Life is Not a Bowl of Cherries

Let's face it, life is not a bowl of cherries. But, I do think that in the fruit bowl of life there's probably at least one cherry somewhere in there if you only look hard emough. Or, to put it another way, if, as Forrest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get," then I prefer to keep tasting them until I find the one with the cherry center. Point being that where Brianna is concerned especially, I like to try to find that one gem of a moment in the bedrock of our day and focus on that. (Ok, it's possible that I've gone too far with the metaphors at this point...) Seriously though, I do try to approach parenthood with a certain sense of humor, otherwise, being a stay-at-home mom, I'd go nuts. However, with the aptly named "Terrible Two's" rapidly approaching I sometimes find it hard to keep that in mind with my patience tried by ever increasing tantrums. Although, even in her more difficult times, by the end of the day I can usually find something to smile about. (The fact that I usually write these right before I go to bed, when I'm more than a little tired and getting goofy probably has something to do with that.)

Being a first-time mom though, I've found myself frequently reading the "Parenting for Idiots" type books. And, I've been looking into them even more often with the increase in tantrums lately. According to all the experts the best response to a tantrum is to simply ignore it. Then, once your tiny tot realizes that no one is paying attention to their display and that it's not moving anyone to do what they want, they'll get tired of it and stop. If this is the way it's supposed to work then someone needs to explain that to Bree. Being the drama queen that she is even when everyone has left the room she continues on, sure that someone, if only God himself, is watching and feeling sorry about the horrible injustices inflicted upon her. (Like not getting to watch TV all day or not getting to scribble in pen wherever she wishes!) Pretty much at this point, you name it and she's mad about it, brushing her teeth, combing her hair, etc. Since the ignoring thing hasn't really been working out too well one of our strategies has been trying to take turns. When she gets upset that we need to brush our teeth sometimes we can say, "Oh, come on, let's do it. First it will be Dad's turn and then Brianna's turn." Of course, this has led her to be saying "Banna's turn," an awful lot when she wants something.

One of her biggest tantrum triggers this week has been our unreasonable insistence that she put clothes on after taking a bath. She loves to takes baths and has a great time splashing and playing with her bath toys. When she feels she's ready to get out she says "all done...nudy" then delights in running around in the buff. This is all fine and dandy until we tell her she needs to put her diaper and clothes back on. Then she is immediately sobbing and running until we have to chase her down and try to get her clothes on while she struggles. (Which is like trying to put a cat into a bathtub full of water.) We've tried compromising and letting her be a nudy for a while before mentioning clothes at all. We even tried telling her she could put her clothes on by herself since she values her independence so much but, alas, no success. At this point we are supposed to be receiving several brochures on nudist colonies in the mail!