Tasting Defeat

I am not sure if you have caught onto this, but on more than one occasion on this blog I have eluded to the fact that I am a terrible cook. I would not say terrible like I used to be (as in I did not cook at all or I burned something during almost every attempt. At one point I went for over a year without a stove or full size oven, yeah I know some of your jaws just hit the floor. ) I mean terrible as in I do not have time, energy, patience, or the knack for making it through any mildly complicated recipes, and by mildly complicated I mean 4 ingredients or more. My problem, from what I have gathered, is really twofold:

   1.     Our kitchen is TINY which leaves little room for prep space, therefore anything that needs to be chopped, diced, or just broken apart requires too much effort.  Not to mention the lack of counter space leaves little room for any cooking aids (like a mixer or crockpot)

    2.     Time is not on my side. Any recipe that requires more than a few things means that most likely I do not already have them in my house, which means I need to make sure they are on my grocery list and that I have funds to splurge on 10 exotic ingredients. So already that’s time to make sure I get them on the grocery list, money to buy the extra items, and then the time it takes me in the grocery store to hunt them all down, not to mention the time it will take to do all of the prep with the time consuming ingredients!

I’m not knocking cooking at all, in fact I wish I had spent more of my mid-twenties perfecting my cooking technique so that maybe I would already have certain spices and odds and ends on hand. I just feel bad I guess because my daughter is getting more and more into eating solid foods and I want to be able to provide a variety of dishes to her and also show support to all of the food bloggers out there! It seems like everyone has an awesome recipe that I would really like to try but for some reason when I go to make it, my body gets caught in quicksand and I can’t make anything different than I already do. I’m like a boomerang, I take flight and it looks like I’m headed for new adventures but then somewhere along the line I end up propelling myself back to my old ways.

I do my best to add variety to our various meals but in all honesty, if I am being COMPLETELY honest, what I normally do is throw whatever seasonings we have in the cupboard onto whatever meat we have and throw it in the oven. Then I steam some veggies and literally that’s it. No mixing, no checking, no cooling and reheating, just heat and eat. That is all I can manage during the week and sometimes even on weekends. In my mind I have sort of tried to mentally prepare myself to do a cooking marathon in which I cook a bunch of food on Sunday for the week so I can make a variety of food. That for me is a huge commitment, one I know I will not be able to make every Sunday. So, I’m turning to you. How do you prep/ prepare your meals?

Is there a website you recommend for VERY easy prep/ quick meals? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanking a Village

It is definitely true; it takes a village to raise a child. In certain ways you cannot prevent "the village" from raising your child because you cannot filter everything they come in contact with 100% of the time and honestly different perspectives of the world help enrich children and bring depth to their character (at least in my opinion). With that I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the positive influencers, the villagers that have encouraged Emma during her first year:

Her Dad:

A wonderful supportive man who isn’t afraid to act silly or change unsettling diapers! Emma is lucky to have an awesome daddy.

Her Nana:

Even though my mom and I do not see eye to eye on some things, my mom has proven to be very supportive and an energetic play companion for Emma. She is always there to remind Emma of her manners and how dressing up makes you feel special, no matter what the occasion.

Her Aunt:

A woman who leads a very healthy life style, Emma is lucky to have her Aunt Julia to teach her how to cook healthfully(mommy is cooking inept). Her aunt is in the process of becoming an English teacher so she will also be able to help Emma keep her grammar in check as well.

Her Granddad and Uncle:

My dad and my brother are silly goofs! These two are amazing photographers and are always teaching Emma how to appreciate the wonder in the small things.

Her Cousins:

As our first, Emma does not have any siblings at the moment, so she looks up to her cousins and enjoys spending time playing with them. Along with her daycare buddies, her cousins teach her about sharing and working together.

Her Daycare Caregiver:

Ms. Aisha is Emma’s primary caregiver at daycare. She is very support of Emma’s development and a sweet nurturing woman. I was shocked to find out she doesn’t have any kids because she has such natural mothering instincts. From crafts, to walking, to sign language, Emma’s world is forever a better place for having her in it.

