A little taken back...

Well, before I ever had a little girl I thought that they were more mellow than boys, they played with toys quietly, they listened intently to their mommies, sang to themselves at times, hated jumping, climbing, running, etc. Could I have been more wrong? It seems in my case I am! Kai has always been energetic and I've learned to keep up with him. Then, Payton came along and she was so mellow her first year that we all but forgot she was there at times. However, recently she has taken on a new persona. Or, is her independance just not in harmony with my mothering needs/way/must haves? She learned the word "NO!" at about 13 months (a good 7 months before Kai figured that one out) and hasn't gotten tired of it yet. She wants to do everything herself since she was about 14 months (even if she wasn't any good at it). She tries to keep up with Kai physically (which is absurd, really, and she almost kills herself everytime). And, finally, she hates shopping of any kind and I'm realizing that I am entering the 'don't go anywhere' zone. I mean, is this normal? Christa, I feel your pain and it's not over til about 5, I think! Ironically, Kai has entered into a more obedient phase and is, on the whole, very concerned with my approval. He's sweet and "wants me to be happy" and can reason most of the time. So, with that said, at least he'll be understanding when I tell him we can't leave the house cause his baby sister is too hard to handle, eh? (p.s. I have no idea why this is underlined and I can't figure out how to fix it. Any thought?)