Anniversary 5 Oh

No card for you Sugar Daddy.

No Facebook gift either because I'm too damn lazy to enter my credit card info.

Just my thanks for 5 good years.

Love your ball-&-chain.

Travelling

We've been in the Toronto area for the past week for my step-brother's wedding (which was beautiful). Family obligations like shopping together, visiting relatives & trying to keep the only boys in a family of girls from getting out of hand, have been keeping me busy. Right now I'm sitting around in Brampton, kind of stuck but not minding it because I need a bit of a break before we head off to Newfoundland bright & early tomorrow morning. I am however, missing out from meeting up with an old high school pal so I'm feeling sad about that. Hopefully we'll be able to get together sooner rather than later.

Not too much else to say but Doodles is doing well even though the first few days were a bit hellish with the screaming & all. Of course, now that she's adjusted to the time difference we are throwing another jet lag curve ball at her so I'm sure the screaming will return for a few days after tomorrow's journey. Is it all right if I wear ear plugs for the next few years? Can they be permanently installed?

I am so not cut out for this job

I'm not good with this tantrum stage. It wears me down & burns me out. I'm trying my best to deal with them but it's like living with a manic depressive on crystal meth. One minute Doodles is sweet as pie, calling me "mama" & giving me kisses. The next minute she's thrown herself on the floor, screaming at top volume, bawling her eyes out because I told her not to eat lip balm. If we're out on the town she'll take it to the next level & add in some shin kicking & thrashing herself out of my arms because I have to drag her away from some fine china.

This was my yesterday & the day before & a few days before that as well. It was happening a couple of months ago but we nipped it in the bud with more sign language. All of a sudden the tantrums are back & with a new intensity. I'm not good with conflict. I hate loud noises, like high pitched screaming. I hate feeling embarrassed by bad behaviour (ya I know she's only little, it's a stage, blah, blah, blah). I hate not knowing what to do. I hate feeling angry & frustrated with a little kid. I hate it when she won't listen to me (or can't hear over her screams). What the hell am I doing wrong?

Maybe it's all in the stars. This was my horoscope yesterday:

"Stress might be getting the better of a member of your household today, dear Virgo. This person is feeling especially volatile emotionally, and the least little irritation could set off a temper tantrum. Try to ease the pressure by staying out of the way - and don't offer advice, however well intentioned it should be. This person needs to come to terms with whatever may be bothering him or her. So distance yourself and do your own thing!"

Other than the tantrums, she's doing great so I'm trying to concentrate on that to get me through the days. Her language skills have really taken off lately & she's got about 150 words in her vocabulary, plus all her animal noises. She's kind of freaking us out with her parrotting & we're going to start having to watch our words really soon. Doodle Bug already know how to say "ass" & Sugar Daddy keeps egging her on to say it. She knows most of her letters & colours, though she gets them mixed up from time to time. She's trying to count & will call out the numbers 8, 3, 10 & 18 as she goes down the stairs (which as of yesterday she can go down forward, no hands - talk about scary!). They aren't in order of course but it's pretty cute. So these are the things I try to think about when she's being a crazy nutbar & hope that the next developmental stage is around the nearest corner.