Crying, Screaming & Teething, Oh My!!!

You know the common wisdom that says you should never go to the grocery store when you are hungry. Well, you should also not make decisions about the size of your family when any of its youngest members are either teething or training for toddler tantrum star status. Every night this week, I have declared to Jake as he walked through the door that we are “Done, done, done! No more kids!” Katie, who for months was sleeping 13+ hours every night without waking, is now waking 5+ times with a cry that is impossible to ignore (no, make that scream, not cry!). Abby, who not too long ago had a week or two of nearly perfect behavior (so good that I was thinking what a delightful little companion she was to have around & I was rejoicing that she must be one of those kids for which Year 3 is not harder than Year 2), now suddenly is having tantrums that scare the socks right off the both of us. To top it off, for the last few months Katie has been too curious about the world around her to bother with nursing or drinking liquids out of a bottle or cup (and I have tried everything, from trying to minimize big sis distractions by setting Abby up in another room in front of Dora to nursing in a dark closet… to no avail). This child seems to have as strong of an opinion about things as her big sister. So, I am left pumping all day & mixing the milk into her cereal…. Ugh!

Well, here are a few of the funnies that still managed to creep in & make me laugh in the middle of this tough time:

1. I have been trying to encourage every little glimmer of good behavior coming out of Abby, so I find myself constantly saying, “Abby, thank you for asking politely instead of whining!” Last night at dinner, I had just asked Jake to please pass the parmesan cheese, when Abby burst out with, “good girl, Mommy, for asking nicely & not having a fit”

2. This morning, I set Abby up to play her kid-sized “Wii” while I pumped & Katie napped. Predictably, I hadn’t even gotten all set up for pumping before Abby was already ready to move on to a new activity…which just so happened to be hanging on me, playing with my earrings, trying to fix my hair, zipping my jacket, etc. (ugh!) Well, the voice of the lady narrator on her “Wii” kept asking her, “do you want to play again? Please press the blue star”… Abby started out by nicely responding with, “no thank you” until she got so agitated that the lady wouldn’t take no for an answer that she began hollering at her to stop and, finally, turned to me with tears asking me to turn it off!

3. At Costco this morning, when she would ask me to buy something, she would say, “it doesn’t have any sugars in it, Mommy”.

PS- poor little Katie has gotten 4 teeth in one week, with 3 more just under the surface working their way out... for a total of 6 with 3 to come! So, the good news is that she is knocking them out quickly!