Possessed

I swear that my 2 1/2 year old daughter is possessed at times. Generally, my lil bug is athletic, bright, funny and well-spoken though shy around adults. She has almost mastered using the toilet on her own. She loves horses and Thomas the train. She is a charming "big" girl who likes to give hugs and sweet kisses.
Unfortunately, the charm can be fleeting. She is a raving lunatic when she is tired, hungry or not getting her way. We try to insure the kid is well fed and rested. We even try to be one step ahead of her and offer her food, quiet times or distractions prior to the typical melt-down times. Yet what can you do when your stubborn, independent child REFUSES to sleep or eat or listen? What do you do when all rationale flies out the window and you are presented with a raging, indecisive, MAD child? Practical solutions, at best, are only temporarily accepted before being rejected with fierce unrelenting anger.

The best tantrums of late happen to arrive at the very start of a day. It is 6:30am or if we are lucky maybe the clock reads 6:50am. We are stirred awake by a wee voice calling out "I need momma". We both know that it is I who has to go into the room. If J even tries, our quiet home will be filled with piercing screams and cries intermingled with phrases that demand he goes away and that she needs momma. So I enter lil bug's room and am greeted with a request, I comply with a voice hushed and groggy with sleep. As I either gather up the desired blanket or move something else, anger enters her body. She no longer wants me to get her the blanket. She wants me to snuggle. No she doesn't want me to snuggle. I need to go away. No don't leave. Now I'm suppose to take all her blankets off the bed. But she is cold, put the blankets back on. She's hungry. She doesn't want to eat...and on it goes for at least 20-30 minutes. Needless to say I'm exhausted and my day has literally just begun.

I try to keep a lid on my temper. It is hard sometimes when a raving lunatic won't leave you alone or let you help her. There are times I wish I could take back the things I have said or quell the anger that shoots through my very being. I wish there was a sure fire way to work through her moments. I love the kid. I'm trying to raise her to be happy, conscientious of others, and capable of working through her frustration but some days I can't wait for my responsibility to end. I absolutely look forward to hearing her heavy snores echoing in the hallway outside her room. I dread our teenage years. I hope we survive.

Jet lag and good times

The plane ride to Ottawa was great. The ride to the airport was tough. My lil bug cried, yelled and was hysterical for over 40 minutes. She demanded that we turn around NOW. She did not want to go to the airport. She wanted to stay with grammy. My mom finally managed to have her fall asleep in her arms while she paced outside the airport terminal in the arrivals drop off zone. I bet alot of people were hoping that the screaming child was not going to be on their flight. Well, no need to worry. She had a nap and life was rosy again. She finally picked up on monkey boy's excitement and loved the plane ride. The excitement even caused the two munchkins to stay awake the whole time (arriving at midnight or 10pm their time). Yet, they were perfect! They were ideal travellers! I'm not just tooting my own horn as I received multiple compliments from passengers and staff.

We arrived to a house in a state of disarray though relatively clean. J had slaved over the house, wiping down walls and counters, cleaning bathrooms, setting up bedrooms, etc. We had our floors refinished before the kids and I returned. It looks great though it created quite a dusty mess. The floors look so much better that we have voted not to return our hand-me down futons (which are now close to 20 years old) and IKEA chairs to the living room. They shall remain downstairs, amongst the boxes, piles of stuff and kid's toys. Now the task is to find replacement furniture. Our friends are placing bets on us. They think we will not have real furniture for 6 months. They recognize how slow we (i.e. J) can be in purchasing large ticket items. I desperately hope we can prove them wrong.

On top of the disarray caused by refinishing floors, we have also had to deal with a carpenter ant infestation and now mice. Frack! I hate pests!

BTW I've discovered that packing is fun compared to unpacking. I absolutely hate unpacking. What a huge annoying chore. An almost impossible chore to complete if you have two kids hanging around and demanding attention. Geez, can't they feed themselves :)

On a happy note, we've already reconnected with a couple of great friends. First, we were invited to monkey boy's gal pal's birthday party at a local hobby farm. It was a hoot. Monkey boy held hands and played with his friend the whole time. It was like they hadn't been apart for 9 months. Secondly, we had a picnic supper at our friend's house, Karen and John. The supper was great even though we had to transfer ourselves from a park to their house due to rain. Again monkey boy reconnected with his bud, E. They got along famously and the two little sister's enjoyed each other and tagged along after the older ones. It was such a pleasure for us to be in the company of friend's.

I will miss our families in Alberta, immensely. However it is nice to be home...even if there is more chaos than sanity.

FRACK!

Westjet cancelled my flight this morning. I'm now stuck riding on a crowded airplane, leaving Calgary at 6pm arriving 11:48pm in Ottawa with two already overtired kids. What joy! What luck! I guess the stress of spending yesterday packing, finishing off some photo albums for the parents, sending letters and pictures to family and shipping 3 more boxes to Ottawa was misguided. At least I'm all set to go so today is a "free" day.

I think the zoo is calling our names...that should kill at least 3 hours of what is going to be a VERY long day.