoned parent, about this horrific whining phase…a look of shock seems to cross their face, followed by a panicked memory, and completed by a look of shared misery. Ah yes. They remember the whining. It seems that girls may be worse than boys for the whining. While boys are worse for the public outbursts. And boys seem to have cornered the market on deliberate destruction. Because despite my two in terrible twos, minus one disgusting fish food experience, there hasn’t been a lot of destruction. Deliberate or otherwise.

Not to say my girls don’t tear stuff up. But they’ve never given an iPod a bath. Nor have they colored the walls or rubbed play-doh into the carpet. You give them a magazine and the go ahead and they’ll give you back confetti in less than 10 minutes. Heck, let them accidentally get ahold of a magazine without immediately shrieking no and seizing it and you’ll have confetti in 15 minutes. It takes them a little longer to shred a magazine quietly.

And there have been two hurricane glass fatalities. One of which was caused by my husband. And several chewed up crayons. A few ripped books with chewed corners. All in all, three years with pretty minimal loss.

But the whining.

Holy cow.

I’d rather hear nails on a chalk board for an hour straight instead of 10 minutes of a two year old whining. It is HORRIBLE.

I’ve tried ignoring it. Whining back. Ignoring it some more. Asking her to stop. Yelling at her to stop. Leaving the room. Leaving the house.

Nothing really seems to work.

So, really. What’s up with the whining? The worst part is that my typically happy-go-lucky Elly seems to be affected by her sister’s whining and usually follows suit with crankiness of her own.

There have been some changes for Evie lately. She is beginning to transition out of napping, going from a 3 hour siesta to a mere 45-90 minutes if anything. This has meant a slightly earlier bed time and a slightly later wake up call. Which I have enjoyed. But it has also meant more entertaining of the toddler. Most days this isn’t a problem for me. I just put her to work. Last weekend we cleaned out the basement and the week before she helped me get all the outside toys out of the building. But some days I just really REALLY need a break. And Evie won’t let me have it.

And when I’ve had no break and there is a lot of non-stop whining…well, it can lead to a stressful evening in the Dowd household.

So, why does she whine? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe just practicing a new form of communication? Dealing with growth and changes? I don’t know.

But how do we deal with the whining? Just stick it out and hope she outgrows it?

Pointers please?