Several Random Things

Yes, this blog is all about Margaret it seems.

She has become so verbal and so cute that sometimes I think it might kill me. For about a month, she's been keen on singing with me (before I was supposed to sing by myself, even when I know she could also sing the song). So we've had bedtime singalongs to Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and tonight while I made dinner, we sang many choruses of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. It was really too fun. Who knew?

This weekend when my mom was visiting, they were playing with Play Doh, and while I usually only get out one color at a time, Mom had gotten out several for her. At one point, Margaret looked at her blue Play Doh that now had flecks of pink in it, and yelled, "Margaret, Why you do that??" I told her I was very proud of her for taking responsibility for her own actions and not blaming it on anyone else. It really was adorable, though.

Apparently my shy child is becoming more of an extrovert. At the church picnic in September, many people (including us) were surprised to see Margaret roaming the lawn and playing with other kids instead of clinging desperately to us when we were trying to finish eating. It's like all that attention I gave her when she was going through the separation anxiety (and the temporary nursery worker said she was "spoiled") has really paid off. And yesterday when I went to interview a new midwife, the nurse started to walk us back to the room, and suddenly Margaret said to her, "I live in Georgia." So the nurse asked her name, and she said, "Margaret," and the nurse asked how old she was, and Margaret replied, "I'm two." She was amazing! What happened to that shy kid? My kid doesn't talk to strangers! Of course, today she was mute when people tried to talk to her, but it was still a miracle to see her interact with people like that.

For those who seem to think I'm some sort of zen mama (someone else told me today that I was a very calm mother), here's my bad mommy story of the week: Tooth brushing is always a disaster. I've come to terms with the frustration of potty training, but Margaret's refusal to open her mouth so I can brush her teeth makes me nuts. It pushes every one of my buttons. So yesterday, after my hellish week dealing with the neighborhood newsletter, I sent Wes off to Tuesday dinner by himself so I could try to get caught up on the mess I'd created while I worked about 30 hours this week on the stupid newsletter. So, I thought I had calmed down somewhat, but the toothbrushing, as I said, makes me nuts. Usually Wes is here to step in when it gets ugly and distract her or think of some way to get her to open her mouth, but he wasn't here, so I was on my own. Halfway through the 3-minute timer for toothbrushing, after I'd put her in my lap and forced her mouth open, I finally screamed, SCREAMED at her, just inches from her face, "OPEN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!! OPEN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Of course, she was terrified, and started to cry, and did open her mouth. But I felt awful, because one of us is supposed to be the adult, and I think it's supposed to be me, but I completely lost control. I finished brushing her teeth, then hugged her and told her I was sorry, and we had to rock in the rocking chair for about 10 minutes so we could both settle down. It's weird how if I scare her, I'm still the only one who can help make it better. So today at toothbrushing time, before we started, she said, "You don't yell at me." It almost broke my heart. So I promised I wouldn't yell at her, and then she said, "you don't scream, either." I'm telling you...ignore the calm exterior. Sometimes I lose it and I hate that. Luckily, I'm much calmer today, and I figured out that if I tickle her, she opens her mouth a little more, so I resorted to that to get through today's toothrushing. Wes ran in to help at one point because he thought she was screaming, but it was only loud giggles. It's still maddening to brush the teeth of a wiggly toddler, but I really need to come up with solutions that do not involve losing absolute control of myself.