Monday, July 9, 2007

Crossroads

I’ve reached a crossroads in my parenting life. My two-year-old daughter, an angel since
birth, has become more annoying than my son. She is extremely demanding, relentless and very, very loud. It’s like living with Shannen Doherty
without volume control or the ability to take “no” for an answer. 





Diva
This recent graduation into full-blown toddlerdom has caused
me wax nostalgic about my son’s baby years. He used to be angelic. I used to
look at other children taunting their parents with blatant disobedience
thinking, “what did they do to that kid?” I was so grateful to have been blessed with a child (all of 6 months
old) who was so well behaved with such a calm, passive disposition. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening. Just tonight, I talked to my husband about
"that demon living under our roof” in reference to my son. 





Things change. I
realize this now but apparently I did not learn my lesson the first time around. Just three weeks ago I had myself convinced
wholeheartedly that my daughter was going to miraculously skip the toddler
stage. She was, after all, the perfect
baby. And, let’s face it; she’s pretty
easy on the eyes. Adorableness can mess
with your brain. I was convinced that
her long, dark locks and her big brown eyes would be enough to warm my heart in
the midst of even the most taxing toddler years. I was wrong. 





My daughter looks at me with those big, beautiful eyes and yells,
at the top of her lungs, with her face less than 15 inches away from mine,
“MOMMY! Ont milk! Ont milk!” If I don’t stop what I am doing immediately and fetch her some milk, she
turns up the volume and yells some more. I have become, for lack of a better word, a slave to my daughter’s
needs. My mind tells me it’s a phase
but my instincts tell me to lock her in her room for the next two years and
feed her through a makeshift mail slot in the door.



9 comments:

  1. Age two? Not so good. Age three? Even worse.

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  2. Aunt Becky-
    Couldn't agree more, though I'm cautiously optimistic that my daughter will scale both walls in her second year. See. I never learn.

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  3. it's good to always think of the glass as half full (of good red wine :)

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  4. Didn't you say Sean received a rather large, refillable bottle of Darvon when he had the knee surgery? there you go, two shots of Lynchburg's finest, and a couple of those pills, and she can get her own damn milk!! (You can administer the shots and pills to whomever needs them the most) Not all of anyone's child raising memories are pleasant, that said, good luck, and, with luck, this too will pass.

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  5. You're making me glad I don't have kids.

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  6. Aunt Becky-
    So true. My glass, unfortunately, is usually half empty. But, as long as it's red wine, I really don't care.

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  7. Papa Dale-
    Nothing could be finer than a Father-In-Law trying to encourage his Daughter-In-Law to turn to drugs and alcohol in order to cope with her own children.

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  8. Marsha-
    That wasn't exactly the intention of the blog but I can certainly understand why you feel that way :)

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  9. Child Behavior Modification is so tough. There are moments that yelling at them is not enough. Tantrums in toddlers start when they want something which they cannot get or even when you do what they don't want to.
    The best way to deal with toddlers tantrums is to create the best activities that are fun and educational. You have to remember that at this is the stage, child adopts all things that happen around him. This is also the best time to allow your child into different activities.

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