The Best Medicine

When me and my sister were growing up, my parents didn't have a t.v., a fact for which I am eternally grateful. So my sister and I (yes, we survived such deprivation!) made up all kinds of other ways to amuse ourselves. We read a lot, we played outside, we made huge tents out of mom's extra blankets and kitchen chairs.

Sometimes we would blindfold ourselves with my dad's handkerchiefs, spin around in the den until we were disoriented, then set off through the house in a sort of drunken, blinded Marco Polo. We would make our way from room to room by feel. And when you took of your blindfold or cheated a litte and peeked, sometimes you were exactly where you thought you were. And then sometimes you weren't even in the room you though you were in. You weren't even close.

Which is an odd sort of metaphor for my journey as a parent lately. You think you are one place, then suddenly, you aren't at all. Things are going smoothly, then suddenly they aren't.

I guess a lot of it is just egotism. You think, "My kids will never throw tantrums!" and , "I'm going to discipline my kids."

(And here, Dear Lord, I humbly repent for every time I thought a judgemental thought about a mother whose child was acting out!")

It's hard.

Today as been the first day in about a week and a half that I didn't break down in tears. Yes, the uglies reared their head, (several times, in fact) but I was able to handle it better. I got on the "SuperNanny" website ~desperate times and all~ and got some pointers about tantrums that were actually very helpful. One was to use humor. Hmmm....

So today when Bella would frown up her face and stomp her foot, instead of getting mad I would make that same face back at her, then start making silly faces and she would start laughing. And we still didn't get a nap, but she stayed in bed for the allotted time (or rather I kept putting her back in bed!) and didn't have a meltdown till the very end. When "nap time" was up, I hugged her and told her I loved her, even though she was kicking and screaming, and thanked her for staying in bed for her nap.

We are making progress.

As for Abby Skye, today I took her to the doctor because she has a huge rash on her face and chest. The pediatrician said it is "baby acne" and will eventually clear up soon.