Testing the Limits

I found this poem today on Pinterest, via the Oak Ridge Revival blog. Being the parent of a "spirited" toddler, I think I need to print this out or write it on the chalkboard in my kitchen, or even print a small version to keep in my pocket at all times. Parents always say that kids will "test you to your limits," but it's hard to know what that really means until you're in the middle of it. This week has been particularly tough. Bean has missed a couple of naps and has woken up a few times in the middle of the night for no apparant reason. I'm sure there's some reason, but it's not the obvious illness or teething thing this time where we can "solve" it with baby Tylenol or Advil. She's exhausted and I'm exhausted, which means we're both operating on overdrive and snap easily. The whole "testing to the limits" concept for me this week is my ability to stay calm and not break down in a crying fit during one of Bean's tantrums despite having about a third of the sleep I need for the week. That is so incredibly hard to do. All I want to do is curl up in my bed and sleep for 15 hours, but instead I have a screaming, crying, kicking, fighting toddler who doesn't yet know how to calm herself and really needs me there to help her. I know this tantrum thing is just a stage that is usually more traumatizing for parents than it is for the kids, but wow it's a tough one. I apologize to my mom a thousand times over for being a tough toddler, and I give high fives to all parents of spirited kids who came out on the other side of it alive!!

http://oakridgerevival.blogspot.com/2011/05/thrifty-thursday_25.html