The Meanest Mommy in the Whole World

I earned that honorific today. For what? Because I had Lily go stand in time-out for a few minutes for shouting at me and then sticking out her tongue at me. Now, I have to say, she tried to get away with the tongue-thing by attempting to cover it up. I'm fairly certain she was going to stick her tongue out at me behind my back, and when I happened to catch her, she quickly began rolling her tongue and such, pretending that's what she had been going to do all along. She's clever, that kiddo of mine.

However, not that clever. Four is a tough age. You're searching for some independence, testing your boundaries and limits, and lying like a dog (although not at all convincingly) when you get caught. Unfortunately, Lil's fours come on the heels of a new baby, leaving her feeling like she's always in trouble.

Now, back to that "meanest mommy" thing. I calmly explained that it was fine for her to be angry, that I completely understood she was upset with me, but that she couldn't shout at me. I went on to tell her, my job as her mommy is to make sure she is a good girl with good manners, that she is a little girl other people want to be around, and that grown-ups do not want to be around sassy girlies. I also explained that my job was not to be her friend, but to be her mommy, and that I was sorry she was angry with me, but that was the way it was.

Oh, the distractibility, the piddling, the pokey-little-puppyness of it all. The not listening and taking forever to contemplate following the directions that were just given. Grrrr. I've been praying so hard for more patience. She really needs that right now, as do I. Lack of sleep has a tendency to make me a bit grumpy, so this combined with me perceiving her to be pokier than usual has me feeling like an impatient grouch.

As I'm typing this, I'm coming up with better options, with plans of action. First of all, I need to remember to offer choices when asking her to complete an onerous task (or one she believes is onerous at any rate). I need to remember that although she is a big girl, and so very helpful, she is in fact only four. I need to take the time to play with her and snuggle with her more. Oh, and I'm going to be boxing up about half her toys to be put away and rotated with her other toys--after we weed out those she no longer wants.

As for the Bean, I believe her growth spurt has passed. She was a much better sleeper today. We went to visit Nana at her work, and met her friends and coworkers. There are some very patient ladies there who listened to Lily explain her future plans to become a paleontologist and a princess. She has the princess part down, telling me, "It's easy, all you need to do is find a prince and kiss him. Twice." :oP Oh, and a paleontologist digs up dinosaur bones and "puts them together...like a puzzle!". She's a cute kiddo, even if she does think I'm the meanest mommy in the whole world. ;o)

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Today's Sparklies:

1. A sleeping Beanie.
2. We found Lily's flip flops. Whew!
3. The visit with Nan and lunch at The Cheese Shop.
4. A visit with my work as well.
5. Chicken spiedies for dinner. Mm. :o)

No milestones.

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It seems that even if you are a big, fat meanie, your hugs are still in demand. As such, I'm off to give my girlie a great big one. :o)