Already in the throes of three

Yesterday Sophia says to me in an exasperated voice, "Mommy, stop breathing on me." Really? Already? Everything is a battle these days, from picking out clothes to wear, or eating, or, well apparently even breathing. The autonomous threes, yay me. Oh, I give her choices. "Do you want to do A or B?" And her response, "I don't want to do either. Go away. Leave me alone. My ears are plugged so I can't hear you." Sometimes it's such a ridiculous struggle that I can't help but laugh. Sometimes I just want to cry. Days have been completely remapped based on her relentless temper tantrums. I know this is a phase. I know she's testing her boundaries. I get that she is working into her independence. I just wish that my sweet little Sophia would take it down a notch. I'm sure it's no coincidence that this phase happens to correspond to a certain someone getting attention. In fact, I actually feel guilty when I do pay attention to Ava in front of Sophia. As challenging as it is, I am so grateful that Sophia never takes out her frustration of this stage on Ava. She is always so quick to help out when it comes to Ava. She is so gentle and sweet with her little sister, and takes her role as big sister very serious. I get a little jealous that all that sweetness is now directed at Ava when not so long ago it was all for me. But as sassy as she is now, like Jekyll and Hyde, she can be incredibly sweet and considerate all in a blink of an eye. "Mommy, I love you so much. You are my very best friend in the whole world" is interchangeable with "Mommy, I don't like you anymore. I want...I need....Give me NOW!" So here we are. The terrible twos weren't really present in our house, but I fear the wrath of threes rearing it's ugly head only days shy of her third birthday.