Sophie is in a little toddler funk. For the past week or so, I’ve noticed a distinct change in her moods. She’s generally an extremely happy little kid, so when she starts throwing at least one temper tantrum a day, it gets me wondering.

Why? Why? Why? Is it because she’s starting to realize that the window on the terrible two annum horribilis is closing on her – that she has only about three months left before she can’t use that as an excuse for misbehaving?

Truth be told, Chloe never went through the terrible twos. But she was a nightmare between 3 and 4. Sophie has consistently been slightly ahead of Chloe in her milestones, so perhaps we’re starting to witness a preview of Sophie’s nightmare threes.

All I know is that she has one hell of a voice on her. The other day, she tortured my babysitter on the 20-minute walk home from the park. Screaming her head off the entire time, causing our beloved caretaker to quake in fear that someone would attribute the shrieking to wrongdoing on her part and call the police.

Today’s meltdown at the swimclub occurred because she wanted a bag of Swedish fish candy, just like Chloe. That simply wasn’t going to happen. All of the other parents of young children were visibly happy (the grinning gave them away) that, for once, the cause for embarrassment wasn’t their own progeniture.