Tantrums

Good morning!!!! On such a rainy day, I'm trying to say that bright and shiny and all-cheerful like because I have come to the sad truth that my sweet 21-month old baby, O, has in fact, entered her "Terrible Two's" (which, in all honesty, runs right through the 3's) and has done so to such an extent to which we have never before experienced.

Like everything else she does, O is an all out, throw herself to the ground, kick and scream kinda girl when she is M.A.D. And lately, it seems that just about anything can set her off. She's also entered the phase that if I touch something wrong, I have DESECRATED it and it cannot be accepted in any good natured way. NO! It. Is. Ruined!!!!!!!! Oh, and she also likes to bellow "NO NO NO NO NO" to me, whilst in the midst of her tantrums (to which I like to reply, "I know! That's what *I'm* saying." This always causes me to chuckle...a blessing in the middle of a tantrum because I think that answer is hoot. O, kicking and screaming...not so much).

Ah, yes. When one gets a sweet angel like this, one often reflects on how the other children didn't seem quite so terrible after all. Who KNEW that A was, truly, the model child???? Who knew that E, while utterly blissful to ignore you even if it meant a time out while you pulled your hair out in a corner, was a slice of ease and sanity? I mean, granted, O sleeps better through the night (and sooner) than the other two...but at what price?

This, I'm sure, will be Karma coming back to visit me. I, Miss L, am a 3 of 4 child. O, Miss Tantrum, will be 3 of 4 child. She is headstrong and determined and wicked smart. She is also so dang cute when she wants to be...holy cow is she cute. But. Not always. I think the Lord sends a 3 of 4 to you only AFTER you've had the experience of parenting two others because seriously, sometimes during one of her tantrums, I just want to set her out at the curb and go back into the house alone, but because of prior experience, I know that feeling is fleeting and I just have to hang on for a few more minutes. Never-the-less.

I bring this up because this morning has been CHUCK full of these *ahem* delicious tantrums. I've checked her for fever. Nope. She did get up a few times during the night...so she could be grumpy because she is tired (heaven knows I'm feeling that way), but other than that, there's no discernible reason for this attitude. It is just "one of those days."

Ahhhhhh, joy. I think this means another edition of "Things that help me be a better mom" because I'll be looking to remind myself of all the good things about being a mom that are out there.

For now, though, I must go and reclaim some crayons that A has assured me have rolled into the vents and under a vacuum cleaner. And who, pray tell, has dumped the bucket o' crayons? Yes. Miss Tantrum '08, O!!!!