A toddler mind = hilarious moments for mummy

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I asked H to bring me her plate for more toast….

Me: “Go and get your plate please”

H: scurries off, returning with two handfuls of half eaten crusts..

Me, laughing refusing to take it… ?”noooooo go and get your plate”

H screams, and ah ah ah’s like an otter (which means more/you/take it/do whatever it is I want you to do, I know you know what I mean and you don’t want to do it, but JUST DO IT BECAUSE I’LL KEEP MAKING THIS IRRITATING NOISE UNTIL YOU DO), when I don’t take it… So yes, I do take it…

It’s disgusting, soggy, and I find it absolutely hilarious. Why on earth did I need this handful of soggy bread?

Me: “right, now go and get your plate please?”

H does not find it hilarious.

Nope. Apparently not. H takes it to the next level, splays on the floor in anger at something or other and screams. “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” from both of us. Her, at whatever I’ve done/not done. Me, at how I was laughing seconds ago and now something else is happening and I haven’t got a clue what. And she’s still screaming. One eye one me of course making sure I’m watching. I’m trying not too, but actually it’s really funny.

Enter mummy tactics…

Me: “ooooooh is that Peppa Pig?”

Silence, H jumps up and tears through to the living room.

Me, shouting: “can you bring your plate?”

H flies through with her plate. Success!
This up and down situation this morning got me thinking about being parent to a toddler.

Parenting is one big guessing game.

One minute you’re laughing and seconds later incredulous. Incredulous at the sudden tantrum, the relentless crying, never mind the sudden drop in all the crazy hormones floating about. The dispair, the doubt, the inability to be completely in control as you once were. I find that harder than tantrums. Tantrums are mostly funny. Well, until it’s a day of tantrum after tantrum, or needy attached to my leg, won’t let go, won’t nap fedupness, then the day is one of dispair. But, in most cases it’s learning not to predict an outcome, or predict how a day is going. Even the worst morning can have a brilliantly fun afternoon.

Toddler’s moods can flip like a coin, one second happy, the next engulfed in a full blown tantrum.

So, like this morning, make the most of every laughing moment, and just know that the tantrum or bad mood will soon be over. It’s hard for us parents, but for our darling toddlers who can’t always say what they want or need, it’s much much harder. Soon they will be saying everything, they’ll have the words and have grown up even more. So as much as I’d love my gorgeous daughter to have the words to tell me, I’m ok with just comforting her for now and making her life as easy as I can. Yes, I do believe, just like a mummy’s life, a toddler’s life can be quite hard too.

Coffee, wine and cake help too! And of course my amazing husband who listens to endless stories at the end of each day.

Big hugs to all he mummy’s (and daddy’s) of toddlers,

Lynne x