My So-Called Life

Man, I totally forgot what a drag this whole no-sugar thing is. I also forgot that I've totally done this before for way longer than a month. I did it when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes. But it was worse then, because I couldn't even eat something like fruit or rice or pasta without the necessary accompanying protein. No, you can't have an apple, but you can have an apple with a giant hunk of CHEESE. Yuck.

Poor Jake. When I was gone the kids really pushed him to the limit. Nora bit Milo on the neck -- hard -- so hard that he has a giant bite-mark-shaped scab on his neck. (He took a toy from her). Apparently Jake asked her why she did that, which is kind of a ridiculous thing to ask a 2-year old but I can understand why a parent would be pushed to say "Why did you bite your brother?!?" and Nora said "I need to!"

I think it is definitely time for time-out. I just have to figure out where to have it. If it's in the sunroom with all the toys, they seem kind of happy to play in there. But if it's on a stool up against a wall or something, they're too young to stay put. Maybe up in their room, but it seems like too much of a delay to march them up the stairs -- not immediate enough.

The kids apparently also threw their food, and at one point Milo deliberately dumped a cup of milk onto himself. Then he egged Nora on to do the same thing. I asked Jake if he lost it and yelled at them (which I have almost never observed him do), and he said yes, saying "They're lucky they didn't get a beating." (He's kidding -- we don't spank our kids or hit, period. We never have, and I hope we never will.)

I said, "Well, we just have to keep at it and be consistent. It'll get better eventually. I hear things get better when they turn 4." Jake said "I would rather die than deal with two more years of this." Poor guy -- sounds like it was a lot to take when I was gone. It's like having two of them is way more than twice as challenging, since so many of the troubles come out of their conflicts with each other, including fighting over toys/space and competing for attention. And when they're not fighting, they're egging each other on to do things like throw food, spit, or otherwise wreak havoc.

I hope this stuff is normal and not a sign that we are messing up as parents! I don't let them get away with these things so it's not like the kids are running around without any limits or anything. I guess they're at the age where they have to test those limits every 5 minutes.

On a bright note the kids were mostly fine today, and dinner was a more-or-less calm affair. The kids went to toddler time at the library today and Nora didn't cry, and she even participated in the songs, making the hand gestures and so forth. Buddy found a program on the internet for toddlers to identify letters and shapes, and she told me that she was amazed at how quickly they can identify those things. "They sure are smart," she said...but if they're so smart, why are they still crapping their pants?!?

Which reminds me. This morning or last night Milo had pooped and his diaper had come undone. So when I unzipped his pajamas I found the poor kid literally smeared with poop from waist to toe. There was a tangerine-sized turd nestled against his ankle. Kind of smooshed into his foot. So we started off the day with a nice bath. Milo was remarkably patient and good-spirited about the whole thing.