Monday, January 08, 2007

Why is it that when I tell someone JD's age I get that look. You know...the one that says "I'm sorry" and "God help you" all in one. It's the same look reserved for daughter's caring for there ill parents or for the man holding an empty leash with a dog running wild through Petco. It's the one I give my Nana when my PawPaw calls for the 7th time while we are at the grocery store. It's the same look you give a woman with a child throwing a tantrum in the mall. Why is it that the smallets mention of a toddler makes everyone nod sympathetically and say, "Oh...terrible toes!" For once I'd like to hear, "And this to shall pass" or "Don't worry, you're doing a great job". Or even better, "You'll miss it when it's gone". Since when did a child exploring his environment or a child testing boudaries become terrible twos? Why not just the "Twos" or the "Terrific Twos" or "even "Trying Twos" would be better that terrible! Maybe this bothers me because I'm a "glass half full" kind of girl. I might have my negative moments but they last only a few days and come around once a month! It's not just the looks and comments made by strangers, it's the books as well. I can't tell you how many books I've read that warn mothers of this stage. Why not encourage them? There are far more exciting things about toddler-hood than awful things! Don't get me wrong...it's hard. Some days I think it's the hardest thing I've ever done, and I thought Chemistry was REALLY hard. But it doesn't lasts...it takes a few "God grant me some patience right now (talk about hypocritical) pleeeaaasseee" and a quick evaluation of the situation and it can be taken care of. For example, my sweet darling of a child has a small obsession with m&m's. By small I mean HUGE and I mean CONSTANT. He usually asks for them when he wakes up (we don't even have any and haven't for several days) and I say 'no". I then distract him with milk. A few hours later he comes calling again...for, you guessed it, m&m's. I tell him "all gone" and distract him with a game. Before dinner, he once again asks for m&m's, and this time we color. My point is...it just takes a little patience and a lot of distraction...wait, I mean A LOT of patience and a little distraction!!! Oh, and some encouragement from others would be nice!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's some encouragement.... it does get better... and sometimes worse before that. I have the same feelings about the terrible two's and three's... even tho it seems lately things aren't getting better, but a little harder. ha. I still think about how much it's worth it cuz I know in the end, it's all just Hank trying to learn the way of life and how to grow and live the fullest everyday. If adults could just see that children throw fits not to be mean, but because they dont know how to express their anger like we do, and truthfully, most adults throw fits too, just not in public (most of the time haha). I try and try and try to be soooooooo patient with Hank, but even I have my bad days, sometimes it seems to be a string of bad days, and he spends more and more time in time out or as he calls it "time tout"... but truth be told, it's me that needs to time out most of the time, when it comes down to it. So I will be one to tell you that it will get better, and possibly harder, but it's worth every second because you know thru it all, he is growing and learning and finding out how to live and do things on his own.... in his own way. So keep praying for more patience and keep thinking of new distractions, cuz thats what it all comes down to.... if only we could get distracted by something so simple when things piss us off, we would all be nicer people! =)