The monster

Meg has turned into a monster. An adorable, lovely, cuddly, curly haired, sweet talking monster. We went to the beach this weekend where she played her own special game of Shit My Kids Ruined. At the beach, she managed to break my iPhone, my prescription sunglasses, my camera and my own will to live, at times. Actually, I can't really blame the camera's demise on her. It got some sand in it most likely, but still.

I must say that, my warranty expired on Sunday, but I went to the Apple store yesterday and they fixed the LCD screen for free in less than half an hour. They even didn't complain too much when a little soft serve Dairy Queen ice cream ended up on the floor in their white store with computers everywhere. It's a good thing they were so obnoxious actually. I might have ended up buying myself a Macbook. They looked dreamy and might actually work unlike my current laptop.

Got willful?

The last couple of months, I've really been enjoying the kids. We've had a nice run of them playing nicely together, handling school/daycare well, more or less following instructions and sleeping somewhat decently. And then I got a two year old. Seriously, my darling angel baby has turned into a terror seemingly overnight. How did I forget this stage? It's like she's a new walker again somehow.

Here at the classic traits:

• Throwing things on purpose.
• Throwing things and then stepping on them for good measure.
• Throwing her dinner.
• Stepping on her dinner once it hits the floor.
• Pouring her juice on the floor.
• Stepping in it for good measure.
• Putting toilet paper in the toilet.
• Turning on the water.
• Pouring it on the floor.
• Stepping in it for good measure.
• Running away from me in public.
• Running away from me INTO THE STREET.

Today she also managed to take off her diaper when she was supposed to be napping, pooping and throwing it on the floor. Fortunately she was in her crib so she couldn't step on it for good measure.

I've decided it's time to crack down. We're doing time outs now (I think she had five this afternoon, including when she ran away from me at the grocery store parking lot. And laughed. I could have strangled her I was so scared. And mad.) I figure I need to try to instill some discipline now or it's just going to get worse. Groan. I don't like that part! And what happened to my precious darling angel baby? Sigh.

Oh, and completely unrelated, I saw (500) Days of Summer. It was good. Bjorn watched the second half and liked it -- high praise since it's a teen/twentish romantic comedy.

Terrible. F.

Today was one of those not so great moments in parenting for me (and it's all about me). Andy had his swimming class. The first three classes went great, then I went out of town and he missed a class. And then we had three feet of snow and classes were cancelled. We went for his first class in three weeks and Andy cried for the entire 45 minutes, refusing to get in and just being sad and scared no matter what I tried to do -- calm him, listen to him, guide, bribe, cajole -- you name it. It was rather horrific. For me most. I had Meg with me, which I haven't had to do before, but Bjorn was reffing basketball. Trying to keep her from diving into the class with the other kids while thinking how much easier it would be to just throw him in and do sit on the stands was a challenge. A challenge I did not meet. He cried all the way home, mostly because since he didn't get into the water, he wouldn't be rewarded with lollipops and Wii. Then he got home and had the nerve to tell Jennifer class was fun. Seriously?

I have decided to pull him out of the class though. He's missed too many classes and I want to sign him up at the beginning again and start over. We had enough of a fight that I need to let some time pass and start over. Problem is I can't get into any of the classes that start in three weeks. Gah. Let's hope I get him swimming before middle school.

Meg has turned into a two year old. She spends a lot of time saying, "No!" to just about everything and then willfully throws things on the floor and laughs about it. I am doing my best to just ignore and wait for her to get over it, but I must say I patience runs a little thin when she takes the cats' water and intentionally spills it all over the floor. She's also figured out how to get around my baby gates. I definitely need to rethink my strategies. Fortunately, it will soon be warm(ish) again and we can get to spending more time outside where she can drop and throw things to her heart's delight.

In fun news, we have booked our trip to Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne for this summer. I'm psyched although after weekends like this, I wonder what the hell we're thinking attemping to spend 23 hours on a plane with little kids -- each way. I have no idea how they're going to handle the jet lag and sleep issues, probably better than the adults.