Her Godparents Nick and Vera:

Our best friends, Nick and Vera are fellow dog lovers, full of life, intelligent, and exude amazing positivity. Vera is my female soul mate and shares a lot of the same quirky traits that I do. We often talk to each other in Swedish milk maid voices and are always covered in dog hair. They will teach Emma to not take life to seriously.  Vera, a theater buff will teach Emma to appreciate the arts and Nick, an architect, will teach her how to point out the different between art deco and art nouveau in any structure she sees.

Her Pediatrician:

Doctor Burns has seen Emma since she was first born and for what seems like almost every other week since. We are forever in debt to her patience and thoroughness. She will teach Emma how to stay healthy and live well.

Her Internet Mamas/ My Mom Guru Friends:

It’s no secret I turn to the internet for advice from other moms. I also tap into my network of mom friends to help me out. It helps me as a mother to learn from them and lean on them so I can strengthen myself to be the best mom for Emma.

Sesame Street:

This is one of the very few shows we let Emma watch that she actually likes. She is very selective with what she will give her attention to on tv. We only let her watch tv on weekend mornings and when she is sick. I feel good knowing that she will learn and grow with quality children’s programing. (A little secret, mommy enjoys watching it too.)

Who is in your child’s village? Who do you lean on for support to raise your child?

My Momentary Beef with Toys R Us, a Movie, First World Problems, and the Real Reason for My Birthday Planning Obsession

If you have been following along here (or on twitter) you might have noticed a few teeny tiny mentions of my daughter’s first birthday, which… ok isn’t until June.  I somehow can’t seem to shake my desire to throw confetti and sparkles all over the place in anticipation of Emma’s first. So, after some deep meditation and thought I have finally psychologically dissected the reasoning behind my birthday planning obsession and it took a first world problem for me to figure it out.

I should back track a little bit to explain my day yesterday. It was your typical Sunday; laundry and grocery shopping and oh yeah me OBSESSING over finding a kiddie tent. Yes, A. Kiddie. Tent. So you see last week I had been doing some non-type A /borderline crazy, two and a half month ahead of time birthday shopping for Emma when I stumbled upon the idea to get a play tent for her first birthday. It would be cheaper and easier to handle than a big bulky playhouse and my sister and I had a tent when we were growing up and loved it. I have very fond memories of our plastic little tent house to this day. I did some searches and found one on the Toys R Us site, on sale! Not only was it on sale, the majority of the reviews sang its praises! There were even several posts on there that said it made a great gift for one year olds! I was sold! I noticed however, peculiarly on the side of the website page, that it listed the item as only available in stores, which to me is odd for this day in age because usually if you see it on the internet, it is available to PURCHASE on the internet. Anyways, no big deal, I would head over to the store the next day. I almost called to make sure that they had it ahead of time but I had just called Michael’s the day before to see if they still had the decorations I liked and they said they were sold out, only for me to go into the store later on anyway to find that LOW and BEHOLD there were shelves full of said decorations. Hmmm. So needless to say my trust in retail say-so was at an all-time low.

Anyways, we headed off to the store and here I am the giddiest of all. We get there and end up searching in every corner of the store for my prized tent to no avail. My giddiness quickly turned to major disappointment. I looked as long as I could, hoping that the tent would just magically appear in the center of the store with a giant glowing arrow with my name on it. Finally, out of desperation to not walk down the Barbie isle for the third time, my husband broke down and asked someone who confirmed my fears… that my precious tent was nowhere to be found in the store. Naturally the only thing left to do was come close to throwing a mommy tantrum but I figured since we were in Toys R Us, a location that is hyper sensitive to tantrums, that if I threw mine it would ignite a chain reaction of horrible tantrums throughout the store, which could eventually come full circle to my child. I held myself together but, when we got home I called their customer service to find out that only a handful of stores in the country carried the tent. Thus my hopes were dashed and I felt like a failure as a fun awesome birthday planning mom. What’s worse, I spent hours later on in the day searching for another tent that was the equivalent of the first one, but of course nothing compared.

