Pride and Exhaustion

We have run the gammut of toddler emotions today and have somehow ended up on the good end of the spectrum. I am exhausted... can barely move my feet while walking exhausted... may just fall asleep while typing exhausted.

Morning begins with a slightly cranky wake-up and some cartoon time in Mama's bed. Not so bad, especially since I'm expecting the worst the next few days as her bottom molars come in. But my expectations are met quickly, and that was the best part of the morning. Cartoon time was quickly followed by incesent whining, feet-dragging, crying, and indecisiveness. Time to take some baby-tylenol and off we go to Granny's house so that Mama can make it to her doctors appointment on time. Cue more whining, feet-dragging, etc. Even more crying when she figured out she wasn't coming with me to the doctor. Oh, and a short trip to Wal-Mart was in there too. Fun stuff.

Sidebar - info from the aforementioned doctors appointment...baby number two is coming along just fine. I finally got a "normal" result from bloodwork and everything is progressing nicely. Excuse me while I go find a big ole Oak tree or something to knock on.

Anyhoo... I've been dragging this kid around against her will all day long. I know she's not feeling so hot because of her teeth, but these are the days that really make you question why you ever wanted to become a parent in the first place. BUT THEN, just as I was about to pull out my very last strand of hair, she reminds me exactly why I wanted her and love her so so soooo much.

I drug her to a mom/tot dance class this evening, the first one, even though she insisted she did not want to go. When we got there she saw there was a slide and a trampoline. Suddenly she was a PERFECT CHILD. She shared, took turns, helped the teacher clean up, was polite, listened to the instructions, and just generally showed up every other kid in the class, all of whom where running around like little pyschos. The teacher was so impressed, and I was so proud.

I'll have to remember this day as a day that proves we must be doing something right with this parenting thing, especially the next time I'm carrying a limp, screaming body out of the toy aisle while trying to explain that we do not need duplicates of the toys she already has - no matter how fun they are.