Man, today was a rough one. It started out ok…Vann took Charlie to church solo so I could grab a little extra shut-eye…but lunchtime through bedtime pretty much ranked up there with the worst days in terrible two history. I think someone once told me that parenting is 2 steps forward, 4 steps back, meaning, you think you’ve gotten somewhere and then you wake up and have to start all over again.

Charlie is refusing to sit in her booster again. She was doing so much better at mealtimes, but all of a sudden today it was like we were torturing her. Not only that, but after a horrible meltdown post-nap (or post-non-nap, as it were), she got her first official spanking. Yep, folks, we are one of THOSE families. Did it make me feel good to give her a couple pops on her bare bottom? No, and I can assure you, she didn’t like it either. She finally calmed down enough later to eat a little something for dinner and go through her normal bedtime ritual, but it was shaky there for a few hours.

Blech. This part is SO not fun, and while I am thrilled that she is becoming more and more verbal everyday, I am not so fond of the “teaching a toddler how to manage her emotions” part of things. Luckily, tomorrow is a new day and we get another crack at it. Maybe someday we can look forward to family meals being peaceful…until then, we’ll try to have some “sticktoitiveness”.