They don’t call them the Terrible 2′s for nothing. 
I know we’ve all heard stories about the Terrible 2′s but it’s a period in your toddler’s life that you can’t truly appreciate until you’ve experienced it firsthand. And I don’t mean your neighbor’s two-year-old – I mean watching your own sweet child turn into the crazy devil like fiend that is screaming and stomping her feet in front of your entire family. It happens, even to those of us (ok, me) that swore my child would NOT act like that.
I’ve read books, tried time-outs, tried sending her to her room, and yes, I have even spanked her (don’t judge). It seems that some days nothing works. I’ve tried ignoring her, holding her, whispering in her ear to get her attention, yelling (yeah, it didn’t work but made me feel slightly better), distracting her, and there still isn’t one thing that works.
This past weekend we were held hostage by the little darling who had a meltdown as we were leaving the house to go to a party. So we tried time-out and asking her to apologize when she was done crying. I know – good parents, right?! I was proud of both of us for keeping our cool while the little fireball was screaming at me (OK, we both turned our heads and laughed - not exactly mature, I know). And would you know that she then refused to apologize?? It was like she felt she was not in the wrong for attempting to carry a good plate with appetizers on it out to the car. I appreciated her effort to help but when I had to take it from her – the meltdown ensued. After a tantrum of that proportion, she fell asleep in the car. I mean, it is exhausting to be that angry after all.
Fast forward to the party where we had been there all of 60 seconds when she copped an attitude, twisted herself off the chair, bumped her head, and fell down and cut her nose (with blood). We managed to last two hours at the party but had to leave abruptly when the attitude reared its ugly head again.
So if you have friends with a toddler, say a prayer for them. And don’t be angry with them if they leave your party without saying goodbye, they are simply hostages to their toddler.