There are only two people
in this whole, wide world that could drive me to the point of absolute craziness
in one minute and then make me laugh to the point of tears in the next. Yes. I
am referring to my two wonderful (and absolute crazy) toddlers. These girls are truly the lights of my life. They are my reasons for living. And they are also clearly God’s way of paying
me back for everything bad that I ever did.
EVER. Like, since kindergarten.
So, Mia is about two and
a half and I haven’t really pushed potty training. We have a potty and it is in the bathroom
half of the time and the kitchen the other half, depending on where it has been
pushed, but it doesn’t get used like it should.
The girls love it because it sings songs and lights up, not for its
intended purpose (that would be crazy!).
I haven’t been stressing about the fact that Mia isn’t potty trained
because I know she will do it when she’s ready.
However, lately she has started to tell me when she’s gone to the
bathroom. She then proceeds to go in to
her room, undress, take off her diaper, wipe, put a new diaper back on, and get
redressed. Okay, so good news for me, I
don’t have to change her diapers anymore.
But, isn’t that a clear indication that she is ready to use the
potty? Yeah, I thought so too. However, when I tried to get her to sit on
the potty instead of change her diaper she had an all-out, full-blown, over the
top, way too dramatic meltdown. There
were basketball size tears, some thrashing around on the floor, a few swats at
her sister and then me, followed by some wailing. After a minute or two of this (she can really cram a lot of tantrum in to a short amount of time) I told her that
she could go ahead and change her diaper.
She hopped up off the floor (all of a sudden the tears just stopped),
said “OK mommy”, went in to her room, and changed her diaper. All I could think was “where is this
camera? who is punking me”? But, alas, no cameras. This is my reality.
I love my toddlers
because, well, I love them as people.
But, they are really tough. They
know what they want, but can’t always communicate it. They want to be independent, but they are
scared to be on their own. They love to
explore, but don’t really know their physical boundaries yet. And,
to top it off, they aren’t rational in any way, shape, or form. What a combination! Of course mine are extra crazy to boot (going
back to the payback from God thing) making my life extra interesting. Toddlers are challenging and they require lots
and lots of patience. I just hate that I
feel so guilty when I lose that patience.
A good friend of mine
(and a very experienced mom of four) once told me that toddlers are cute by
design…otherwise they might not last too long. I absolutely believe this is true. They might be driving you (and everyone else
around you) crazy and you might be reaching your limit and then all of a sudden
they will say or do something so funny you think, “my life would be so boring
without this kid”. So, today’s blog is really a little reminder
that it’s ok if you want to hug your toddler one minute and squeeeeeeeze them
the next (wink, wink). They push your
buttons, so of course there will be moments when the only reason that you love
them is because…you love them. Don’t beat
yourself up about it. Think about it
this way, if anyone else ever swatted you…while having a temper tantrum…in
public, you would probably knock him/her out.
So, see, at least you’re not doing that!
Until next time…
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