It’s been hovering around 0° for the last week or so. Even colder with the wind chill. Now I’m a hardy Minnesotan (hovered under my blanket currently), so Olivia and I have still been getting out of the house periodically to run errands. Friday, we went out to meet our friends at Target to do a little shopping. It was a big moment because it was the first time I was brave enough to let Olivia walk around in public.
It was pretty successful if you don’t count her running away from me 147 times, forcing me to abandon my cart to chase after her, and her meltdown because I wouldn’t let her chew on the clearance toy. Still, I think we found a new free activity to get us through winter until it warms up again.
It just reminded me how much of a toddler she’s growing into every day. How much she’s growing up. I’ve had to continue to work on my parenting. You know, like utilizing my Mom Voice and setting boundaries and trying not to burst out laughing when I’m trying to discipline her. Yesterday, she kept insisting on walking over to the little shelf in the corner of the kitchen and grabbing the little (non-breakable) decoration I have sitting there to carry around. I went over for the fourth time, said, “No, no, we leave that alone,” and went to take it and she smiled her toothy sneering smile at me and uttered a series of unintelligible babbles and I clamped my mouth shut so I wouldn’t burst out laughing because OMG! She’s hilarious!
(I realize I probably should just remove this entire shelf and take away all temptation, but I’m also trying not to lock up or lay bare every room in the house.)
I’m just going to run around with the dish towel on my head, kthxbai.
I suck at parenting, you guys. Ok, I don’t suck. I just need to work on that transition from taking care of a baby to raising a toddler and it’s hard. I wouldn’t say that I’m necessarily insecure as a parent. I’m slowly figuring it all out. But I see other moms my age and they seem so much more mature? No… capable, maybe? Like, they would know what to say when their child asks, “Mama, what is sex?”
(My answer: It’s bad, is what it is. Bad. Yucky!)
The biggest source of stress with me lately is the epic meltdowns she throws when something is taken away. It actually can cause some anxiety in me, to the point where I’m plotting how exactly I can take away the remote from her so I don’t cause All of the Screaming. Sometimes I’m lucky and we can do a trade-off: Here Baby, I’ll take the napkin you found in the garbage and YOU can have this fun teething ring!
Sometimes it works. Mostly it doesn’t.
And when it doesn’t, whew. Watch out. It’s impressive. She has perfected The Tantrum down to a series of very specific stages.
There is the lip pout, followed by the fist clench, followed by the gasp of air, and then finally, beautifully, the Howl. If she’s already laying down, she will just lay there and sob. Like, it’s all too much for her to bear and so she just freaking gives up because what is the point of living if you can’t strangle yourself with the laptop cord?
It’s a good thing our activities like ECFE and library Storytime are resuming this week. We need to get back into our routine.
Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.
You can find more of this week’s #MicroblogMondays posts by clicking here.
Your trip to Target could have been my trip to the grocery store with Bowen for sure!! He sure got the better of me because he ended up with some $25 toy that he will NEVER use simply because I grabbed something off the shelf to keep him occupied. THEN at the check it was a fight to keep him in once place while I unloaded the groceries to check out. Like at what at age does “discipline” start? I mean I don’t even know what to do other than saying no and redirecting. I don’t get this whole mom thing yet!
Author
Oh my gosh, I recently was out with her at JC Penny, and she saw this stuffed monkey and I let her play with it to occupy her. Well then she chewed the tag and so I’m like, ok I’ll buy it. Yeah.. misread the clearance price. The stupid thing was $8 clearance price. I would never had paid that much for a tiny stuffed monkey. And the best part is, she could care less about it now. And lol! You brought him through checkout without a cart??? You are so brave.
Oh no I had a cart but he was done being in it at that point so I tried to take him out , well that was the WRONG move because really he can almost out power me these days! O’well lesson learned! I will not go by myself him for a while..haha
Someone once told me that parenting is all about faking that you know what you’re doing. Honestly, that’s mostly how I operate, waiting for someone who seems like they actually know what they’re talking about to tell me otherwise (though there are those who don’t have a clue who are more than happy to offer unsolicited advice). My point is we do the best we can and modify our strategy when things aren’t working. Despite what you think, I think you’ve got this. The snickering too (I’m very guilty of this).
Ditto to what Cristy said. My three are 16, 19, and 22 (in a few short weeks), and I still feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. Hopefully I’ll figure it out before the grandkids start arriving some time down the line. 😛
Author
Ha! Yep, this is a never-ending process. 🙂
Author
Ain’t that the truth. The things no one tells you when you become a mom. And yeah, I need to get better at not smiling at her. (But it’s so hard!)
I would tell you to film the tantrum and then make her watch it, critiquing her performance, but I tried that and it doesn’t work. 🙂
Author
Ha ha! I’m laughing so hard at this!
Ha! Her Texas is showing Mama! Oh wait. Never mind. That’s her toddlerhood showing. Welcome love! I feel like D and Ollie are conspiring against us!! Toddlers unite. 😉
Author
Mmmm, I’m sure this is 50% her Texas. D needs to stop conversing with her and giving her ideas. 😉
I’d love to tell you the tantrums end soon, but…. Yeah, mine are now 3 and Ayden can throw a phenomenal tantrum. Even better is when he and Rylee start screaming at each other over a toy they both want. Awesome. You are brave for letting her run around Target! We just had our first not-in-the-cart grocery shopping trip not too long ago. It went pretty good, but it was stressful! ha!
Author
Ha ha! I know, it’s just the beginning. Chris was saying the other day that she’s going to be throwing some epic tantrums. And, I mean, it’s a fun free thing to do, to go to Target to hang out when it’s so freaking cold. I couldn’t imagine not having the cart as a back up though! Whew. It’s going to be awhile before that happens. 🙂
Those other moms probably think you’re the one that has it all figured out. I’m sure they have their own doubts and insecurities.
Oh, the dishtowel on the head… and the evolution of the tantrum. So much to look forward to. I think you are doing a great job with the difficult bits!
Author
Ha ha! Life is certainly interesting with her. I would have it any other way. But it’s interesting. 😉