Toddlerhood

You know, I haven't been a mother too long in the scheme of things, but I'm far enough into this insanity to make a few observations. When my kids are teens I will probably look back and laugh at my current self, but this is regardless.
Carissa was discussing her 1 year old son, and how his head knocking into her's knocked out a tooth. Not just any tooth, a molar. Wow... that's some head! It made me smile a bit, because I've got an appointment with the dentist this week to repair a tooth my wonderful son broke. One too many head butts and my front tooth cracked. Great. Parenthood is bad for your teeth. Anyway, I've realized quickly that what we think is the hardest point in our children's lives is usually not. When they are babies, we PRAY for a good night's sleep, thinking it cannot possibly get any worse than this and "OMG, will the baby ever stop crying?". Fast forward to toddlerhood... you begin to wonder what in the world happened to your child, and where did this demon come from. "No" becomes the most common phrase in your house, as in "No, you cannot flush the kitty down the potty!", "No!! You are not allowed to climb up there!" "No, markers are not to be used on Mommy's carpets!" "No, we do not throw things at the ceiling fan!", etc. At this point, you pray for them to revert to babies, because you may not have been sleeping, but dammit, the kids couldn't get very far. I'm sure I will reminisce about toddlerhood when my school-aged kids are wreaking havoc on the world, and I'll just pray for valium when I have two 15 year olds learning to drive. The moral of the story (yes, folks... there IS a point!) is cherish each day with the kids, you'll soon forget about spilled oatmeal, and knocked out teeth. Unless of course, the spilled oatmeal is yours since you have no teeth to chew your food. (I can almost hear the collective swallowing of birth control pills right now!)