The things I don't post about

My friend Kristen wrote me recently how she is amazed at all the stuff I do with Ella. That got me to thinking about what I post about here. The majority of what I post relates to the fun or humorous or "good Mommy" moments in our lives. Life with a toddler mostly isn't doing cute crafts or having her pay attention while you go over colors, letters, and numbers for the upteenth time.

It's about wondering if you are going to lose your mind if you have to listen to Raffi for one more minute.

It's about trying to cook dinner while your child is screaming and climbing up your legs, and you cannot figure out what in the world is wrong. Is she hungry? No. Thirsty? No. Wants to be picked up? No. Wants to be put down after you pick her up? No. Wants to help? No. Wants to play? No. You just pray you don't chop off your fingers.

It's about contemplating if your child was the inspiration for Gollum as she crawls away to get into something she knows she's not supposed to do, all while apparently having a babbling conversation with herself that includes the words, "No no no." But then "my precious," aka the dog water bowls, beckons, and the lure is too strong.

And it's about days like today, when your child is a complete asshole to you.

Our day included:

Pulling my hair

Attempting to stomp on the dogs

Pulling the dogs' tails

Perfecting her moves for her Exorcism audition

Running away from me whenever I asked her to do something

Defiantly staring me down if I asked her not to do something, then doing it anyway

Throwing herself on the floor screaming

Throwing her toys

Shrieking for no known reason

And because all of that obviously exhausted her, the moments in between were spent demanding to be held.

Days like today make me feel like a bad mom. One, because by the time Jim got home, I was at the end of my patience and had to go hide in the bathroom to get a few minutes away from her, and two, because nothing I did improved her behavior.

So I'm posting about our crap day, because I know the only thing that made me feel better was hearing about how my friends are also dealing with asshole toddlers right now. Sometimes, all you need is to hear about how your friend's son threw noodles in her face to make your day a little better.