May 4, 2011

Keeping Patience

I do not claim to be a perfect mother.

I lose my patience with the best of them.

These past few weeks have been a real test and have me reconsidering my decision to keep Cate home with all summer. I had visions of spending time in the park across the street every morning and filling up the kiddy pool in the backyard every afternoon. Well... between the never ending gloomy, rainy days and the outdoor water ban in our neighbourhood, it's hard to see the silver lining. Cate is the type of kid (like most, I assume) that NEEDS to spend some time outside everyday to burn off some energy. The recent days have left us with a wound up little girl at night.

To top it off, Cate is going through what I will call a "phase". I have heard people talk about the terrible twos, but now I am living it and it is not pretty. She doesn't listen or obey anything we say, she has completely given up on the idea of using the potty, she still has no personal space boundaries, and most of the time responds in what hubby calls "whinese". I just pray that the day she turns three it will all change and she will revert to the quiet, kind and considerate little girl that she was a year ago.

I remember when Cate was little and we would see older toddlers misbehaving and hubby and I would say to ourselves that no way would we let our child behave like that. How embarassing for their parents... Well... boy is my face red now! I take back every thought I ever had to that effect. Now, when Cate is acting up, I take pleasure in seeing the reaction of new parents and I think to myself - just you wait, your turn is coming...!

To all the parents out there - how did you survive the terrible twos?

2 comments:

Kataroo said...

first in case you didn't already know :) LOL I love reading your blog :)
WHINESE.....oh lord that sounds so familiar, I think Kayeleigh has a masters degree in it :)
It is a PHASE...it gets better...and then they go back...and then it gets better...I think its an up and down dance..We as parents just need to keep trying to learn the steps :)

Marilyn said...

I am living the terrible two's. If you come up with the solution, please let me know.

We are looking at nursery school for September, realizing he will have to be potty trained before then, and just the thought of that (while housetraining a puppy) can put me in tears.

That said, when he looks at me, my heart still melts... then the devil smile appears and he does SOMETHING (right now the biting phase). LOL.

All I know, is I am an avid believer of the Mommy Time Out. Make sure the kids are safe, and then take 5-10 min of something for me. Check email, read a couple pages. Something. Connor is even starting to recognize it as sit down and behave time... or it takes longer to get Mommy back. :-P