Bianca Gonzalez and husband JC Intal are bracing themselves for the so-called “Terrible Twos,” the phase where a two-year-old child exhibits “pasaway” behavior.
At the event of Sanicare Hygiene Care Circle last July 25, Bianca told PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) how different motherhood is at this stage. Lucia will be turning two on October 23.
“Every day is different. There are good days, there are bad days.
“She copies a lot of what she sees.
“She says a few words, but not sentences, not phrases.
“She communicates through one word or points or signs in her own way, which we have to figure because it’s hard.”
In order to figure out what their toddler is trying to say, Bianca and JC would often mimic Lucia’s “signs.”
The Kapamilya host elaborated, “Parang, ‘What’s this? What’s this?’ or kaya she keeps on pointing to something, ‘What’s that?’”
Lucia has also learned how to “work her way around” her parents.
The celebrity mom remarked, “It’s just every day may bagong pakulo, may bagong antics.
“Like now, kapag ayaw kumain, she’ll make lambing. Parang mag-e-embrace-embrace sa ’yo para ma-ano ka, para, ‘Okay, don’t eat na.’”
Unfortunately for Lucia, this trick doesn’t work often with Mommy Bianca.
“Between me and my husband, I’m the stricter one. So, she knows na kapag she wants to get out of something, she runs to her daddy.
“So may gano’n na siya, she kinda knows how to work her way around na.”
BIANCA AND JC: WHO IS THE GOOD COP, BAD COP?
Given that there are many ways to discipline children, particularly, her toddler, the first-time mom mused, “It’s so hard to discipline at this age kasi yun nga, she’s a baby. She can’t really super understand yet.
"I think part of it, she can’t really talk yet and express herself, so kapag napu-frustrate siya," she throws tantrums.
Bianca said she sometimes sees her toddler self in Baby Lucia.
Laughing, she revealed, "Grabe daw ako...as in kicking and screaming daw ako nung bata ako.
"So sometimes, when I see Lucia like that, iniisip ko, 'Oh no! Karma ko! It came back to me!'"
How does she deal with it?
"...We don’t want her to get sanay na when she cries, we get her what she wants, but at the same time, you have to make her alalay.”
The couple is still trying to strike a balance.
Bianca continued, “So far, ako yung laging bad cop, my husband is the good cop.”
What’s her solution to Lucia’s tantrums?
“I try to talk to her talaga. And even in the articles that I read, parang it’s nice to—yung you talk to them like an adult.”