Daily Struggles with a Toddler

 Hazel in the morning.  Not too much else to say.

She dressed herself, including the head piece, and said she was going running with her horse.

INFO: I typed up this post a few weeks ago when I was really frustrated and having a bad day, but Brendan told me it was too harsh, so I never posted it.  I decided to post it just because I thought someone might be able to relate and could laugh about it.  As difficult as she can be, just look at that cute face with her 80's outfit.  How can you not like her?  


When I think of Hazel, I'm reminded of this poem my mom would recite to us as kids from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

There was a little girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

She stood on her head, on her little trundle bed,
With nobody by for to hinder;
She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled,
And drummed her little heels against the winder.Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic,
She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,
And spanked her, most emphatic.

Hazel can definitely be good and so cute.  Yesterday she asked me if I could do her a favorite (favor).  But most of the time I feel she is on the other end of the spectrum.  This poem describes some of her fits so well.  Instead of drumming her heels against the window its her bedroom door and not only with her heels, but also her fists and other objects.


Does anyone else wake up somedays feeling overwhelmed because you know you have another day ahead of you dealing with your toddler?  Here is what our morning was like today.  Woke up at 8:30 and Hazel wanted something to eat.  She wanted oatmeal, and I told her it would take a little while to make (we make steel cut oats so its about 20 min).  She also wanted to get out her step stool and help.  She poured in the oats and when I went to have her pour in the water she said her hand was too tired(what???) OK, so no more help from Hazel.  After a little while she starts complaining its taking FOREVER to be done (imagine a whiny voice.)  I ask her to help me clean up her room and pick up the toys while we wait and her response was that her hands were too greasy from the quesadilla she ate last night.  I tell her we can just wash her hands and of course she doesn't want to (she comes up with the best excuses.)  When I start to dish out the oatmeal, she insists that Hattie has her own bowl.  I told her Hattie could just share with me, but that didn't go over very well.  Hazel was hungry so the eating part went well.  After eating, Hazel sees Hattie standing holding on to her step stool so Hazel gets mad and knocks Hattie down to the floor and tells her not to touch her stool.  Hattie is screaming and I put Hazel in her room for a timeout (we usually put her on a stool in the bathroom, but she purposely peed on the floor the night before when she was in timeout and I hadn't cleaned it up yet, yeah I know.)  Hazel starts her fit of banging on the bedroom door screaming everything you can imagine....she doesn't like me, she likes dad, there are monsters in her room, she wants to come out, then she starts banging loud toys on the door. The fit goes on for a while, and after I deal with the fit/timeout and apologies are said she is out of her room.  We've only been up for about an hour and I'm ready to go back to bed.


It's something different every morning.  The other day she was in the bath and I asked her to stand up so I could wrap her in her towel and her legs were too tired (That is her excuse for everything these days.  Some body part is too tired to do something she doesn't want to do.)


I feel like I will always be late as long as Hazel is with me.  It seems no matter where we are going, she is always throwing a fit about something right as we are going out the door.  I even plan extra time knowing there will be a fit and we are still late.  


You may be thinking kids throw fits when they are tired, maybe she isn't getting enough sleep.  Well I know she isn't getting enough sleep, but she is very stubborn.  She stopped taking naps around 18 months and some nights won't go to bed until midnight.  You may be thinking that I just need to be firm and put her in her room.  We've tried that.  She bangs and screams on the door.  She knows I don't like it when she pees on the carpet, so she will scream that she is going to pee, then she says I'm peeing, then she says I peed.  She knows I will open the door and come in and clean it up.  I clean it up, and then she is back in her room throwing her fit.  She gags herself on purpose so she will throw up.  She yells, I'm going to throw up (because she knows I will come in and clean it up.)  Brendan is busy studying most nights, so I'm left to this routine by myself.  Night after night of this is too much for me to handle, so I've just given in.  It's much easier to let her stay up.


Speaking of no sleep, Brendan sent me this video the other day and I could not stop laughing.  Boy could I relate.

After watching this video, I told Brendan I'm obviously not the only mom throwing fits.


After such a long and negative post, I thought I should say something positive.  Even though Hazel can be tough to deal with at times, I am thankful to be a mom and have healthy kids.  We all have bad days.