Whoever Made Up The Phrase Terrible 2's Must Have Been Confused!

I have been blessed with two very beautiful little girls. They are the light of my life and like many other kids they go through stages, some a bit tougher than others. As they have grown I heard the same old things from everyone. "The time goes so fast enjoy it while their young", "They'll be walking before you know it", "Just wait till she hits terrible 2's". Except that this last one has not been entirely true in our case. For our family the age of 2 was not to exciting, actually it was pretty regular (except for some small potty training mishaps). For us the terrible age seems to be 3! This is the age that they really seem to be testing the rules & finding their personality. Once our older daughter hit 3 our lives were filled with melt downs, tantrums, incessant whining, and stubbornness. Since then she has grown into a very fine, sweet & smart 6yr old that we are very proud of. However her little sister seems to now be struggling with the same "Terrible 3's" we previously encountered. It was so bad last weekend that after a bit of discipline for not holding on to her sisters hand while we were crossing the parking lot she informed me that "IF YOU WEREN'T MY MOM I WOULD HAVE A DIFFERENT MOM!". Ahh, the joys of parenthood....makes me wonder if anyone else has encountered these "Terrible 3's" instead of "Terrible 2's". All we can really do is continue to stand a firm ground and pray that this "stage" will be over soon.