Can we talk about the 'terrible twos'?

When Everdeen was a wee baby, 6:30 became the most dreaded hour of the day...our witching hour. She would cry and cry and we could never figure out why.  We would bounce until our rear ends were numb on the exercise ball,  put on white noise, and follow every step in the Happiest Baby on the Block book.  Some nights we had relief, but others were long and exhausting.   Besides those few months at the beginning, Everdeen has been the happiest, calmest, most easy going baby.  We have been blessed to say the least.  We even naively thought we had missed the "terrible twos".  Here she was at 2 1/2 and we had yet to see that infamous toddler behavior.  Sure we've had some moments that have not been so fun, but overall it's been pretty easy sailing.

But oh, these past few weeks...we have a new witching hour.  The moment Everdeen gets home from daycare she exerts her independence and new found vocabulary she undoubtedly is trying out on her classmates.  "Mama, you stop it! That not okay! Walk away!" Reeeaaal nice.  

But our biggest challenge has been bedtime.  Our once sweet, calm, and easy bedtime has changed drastically.  To say our little one loves to hear stories is the biggest understatement of the universe. Everdeen could listen to stories for hours and trust me she has.  We read from chapter books and read her favorite picture books over and over again.  And the moment we close the book the screaming and flailing begins.  It's hard to watch such a tiny human be so upset over, what seems to us to be small mundane things.  She is learning this world, learning boundaries and expectations and it's hard for little ones to grasp sometimes.  I know our consistency  will pay off and that the time and energy we are putting in now will make future parenting much easier.  At least until middle school ;) I can see how these toddler years are a pivotal turning point...giving in because of pure exhaustion seems like a brilliant idea when bedtime is taking two hours, but Martin and I take a deep breath and continue on. 

We've seen small glimmers of hope that things will return back to the way they were soon.  After the "Daddy go away" we'll hear "Ooooh! You made that dinner for me? Ooooh thank you Daddy!"  Or Everdeen will say as we walk upstairs to bed, "I'm not going to throw a fit tonight, Mama."  We definitely have our days filled with melt your heart moments too, but during a screaming fit it can be hard to remember sometimes.  

Often times I feel like the terrible twos are a taboo subject...no one talks about tantrums and screaming because who wants their child to be categorized as 'terrible'? Maybe we shouldn't look at this stage of life as terrible, but as a prime opportunity to teach and guide our children.  We should look at this time as a chance to really nurture and love on our little ones when they need it the most, as they are learning right from wrong.  Maybe us mamas should share more of the not so picture perfect moments so that we can feel relieved, even normal that it's not just our toddler throwing a tantrum over the color of cup they are drinking their milk from...because obviously the pink cup makes the milk taste much better.

Any words of wisdom or advice from those of you have survived this stage or are going through this same thing now would be much appreciated :)