Fast forward to last night, my husband had been dying to see Zero Dark Thirty and since we never get out to the movie theater I told him we should definitely stream it. (I was also enthused to see the work of Kathryn Bigelow.) So after we put Emma down, we turned on the movie. Everyone knows the story behind Zero Dark Thirty so I guess it’s pretty obvious that the film showed torture, death, and the amazing perseverance of a female CIA agent (yes intelligent female lead!) It took a little while to sink in but here was a story of real people, soldiers, CIA agents, and families that endure so many hardships and terrifying situations every day. I couldn’t even imagine what it must be like to live in the Middle East right now, or ever for that matter. Then I thought about my ridiculous quest to find a play tent. What a waste of a day! What a waste of energy! I could have done so much more with myself. I could have done so much more to benefit my child, but instead I was on some idiotic rampage to hunt down a colorful piece of plastic tarp. I mean it all just seemed so surreal. My first world problem was laughable, downright forgettable compared to what others have to go through.

Which lead me to break down the reasoning behind my need to overly obsess about planning a party that, in all honesty, my kid won’t remember.  After some thought, the reason hits me…we made it. We are going to make it to one year with our sweet little love. It is an achievement and therefore reason to celebrate. A celebration for my husband and I (for making it through) but more importantly, a celebration that we get the privilege to share this time with our daughter. Simply put, we are able to celebrate our daughter’s first birthday with her when others aren’t. Time is not promised and I know several mothers (including my own) who had children that did not make it to their first birthday, so we will celebrate and enjoy ourselves every year because you never know what is going to happen. I will always be an overly enthusiastic birthday party thrower, but after my first world problem mommy lesson, I will know when to keep myself in check and remember what the day is all about, the celebration of life. 

The Binki Blues

We are just about two months away from Emma’s first birthday, an exciting and scary time all at once. We are approaching the point when I imagined we would start some serious bottle weaning. We have already introduced the sippy cup and I feel like Emma associates bottles with formula and since we are nearing our switch over to whole milk (organic) I wanted to kind of get rid of both in one fell swoop. Since introducing the sippy cup, Emma has already started to show disinterest in her bottle, which is good and bad since I am still trying to make sure she still gets the proper amount of formula. But, I have a feeling that the bottle/ formula weaning is in the bag! Or at least I am crossing my fingers for an easy transition.

What I am starting to worry about now is her binki. I figured at the one year mark I might just go rouge and eliminate bottle AND binki but as the days go by I am slowly realizing that we might be in for a more difficult binki weaning situation than I thought. You see ever since she was small, she was never super attached to her binki. She would take one every now and again, mostly to sleep. This rare binki usage had been a time honored tradition until a few months ago when Emma started getting sick a lot. The bniki became a comfort thing for her. So now, instead of only reaching for it before naps and bedtime, she pops one in her mouth almost every chance she gets. Often times there will be a spare one in her play yard or in her room somewhere and she gravitates toward it like white on rice. She even knows to turn it around if she puts it in upside down. My concern is growing as well because she has finally began to start talking and loves to babble away, but with the binki in her mouth…well she can’t talk, or at least can’t talk well and I want her to be able to express herself without a hunk of plastic in her mouth.

I am going to remain somewhat lax on this one for right now, but I would really like to rip this Band-Aid off sooner rather than later. I would love to hear when you got your baby off the binki. How did you do it? Cold turkey? One day at a time? Substitute a lovie? Lookin for some insight! Thanks! 

Pink Eye and Mommy Guilt: How I Manage to Stay in a Funk

I can’t seem to shake my mommy guilt lately. In fact I feel like I am floating away on the rapids of Bad Mother Creek. I am being slowly stifled by the feeling of inadequacy and I am doing my darndest to make it stop.

You see it all started last week when Emma was diagnosed with pink eye in both eyes and an ear infection. And this was no ordinary pink eye; this was the mucus king of pink eyes. I’m talking that green blob monster from the Mucinex commercials and all of his family members where congregating at my child’s tear ducts at an alarming rate. I had been reading recently how antibiotics where not necessary to combat ear infections and I almost waved my newfound knowledge in front of the pediatrician, but since the pink eye situation was obviously out of control I kept my “M.D.” mouth shut. So instead of trying to negotiate a medical cure for my child, I end up walking out of the place with a prescription for a very strong antibiotic. So strong, that I was instructed by the pediatrician to buy a probiotic meant for a 25lb kid (mine is 19lbs) to combat the copious amounts of bowel movements to come. Grand!

