learn something new everyday

I've always believed that you should learn something from everything, every situation, every person you meet. I've tried to change things about myself that I don't like as I've gotten older. I try to think before I speak, and I try to think of the consequences of every action. I hope that my children are learning new things everyday. Sometimes however, you just get it wrong.

Today was one of those days. My hubby is away for work so I am well and truly alone, in the deep end with the kids. Whilst he's not usually here for dinner/bath/bedtimes, he is coming home at some stage and subconsciously I know that. My mind tells me during the 55th tantrum of the hour that its ok, soon there will be someone here to share my pain, soon. Today is pretty much day 6 (I think) in a row of craphouse weather, rainy, cold and windy as all hell. Basically indoor weather. My two tornadoes have not been happy with this and have shown me many times exactly how they feel. Missy Moo just wails, she throws herself down and wails - usually when I leave the room or walk away from her. Monkey Man is a cheeky thing, and defiant. He tells me 'no' alot, and this afternoon I heard him threaten Missy Moo with a 'mack'!! I'm guessing I threaten him with a smack quite often so its bound to flow down hill. He's agressive and can be downright violent - today he bit his sister right in front of me! I know, I know, its the age but there has to be a point where you step in. He has been in the naughty corner at least 5 times today for pushing his little sister, who incidently idolises him and follows him around like a puppy. Does the naughty corner actually provide any benefit to a 2yo?? I'll have to google that one or perhaps ask Jo Frost but it does separate the two of them for a while, it just means he wails louder at being punished. It takes a fair bit for me to reach the end of my tether, And he did get a smack today for pushing Missy Moo down the stairs which was just downright scary. She's wobbly on the stairs as it is, her confidence is still growing with going up stairs and coming down is a no go zone yet, she just freezes in fear. Such polar opposites my children are. Monkey Man ran straight up the stairs the first day we moved in here and he was 22mths old at the time, never really been exposed to stairs before... She's alot more cautious, shy around new people, clings to me... Monkey Man will talk a strangers ear off and couldn't care less where I am.
I forget that she's not even 14 months old yet, and that really she's only been walking for about 6 weeks. Time goes so fast and I do forget her age, she wants to do everything her big brother does and I just forget that she's not there yet.

note this isn't meant to start a debate about smacking

Anyway, Monkey Man was asking for (demanding) pikelets so we made some, well I did while they supervised and licked the beaters. I flipped pikelets whilst holding Little Miss over my shoulder - see I did learn a new skill today! I would never have known I could do that til I tried. I popped her down for a nap and came back to the toddlers. We then made scrambled eggs with fresh vegies, the kids chose the vegies they wanted in their eggs. I don't think they actually ate any of it, they picked the cheese out and ate the pasta swirls (I boiled up just in case) but hey, small steps right and not alot was thrown on the floor! woot! Teaching them names of vegies was their lesson of the day and hopefully they remember that tomorrow and not how many times they were in the naughty corner. I was in the mum zone, we were having fun, no one was screaming to go outside, and all was good. I then looked up and realised it was after 6pm!! The kids normally eat at 5 so no wonder they had been screaming at me, bad mummy! I'd been telling them to shhh while I unpacked/packed the dishwasher, washed and prepared baby bottles,emptied the fridge (its bin night) etc etc etc... Some how I thought it was coming up to 5 but really it was after 6. How did I lose a whole hour? I'm still not sure? Anyway, we quickly finished up dinner and headed up to the bath. Both kids had bags under their red eyes they were so tired and both went to bed with minimal fuss - clearly tired. Tomorrow is Toddler Free Friday (woot!) so they will be exhausted again tomorrow night, but hey, its a long weekend so they can rest lots and sleep in - pfft! yeah right!! I wish!!

oh and I ate at least 4 pikelets, completely forgetting about my new and improved me. I bet you I suffer on the scales on saturday as a result. how annoying.

trials and tribulations of toddlerhood!

My two little tornadoes were particularly hard work this morning. The fighting is loud and violent! God help me when they're bigger than 1 & 2!! This morning just seemed to be one big long scream session and funnily enough the best behaved out of all of us (me included) was Little Miss at 7wks old... Thank goodness for a playdate as I was ready to crack open a bottle of wine by 9am, and I mean really considering it!!

All the books, other parents, drs etc told me that toddlerhood is hard work and whilst I dont disagree, one toddler on it's own is easy! Maybe I have a slightly altered perspective given I've never had just one toddler? By the time Monkey Man hit toddlerhood I had another baby to deal with as well. One toddler I can ignore, I can laugh at a temper tantrum or frustration at not being able to walk/run/climb/talk/ride the trike whereas once there is two, you're outnumbered! The screaming and frustration is multiplied and you really have moments where you have to dig deep to stay in control. No one is perfect and motherhood takes a truck load of patience. Everyone has different things that push their buttons, here are mine:

Fighting over anything and everything, why!!
The need to fill a nappy as soon as a clean one is put on - not their fault but annoying all the same!
Food refusal, why!?!
Refusing food offered to them but will happily eat the exact same thing off my plate!?
Throwing food on the floor. This gets me everytime. If one more expert (dr, nurse, daycare teacher etc) tells me it's their way of exploring gravity, the noise it makes as it hits the floor or your reaction to them throwing food well I'm going to explode. Yes all these reasons are part of it but really I think they do it to piss their mums off. Mine have never thrown a chicken nugget, hot chip or chocolate on the floor?? Oh no, wouldn't want to waste these precious goodies!!