hectic or daily life?

Just last week I thought to myself...Wow! Noah hasn't really entered the terrible twos, maybe we'll skip it.  Well guess what...I'm eating those words for sure.  Today he was slapped/spanked 4 times.  Why?  Because nothing else works.  I didn't spank him hard, not even enough to make a mark, but when I do he screams and cries because his heart is very broken.  Time outs don't work, screaming is extremely unproductive, and no matter what I do, he just goes about his business.  The spanking works for a little while.  I am sure it will wear off soon.

He is now going through this phase of throwing fits, hitting his sister, biting again and being aggressive.  It's typically not in his sweet little nature.  He has also gotten extremely whiny and his sleep is not as great as it used to be.  I finally figured out the culprit, he is cutting three of his 2 year molars.  One is already out, the other 3 are busting through AT THE SAME TIME.  He has chewed a hole in all of his uh-ohs or pacifiers.  He is frustrated that none of them "work."  He hands it to me and orders me to "fix it momma!"  When I tell him I can't he says  "need new one."  So now I'm between a rock and hard place....do I buy new ones or make him suffer through and wean himself while teething?   Although if I buy more I am sure he will just chew those up as well.  UGH....life.

These are now my worries, my hurdles to overcome in daily life. I remember the days of yesteryear when I did swallow studies and treated patients with memory and cognition problems due to stroke and head injuries and even gun shot wounds...hey I worked at charity hospital.  You never knew what you would see.  Then I did some work in nursing homes where I managed 300 patients diets and also did therapy on a daily basis.  I also worked in schools systems where I managed caseloads of children between 40 and 70 kiddos.  How did I do it?  How did I go from that to dealing with a 2 year old's tantrums and a 3 year old's going on 4's attitude?  I'm pretty sure my old job was much easier and I believe I was also better at it.

Today I went to the local cell phone store to get some tutoring on my phone.  I have a master's degree, but can't work my new cell phone.  I didn't get very far in my lesson, between trying to listen to the knowledgeable cell phone man, arm wrestling a 2 year old and then listening to the play by play of everything the 2 year old was doing wrong by the 3 1/2 year old.  At that point I scooped them up, thanked the guy for his time, grabbed my little sanity that was left and headed to the car.  It was there that I listened as a whole bag of $4 Reece Pieces were dumped into my Gucci.  I quickly followed that by an "OH SHIT!"  I try to use my favorite words only in extreme circumstances in front of my tikes....this was one of them.  The tikes just looked at me, knowing better than to ask for my purse to eat out of it.  Smart tikes.

Evidently the cell phone store was not enough to end our day or our outing and from there, I then went to the grocery.  It all goes downhill from  here.  Here I lost my patience, despite taking several moments to quietly and out loud count to 10.  I again spanked, threatened and was defeated by the tikes.  After racing threw the store, throwing things in the buggy, cursing myself and Dr. King for giving us this wonderful Monday off, I headed to the check out.  The computers were down, but I was determined not to leave without my groceries.  I felt like I had just survived the Cold War, or at least ran a 26 mile marathon.  I spent another 15 minutes waiting for my debit card, credit card or check to go through.   Finally it did....1 point for the momma.  Once we were in the parking lot, I wrestled a little boy into his car seat and patiently waited for my other tike to snap herself in independently.  I spent 20 minutes in the parking lot.  I repeatedly said my mantra in the store and in the parking lot..."God grant me the patience to get through this day and wisdom to know when to just go home and get in bed!"   Meredith repeated it in her most worrisome tone as well "God please give my momma her patience back...she needs it!"

Once we arrived at the homestead I couldn't turn around and put the kids back inside in their beds, even though I really wanted to.  We all have had a bit of cabin fever.  It was finally warm outside, the sun was shining bright and we all needed a little vitamin D.  So I sat in the sun and cleaned out my purse while the kids played and rode their jeeps in the driveway.  I removed receipts, useless paper, crayons, a princess pen, 3 hot wheels, 2 chipmunks, a toy train and 500 Reece pieces.  I got all the change and important things out and then dumped the purse over the trash bag.  One little chocolate Reece piece fell on the ground.  Meredith walked over and picked it up and said "Here's an "Oh Shit" that you dropped mom!"

Yes, it has been an Oh Shit kind of day.  Now if they would just take a nap that would be great.