Where oh Where has my sweet child gone?

Oh where oh where did she go? Last night I put a very sweet 5 1/2 year old little girl to bed. Tucked her in with her blankies, played her lullaby cd, and kissed her on the forehead. With a "good night, sweetpea", I walked out the room. Little did I know, in the morning a horrible tired beast would emerge from the bedroom. The beast looked like my child, but clearly was not my child. The beast was crabby. The beast was mean. And worst of all, the beast was full of sassy backtalk. Is this a true case of Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Should I file a missing persons report? Did Aliens comes from the planet SassyBacktalk and steal my sweet little girl? When my daughter was a toddler I used to think there was nothing worse than an overtired eighteen month old. Boy, was I wrong. An overtired and crabby 5 year old is not a pretty sight. They pick fights with their brothers. They don't listen. They whine. They backtalk. There is only one way to recover your child from the space aliens- an early bedtime. Suddenly everything is in overdrive- dinner must be early, bath must be early, books must be early. The tired space alien must not sense early bedtime. If you are caught, you will hear the horrible screams of the "I'm NOT tired!!!" meltdown. I tuck in my daughter with her blankies and listen to extra fussing about exact placement of blankies. Everything is being delayed. I play her lullaby cd and concede to getting a glass of water for her nightstand. I kiss her on the forehead and almost out of the room, when there is "Cuddle with me, Mama." Finally, with a "good night, sweetpea", I gently close the door and look at my watch. Early bedtime has been defeated by the dawdling & lollygaggin. I sigh to myself "please send the space aliens home tonite, I miss my sweet girl."

Adventures in Potty Training

Adventures in Potty Training:

Oh boy, is this EVER a can of worms to bring up with a group of women. This may be the second most controversial topic to bring up amongst a group of Mom’s. (Number one most controversial of course being “to work or not to work.”) What kind of Mom ARE you for Potty Training?

Are you...

Flower Child Friend: I am a child of the 70’s…My daughter must be her own person, free to make decisions about her own body…she will give up the diapers when she is ready. (note: said daughter is almost 3 and shows no interest in “giving up” her morning and night bottle).

First Time Older Mom: My daughter can wear pull-ups and put big girl underwear over them if she wants to. Is this woman for real??? What motivation does a child have to ever take off the pull ups if they gets to wear princess panties AND a diaper??

Married Single Mom: I am NOT waiting until my daughter is four to decide she’s “ready” to give up diapers. That’s a load of garbage- what two year old WANTS to stop in the middle of playtime to take a potty break? Diaper are much more convenient for them- pee & go!

Wishing They Weren't Stuck With the Kids Mom: (wakes up one morning and impulsively decides) : I think I’ll potty train my two year old today, I’m OVER diapers!

Daycare Mom: I can’t be bothered with potty training. It's too much work. You have to remind them to go potty, you have to stop in the middle of grocery shopping, interrupt your dinner- what a pain! I'll let daycare handle it.

But at the end of the day, we all have our price. One parent may potty train "early" but totally slack off on teaching manners. Other parents dress their children beautifully every day in expensive clothes, but sacrifice car safety with a cheap carseat. We are just trying to survive day to day life. We let our children do “wrong” things in the quest to retain some semblance of sanity. We let them watch extra t.v. shows, buying more toys than they could possibly ever use. Or there are ways we find to keep our children close just a little longer- we bribe them into extra hugs & kisses with promises of special treats.