Seriously. What is the matter with these proto-people? One moment, life is full of rainbows and unicorns and sweetness. Moments later: NOOOOO! DON'T SAY THAT! I DON'T WANT MY GLASS ON THAT SIDE OF THE PLATE! Ka-plooie! (That would be my head exploding.)
It's exhausting.
If there were a way to quantify the good versus bad moments of the day, I'm sure the total good time would outnumber the bad by a considerable bit. But the bad packs such an emotional wallop that I think I may have whiplash.
I frankly admit that parenting has given me more insight into my character and personality than I'd ever expected. It's not pretty. I have more patience for the daily tedium than I would have guessed, but I have no tolerance for deliberate chaos. None. And (actual shameful confession here) I get angry much more easily than I'm happy about. Pouring water out of the tub, making a mess of food, or (CARDINAL SIN) ruining books... I just can't deal. My composure and patience fly out the window.
The screaming, though. Oh, man. What biological purpose does it serve for offspring to scream at their source of protection? If I were a mama bear, that kid would be sleeping outside the den tonight, let me tell you.
I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable developmental explanation for what Sarah's going through right now. Maybe something hormonal, because she's acting like a teenager with PMS. I just... someone tell me it won't always be like this. That I won't have to wait until she's in her twenties before she can start acting like a reasonable human being for more than five minutes at a time.
On the plus side, she LOVED her doll, who has been named Ella (after one of Sarah's classmates).
6 comments:
HAHAHA!! Oh sorry I don't mean to laugh!! I have often commented that the worst days are the ones that I get to intimately know the worst parts of my personality!! The comment has also been made on several occassions that this appears to be PMS! My guess is that Sarah is very bright and with that comes a level of torture for mom. I really wish I could asy that it's gets better...and it does but it gets different and the different isn't all glam either. I too confess to an inability to deal with the primal screach that seems to short my nervous system where upon I release my own ugly primal retorical! (truley not my most prideful moments of parenting) It is all in preperation for the teenage years and the good moments refill the savings account of love so that the child isn't ever put out of the den before it's time! I can tell you though that you will survive and I will let you know when it gets better...I am trying to patiently wait!! She has great taste in names as the Ella and her look like peaches and cream!
hugs.. better days are ahead...gardening and sunshine and swimming in the lake!
ella is, obviously, the perfect name.
and, yeah, those things you listed are exactly the things I go crazy about, too. Wish I had some sage advice for you but I'm in the same boat. I think it's a girl thing, because friends who have boys don't report on the drama so much. ;)
Oh, I completely lose my shit when a book gets ruined. Books should be sacred!
(Hi, you don't know me because I am a longtime lurkerperson, but I am a long-ago TTer and have been enjoying your writing there and here for a while now. I also have an almost-four-year-old girl as well as a seven-year-old.)
Tia - it won't be always be like this. Find the flow and go with it .... even books.
This took me a long time to get, but it really does help : Acceptance is not the same thing as approval. Kids are amazingly nuanced creatures.
They get the difference. And I don't know why it took me so long.
When I can accept something - even if I don't approve of it - then I can better deal with the big picture.
You're actually doing a wonderful job of mothering. Even when it feels like crap we're still present, engaged, in love and protective.
So, there is that. :)
It won't always be like this. Promise. In fact, you won't even remember most of the stuff that is driving you nuts right now, because your kid will invent entirely NEW stuff that will drive you nuts (xcept that you're blogging about it, so maybe your memories will stay fresher than mine). My husband commented a while back on the family photos from my childhood, saying it all looked so idyllic. The secret? My dad only whipped out the camera for vacations and holidays. Of COURSE it looks great - all swimming in the lake and pony rides, Christmas trees and Easter bonnets. My mother swears up and down that her six kids were "never any trouble", a statement that never fails to send me to the ground howling with laughter. Selective mommy memory is a beautiful thing. You'll get there. Promise.
Well, as my daughter is hitting the end of her fourth year, she is calming down.
But, I've been catching myself. I keep repeating to myself you catch a lot more flies with honey...(I don't know the rest of the saying!).
It helps me to not yell as much.
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