Tuesday, July 31, 2012

And this TWO shall pass

Everyday, all day long, I find myself taking a deep breathe and repeating the words, "and this TWO shall pass"  Yes, I know that most people think of it as "and this too shall pass."  However, in my stage of insanity of parenting a two year old, my version makes more sense. 

Sometimes I wonder where my sweet sweet Sami girl went.  It seems like just yesterday she would kiss me and love on me and want to snuggle and play....oh wait... it was!  That's the part that kills me some times, I never know what to expect from her anymore.  One second she is the picture of sweetness and people are commenting on how wonderful of a little girl she is....and the next, I have no problem understanding that original sin impacts people from birth.  Throwing things, kicking things and people, making huge messes, biting the dog, messing with her baby sister, getting into her big sister's things, screaming because she wants to paint on the same paper she already completely covered with paint two days ago...these are just some of the new adventures Sami has introduced us to while we have introduced her to the wonderful world of time outs and saying sorry.

The Sweet version posing with her sister



Left unattended with Pudding- She's crying because I said "no!"

A few weeks ago, I vowed to break our girl of her TV watching habit.  We spent 11 days without TV on in the house (at least while she was awake.)  She had gotten addicted and I did not like it one bit.  The time away from the tube worked and I am very glad for that.  However, there was a big, no HUGE, draw back- no more afternoon movie-naps.  Sami has always been a TERRIBLE napper.  She really only started this nap thing at 20 months and then quit them again at around 22 months when she had a stomach bug.  I finally got her to take a nap while watching a movie and the pattern continued.  I figured it wasn't too bad since she wasn't actually "watching" the movie, since she would usually fall asleep minutes into it.  So, when we decided to have a movie and television fast, she decided not to nap any more. 

So, usually starting around 4 pm I have, what I once affectionately called, "my little Chuckie."  Dinners are painful, bedtime routine sometimes torturous and everyone in the house is exhausted.  I know the obvious answer would be to get her to nap, but even since allowing TV again, the kid won't nap.   So today, I tried just getting her to be earlier. At 6:30pm she was out cold in her bed, the baby was asleep in the swing and the hubby was out running an errand.  It was eerily quiet for that time in the day.  I can't help but be skeptical that this will actually last all night.  Sometimes she tries to take a nap at this time of night, so I am just hoping that in the morning I will wake to my sweet sweet Sami, ready to face the day, after a nice looooong night sleep. 

Whenever a sweet old lady reminds me to hold on tight to these years and cherish them because "they grow up too fast",  all I can think is "Thank God!"  Those sweet ladies must have forgotten the absolute craziness of parenting a toddler.  I love that I can take pictures of the sweet moments and have sweet memories of the good times and I hold tight to the knowledge that someday, I will be the sweet old lady who has forgotten the craziness of these days :)