AT-TI-TUDE

Who ever said the twos were terrible, hadn't seen the threes. I figured it would catch up to me since I feel like I breezed through the twos. (well, it seems as such in hindsight) Suhana is almost 3 1/2 and acts like a 13 year old. It really is something! This kid has some attitude. Like the other day she had woken up from her nap and was sitting on the couch watching something on TV and I told her to finish drinking her milk, (God forbid that's too much to ask) and she looks at me, while slouching and with a bored look on her face, and says "Whatever you say mom"  WHAT?? Aren't I supposed to hear that 10 years from now? I mean I like spunk but wow! Avikar and I exchanged an incredulous look mixed with a little bit fear.

We pick our battles you see. Otherwise we would all be yelling at each other constantly. Suhana has tantrums. There I said it. At first when I started seeing them, I would act how the blogs, websites and bestsellers on parenthood told me to act. Don't raise your voice, maintain eye contact, and give them space to cool down. Well, that lasted a whole two seconds. I mean I try to still use the second one, but it gets REALLY hard to be the sane one when the 3 year old is screaming at you for the littlest thing, I feel that my biggest challenge is to explain to her that this is such a small thing in the larger scheme of the world. That there are bigger things to cry about. That if you put your clothes on you get to go to a birthday party where there is cake and face painting. But who am I kidding??? I can't reason with her. And I constantly am reminding myself after the screaming, from me too, and the frustration that she is only 3 years old. I'm not using that as an excuse, trust me because I believe in disciplining my child. But the tantrums that come from the smallest things are sometimes her only way of expressing her frustration. It's hard being 3. I don't want to be 3. DO you?

And then there are days when she is the sweetest most obliging child in the WORLD. And those tantrums are a distant memory. I guess this is the universe's way of telling me that in the grand scheme of things, a few tantrums didn't hurt anyone. Get over it mom.