S P E N T...me, strung out.

I'm sure every mother has these days where they find themselves walking around with an incredibly unfriendly stern face. That has been me for the past five hours or so. In hindsight, I'm the farthest from unhappy, but in the moment, I have had one trying hour after the next all thanks to my lovely Miss Drama Queen Extraordinaire, Kaitlyn Marie! Between Steve's borderline manic personality and my outstanding emotional range, it's no wonder Kaitlyn demonstrates these bursts of extreme behavior. Today was one of those days where she was loaded with hyper activity, over-intelligence (as I like to think of it) and tears of hysteria! Where to begin...here are some of my rambles:

-Was it the initial climbing out of her crib during 'quiet time' that had my emotions stirred? She was running around the house in pure glee for having slipped out of her crib without being reprimanded (Steve thought I let her out and I thought he let her out)....

-Maybe it was the fear that the two 7lb weights she chucked upon the floor only inches away from Dylan's body was the reason behind my negative energy...

-Really it could be simply from the fact that she is now capable of climbing out of her crib (she did it a second time this afternoon on round two of 'quiet time') and I fear the next stage of toddler bed nighttime routines...she will most likely make every night rich with drama. The anticipation alone makes me grumpy.

-My frustration is no doubt partly due to her over sensationalized reaction to a scuff mark on her knee from a morning walk...this little girl volume of both voice and tears resulted in an enormous, overly lengthy tantrum when placed in the bath (met with great resistance, mind you) and water went upon her bandaid. She was fierce with her stance, there was nothing to console her. She tightened up and stood frantic with cries of pain. Made me think for a brief moment that she was really IN pain...BUT, I'm not that easy. After a good verbal word exchange, a count to three (about 30 minutes of a tantrum later-yes, it was that exhausting to try to peel her out of the tub and actually take care of bathing Dylan simultaneously), and a new Strawberry Shortcake bandaid upon her knee...like magic, all pain melted away.

-No, I'm spent just due to the basic bedtime situation. Lately her gig has been to call out, 'I need to go to the potty', once placed in her crib. Honoring her request turns into a game complete with leg kicks and tears when I feel she is 'done'-she would stay on the potty for an hour if I'd let her. Couple this with the fact that she just can't handle going to bed without particular articles of fashion....her hat, silver shoes, her feather boa...and of course the stuffed puppy and pony. At least tonight that was the deal. Tomorrow it may be her 'snowman' hat and 'mittens' (mittens are generally socks worn on her hands) or rain boots with a headband. Aggghhhh.

All the while I'm working with Dylan-and tonight the poor guy had some serious cries from neglect. I had to leave him alone multiple times surely making him feel stranded upon the floor in order to tend to Kaitlyn in another room. It was an ongoing chain of events that have me at this moment feeling like I really wasn't signing up for all of this when I said I wanted to be a mom. I really felt miserable, unhappy and angry today.

Now that both kids are sound asleep and I'm debriefing my afternoon/energy, I feel a weight lifted. I'm going to get through this. It's no doubt a testy time and also a hilarious one..

I leave you with this......

She was looking at this carousel that rotates three horses when music plays (very small, fits on a side table). She declared the end piece of each pole that went through each horse was called the horse's peanut (for penis)! Hilarious!!!