First of all, I would like to thank everyone who delurked or made a comment on my last post. It was very cool of you all to share the love and I got to discover some new blogs! Woo hoo! And thanks for your patience, I’m pretty sure my brain is back (or at least a close approximation of a brain).
I also wanted to mention that there are new updates for The Things They Don’t Tell You in Lamaze list. Thanks to all who submitted new entries! Check it out. And guys, please don’t be shy, I know some of you menfolk aren’t feeling it because of… ahem… physical discrepancies between the sexes BUT! seriously, the list is an equal-opportunity parenting vent-fest. I’d love to hear some from the fellas, too.
Alrighty then. I’ll resume the post I couldn’t finish on Thursday.
One thing has become blindingly clear over the last few months (but especially as we start to move into this toddler stage) I have definitely identified my Worst Parenting Time. Or what I call WPT; as in, “I’m having an episode of WPT”. My Worst Parenting Time is not, as you might expect, a particularly bad incident or an extra-frustrating day – no singular event where I proved to all concerned (i.e. me and the cats) that I’m a horrible, no good, very bad mommy. No, it’s mornings. Just… mornings. (Man, even writing the word makes me a little tired.) Mornings are rough on me every day, always have been rough actually, and have become my WPT. Now it’s not like I think I’m a total monster of a parent at this time, snarling and tossing oatmeal every which way, making my son wear sissy clothes against his will, refusing to play peek-a-boo. But I’ve never been a morning person. It takes me a couple of hours and copious amounts of tea to really wake up and that’s on a good day. And as a parent mornings are the period of the day where I can’t quite seem to keep up! It is the most likely time I’ll catch myself wishing wistfully that I was back in bed (or maybe at a spa on a tropical beach) rather than having to wrassle a wiggling kid away from the catfood bowl for the tenth time or blocking his access to the DSL hub that he is so fascinated with (ooh, the lights) or trying to beat him to a doorway when he sees me pick up a babygate. He is refreshed enough most mornings, with glee and giggles, to decide to test the word “no” at every opportunity. His exuberance, his joy, his growing mental awareness and acuity, these are things I would normally revel in… but first thing in the morning, usually without any help yet from caffeine, I kind of wish they would be outlawed.
I know, I know! Bad mommy! What about the baby smiles? What about the morning snuggles? Why would you want to miss anything? These things are great, don’t get me wrong. But the proportion of energy my son has in the mornings compared to the energy my sorry old butt has… well, let’s just say if someone invented a caffeine IV/alarm clock I would be first in line to buy it. – the weirdgirl
*This message brought to you by the Council for Awake and Safe Parenting – a joint committee of StarSmucks Coffee & CautionFirst Baby Products. (Caffeinomatic Baby Monitor coming soon to a store near you.)
How old is your baby? Mine is almost 10 months and the cable modem and router are of keen interest to him, too. And the mornings…they KILL me. I so know what you mean.
I’m not a morning person either!! I always have my cup of coffee first or I’m like a walking zombie in the morning.Luckily I have two little ones, so they keep each other busy while I’m *waking up*!
First, I am a guy, so what I have to say may not be relevant! Right now I have no kids at home in the mornings. One is away at college and the other lives with his mother in another state (until June when he will move back in with me permanantly because he will be 18 and that is his choice). Plus right now I am unemployed. So I have dealt with the morning issue by ABOLISHING it. I currently have no reason to get up in the mornings so, often, I just don’t!
Of course I am quickly running our of money so I will really have to get a job, that will probably force me to rediscover mornings.
I hate mornings too. It takes me a few hours just to wake up feel alive. Too bad my daughter is a ball of energy in the a.m. I wouldn’t want it the other way around though. I like that she goes to bed early. O
Everybody’s got their own WPT…for many parents it’s the evenings. Dinner has to get ready, people are home from work tired and stressed, kids are cranky from their day.
It really just depends.
I don’t know why they called it the “Terrible Twos” though. Sure, they start to get into everything. But it’s when your kid is THREE when they start defying you on purpose.
My son is almost 13 months, but he’s been fascinated by anything electrical for a while now. I keep telling myself that this will get easier as my son (and any other children get older) or they really will come up with a better caffeine delivery system. Trust me, I would gladly abolish mornings if I could (or make them nice and quiet).
And about the Terrible Two’s, three is bad! But I’ve seen kids start the tantrums anytime from one year on. Luckily, my son is still more jovial in his defiance than most. I just have to redirect his attention and energy elsewhere.