This happened on Friday morning so I was hoping by the following week things would be back in order for Emma to go to daycare as I am out of leave and now in a situation where I have to work or else not get paid. If I do not get paid I cannot pay for daycare. If I cannot pay for daycare I cannot afford to work in which I lose my family’s health benefits and all hope of moving out of our bad neighborhood (there was a shooting literally a few blocks away from us on Sunday). So you see where my guilt comes in contrast to my need to provide for my family leading to extreme stress which drains me physically and mentally. It is a really bad spot to be in but every time Emma gets sick I go through the same cycle all over again.

She has to be on the antibiotic for 10 days…10 days of not working cannot happen so, I had to take my child who was loaded up with antibiotics and probiotics to daycare (it was approved by the pediatrician). I wanted to be the one to make sure her diaper stayed dry and to give her cuddles when she wasn’t feeling well. I want to be the one to take care of her and be with her always, but then the thoughts of gang violence go dancing through my head and I put my guilt aside for the long term safety and wellbeing of my family. And pretty much these feelings cycle through me once a month (that’s how often she has been getting sick). It’s crippling really and I can only blame myself for not being more careful and getting pregnant before we were financially ready even thought I was told I could not get pregnant (story on that to follow). I’ve gone so far as to barely let her out of the house all winter long for fear she might catch something even though both her and I hate being stuck inside all day. However, I have not lost all hope. I know that warmer weather and fewer sick days are just around the corner so I am looking forward to those times to come to lift my spirits and bring health to my baby. I just have to hang on a little bit longer. 

5 Reasons to Follow Me on Instagram and Twitter

Ok folks it’s social media awareness day here. Right now I am working on streamlining a new layout for my blog, and twitter (story to come). I will be testing things out from time to time across all mediums and it would be awesome if you would come along for the ride!

Here are the top 5 reasons you should follow me on instagram and twitter:

    1.     Fun fun FUN: I love having fun and sharing all of my adventures with you. And I love hearing about yours.

    2.     Living in the moment: Wondering what I am up to during the day? If you want up to the minute reports on the latest tantrum or mommy conundrum then my twitter and instagram feeds are the place to be!

    3.     Pictures! Below I have included some gems, some of which I only post to instagram so for the exclusivity of it all I dare say you should follow.

    4.     Notifications of my posts: That’s right, if you aren’t already following me on Google+ or have me saved to your Google Reader (RIP) then my twitter feed is a great way to get the first notification of a new post cause let’s face it you are all sitting around waiting to hear my pearly words.

    5.     I like friends: I love interacting with new people and while sometimes I get busy (gasp I know) to the point where I cannot pick up my phone, I still back track and read almost all of the past tweets so your thoughtful posts will not go unnoticed!

And there you have it. If I haven’t convinced you in 5 rambling points then there’s a possibility I never will. I know some people avoid social media and maybe you enjoy reading actual full paragraphs of information and hey that’s ok too. Either way I’m honored to have you as part of my chaotic life. 

Follow Me: Twitter @pearlywordsofch Instagram @pearlywordsofchaos 

The Cry of an Amazon Woman: Our New Bedtime Routine

Focus and breath, you can do this. ~ This is what I now tell myself every night. For the past week or so Emma has unlocked the doors to tantrum hell and getting her to go to sleep has become an all out battle.

Don't get me wrong, my kid is sweet and so adorable 99% of the time. She can be snugly, she can be kind, sure sometimes she gets upset but people have their ups and downs during the day and I don't blame her. But getting her to bed has become a real sore spot for me and my husband. If even daddy is having difficulties I know we've entered a whole new ball game. It seems like just yesterday I was writing about our serene bedtime routine and now here we are weeks later and it has crumbled into the sink hole of pre-toddler abyss.

