Anyone who was less than perfect as a child (and really, who was perfect as a child?) has heard from their parents that they will get their due when they have their own kids. My family likes to share all kinds of lovely stories about me: cracking my head on a metal door frame after climbing on an unsteady decorative table, drinking my sister's perfume, eating poison berries from a neighbor's plant, climbing up on the counter (using the drawers as stairs) to eat a cake my mom made for a baby shower, and lying. I mean, lying all the time as a young child. Lying to get my older sister in trouble and keep myself out of it. Telling my best friend's mom that my mom told me I could come over, only for my mom to call 2 minutes later, frantic, because she could not find me (they only lived next door). I was not an easy child, to say the least.
We have challenges with Bug, but they are very different. I didn't quite appreciate what my parents went through with me until Mister came along. He is in the full throes of the terrible twos, and oooh boy... This past Memorial Day weekend, the kids and I were getting ready to drive 5 hours for my best friend's wedding shower, but Jeremy (my husband) wasn't able to join us. He pulled the lawn mower out of the shed to mow after we left, and while we were loading the car, Mister managed to disconnect the gas hose. Bug loves liquids, so she was reveling in the gasoline puddle on the ground - I have no clue how that is appealing. After a very vigorous bath, a drink of water, crackers, and a call to poison control, I ran down to put their gas clothes in the washer. Upon returning to the living room, I see Jeremy pulling something out of Mister's mouth. Come to find out, while I was distracted with the gas clothes, Mister got into my purse, opened the childproof lid of the ibuprofen bottle (mind you he was not even 2), and ate a couple. Another call to poison control, I learned just how many ibuprofen my child could safely ingest before a trip to the ER was necessary. And when I laughingly asked if the nurse was going to call DCFS on me, she answered, "oh, honey - it's just one of those days." Amen, sister.
Fast forward to last week while visiting my in-laws for Christmas (we'll gloss over when he ate a poison berry this summer; who says there's no such thing as karma?). Mister has been much preferring Daddy lately, and when it was time for bed one night, he was in full-on tantrum mode. Lots of crying, screaming, and "I want Daddys" later, Daddy went in to try and calm him. I stood outside the room and listened to Mister say, "Mommy is mean to me. [Muddled words - wait for it...] Mommy doesn't want me to be happy." WHAT?? Who is this kid? So, Jeremy gets him to calm down, and he comes out of the room. The part I missed? The muddled words? "Mommy slapped me." Now if you know me well, you know I am of the non-spanking camp. There is literally zero chance I slapped Mister. This kid already has such a strong personality, and he knows how to get what he wants.
Oof, we are in for it! What can I say? It's my due! I turned out relatively normal, so I guess it could be worse. :)
This too shall pass. It will just take a while. :)
ReplyDeleteMight be why God invented wine.
Oh my, my, my. That's about the best story of juggling two littles I've heard in a very long time. Luckily, they only stay two for a year. Jeff decided upon his second birthday, that he was never going to take a nap again. Holy crap! No hour for mommie to breathe? At least he would always lay down with books for a while, though he wouldn't sleep. Bonus was he was always sleepy at bed time. Especially the afternoon he swallowed a penny. Couple bottles of prune juice later (recommended by the pharmacist) and the penny was recovered. Good luck, girl. Keep your chin up and forge ahead.
ReplyDelete