The real problem with pregnancy is that you can't drink. This is a serious issue when you are living life with a crazy toddler.
In my past life, to ward off the blues and make myself a better Mom, I would drink one glass of wine with dinner. Suddenly, daughter's tantrums (or when she was a baby, crying) seemed easier to handle. Suddenly, I was "calm mom." Cool as a cucumber, baby.
Now, I must endure the endless tantrums SOBER. Unlike a cucumber, this is not cool.
I have to come up with different strategies to be a better mom. Like, I actually have to be a good parent, and read parenting books and listen to "experts." I have to practice methods, and deal with issues without the help of a wine haze.
This is tough.
Our first order of business has been to wear the child out as much as we can. The more time she has outdoors running off her steam, the better. Except apparently, this doesn't work as well as we thought - she tends to get hyperactive, and then refuses to go to bed, no matter how tired she is.
Our next step has been to make sure she's eating properly. Lots of healthy snacks. Except that we can't force feed her to eat, so sometimes she'll have low blood sugar tantrums, regardless of the snacks I'm providing.
So, on to the next strategy. Behold, my masterpiece:
This is designed to help make morning and evening routines more predictable, and hopefully ward off tantrums related to things she doesn't like to do (which is, apparently, everything). With each task accomplished, she gets to put cute magnets on the board. We tried it out tonight for the first time, and she loved it!
Except it's now 8:39pm and she still isn't asleep. She's gotten out of bed exactly 8 times...
So as I said...the real problem with pregnancy? No wine!!!
