Cookie monster...

Last Monday I remember thinking, "Wow, it's been awhile since I have had to give Rachel a time-out...good for us!"

And then Tuesday came.

Rachel will be 21 months old next week. That means she has the emotional maturity of... well... a two-year old.

When I hear a child throwing a tantrum in the store I verbally (out loud) thank God that it's not my child and pray that it stays that way for at least a few minutes because when you have a toddler, anything can happen at any time. Did you hear that? Let me repeat it.
Any emotion can begin (or end)
at
any
time.

Happiness is not a frame of mind when you're a toddler. Instead, it's an option in the smorgasbord of feelings that can be expressed over the course of a few short minutes. It's often here...and then gone just as quickly as it came.

I'm trying my hardest to be a good parent. But, there are days when it would be much easier to just let her have a cookie and deal with the consequences later. And if one more person informs me, during one of her tantrums, that I should, "...just not let her act like that" I'm going to invite them to take a turn in conveying this message to my sweet little perceptive angel in between her gasps for air. After all, I'm sure that if I would just try to reason with her she would welcome the opportunity stop screaming and sit down to discuss the situation over coffee and milk.

When your child is throwing a fit (again), telling them to, "Calm down or deal with with consequences" is like trying to whisper to a dragon.

So, what do you do?

You take bets on whose kid will cry during the family picture (mine, of course).
You scope out the pefect time-out corner of every restaurant, church, and store you enter.
You pray. A lot.
You go through your personal library and throw away every book you have on how to raise children.
You thank God that your child is normal.

And, you tell yourself over and over and over and over...."DO NOT LET HER HAVE THE COOKIE!"