Every night after her play time, dinner and bath we try to unwind. I take her into her room with the lights off and we sit quietly in her chair while she has her bottle. But now, it seems like the bed time protest comes earlier and earlier with fussiness showing up after dinner and sometimes continuing through her bath. We reach the edge of the cliff when we go to sit "quietly" in her room to have her pre-bed bottle. Instead of cuddling and enjoying her liquid nourishment, she insists on squirming and looking around the room. She reaches out for anything and everything to touch and play with. I give in and finally give her a shirt that is draped over her toy basket. After inspecting it for several seconds she promptly leans over and drops it on the floor as if to say "I am now displeased with you" only to quickly change her mind and try to back flip off the chair to grab her precious play thing. Then she looks back at me longingly as if to say "but mommy I NEED it." Reluctantly I give in. I stoop down to pick it up only to watch as it cascades onto the floor seconds later. I see where this is going. And with that I resolve not to give in.

Then it happens, that look in her eye, she has turned into a wild child. The inner bedtime avoiding goddess emerges and she becomes a crying amazon woman. Unwaning, determined, no one shall get in between her and her quest to stay awake and do as she pleases. She has the confidence and will of a warrior. Swinging from the ceiling fan, riding bare back on her mighty dog beasts. She. will. not. be. tamed.

As the minutes tick by I sit wide eyed in wonderment until my body goes numb. I fade into the background, a statue that exists only to be climbed at will. Until finally, the warrior woman rubs her eyes for the third time. A sign of admitting defeat. She closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep. I can feel my limbs regain consciousness as I cradle my nine month old and every so gently place her in bed. Her eyelids flutter but that is all the protesting she has left in her. I stare in awe. This is how I will always remember my baby. Until tomorrow night my warrior princess.

Do you have a difficult time getting your toddler to go to sleep? What is your bedtime routine? I am thinking we need to change ours so I would love to hear yours!

Being Unprepared for the Realm of Understanding

I have come to the realization today that my child's realm of understanding is expanding. With that understanding comes a whole new responsibility for me. You see up until now every milestone came and I was prepared for it. Teething, get some teething tablets; ready for food, make some baby purees; walking, time for some hard soled shoes; sleep regression, get a white noise maker. Every milestone seems to have a product to assist you with the new development. But now, now I find myself in a situation where I cannot reach out for the nearest devise or latest fad. I have to actually start teaching my child about life.

Don't get me wrong I have surrounded her with love and laughter. I have taken her to the pumpkin patch and to the pool and exposed her to new and exciting adventures but now that she is understanding more and exploring on her own, I need to teach her how to... well cope with life. What to touch and not touch, what is acceptable behavior and what will not be tolerated by society, teach her colors, teach her how to read, and really it only gets bigger and more complex from there.

Here I had just mastered baby mode. Changing diapers and washing bottles and snuggling and playing with the dogs. That was the easy part. What am I going to to when I am responsible for helping her lean how to read? What am I going to do when she asks me a difficult question?

One of my biggest fears is that she is starting to notice when mommy is tired or in a bad mood. I know it is impossible but I really wanted to be happy all the time for her. I do not want her to ever see me defeated by life's little annoyances. I wanted to rise above all of that especially since our time together is short. Alas, I am not perfect, no one is and I guess that's part of it all, part of learning about life.

My other dilemma is that she is at daycare all day. She is learning and thriving from being there and spending time with other kids and they have a great curriculum but I am not there to teach her. I have to wonder if she was with me would she be full on walking by now? Would she be saying different things besides uh-oh and hi? I know I can't change this and I suppose she has a path set out for her in life and daycare learning is part of it but the control freak and nurturer in me wants to be the one to guide her through. I guess all I can do is take it one day at a time, try not to overwhelm her and love her with all my heart. The rest will hopefully fall into place.

How did you handle your child's rapid development? Did you ever feel like you were not doing enough?

Easter Basket Showcase

Easter is early this year, 3/31 (meaning I have to get my over scheduled but into gear sooner eek). I find myself enjoying more success if I plan ahead for events/ milestones with Emma so I am taking that philosophy and sharing with you my Easter Basket Showcase (casue yep I already have them done- ask me about the plans for her birthday in June, yeah been there done that already- ok end of my type A, OCD interlude).

Here was my journey:

I went to go get some Easter basket supplies when I realized several things. 1. Baskets are freaking expensive (ok the “couture” ones from Michael’s were- not that I have anything against Michael’s I love it there- just couldn’t bring myself to throw down that much loot on baskets) and 2. What the heck do I put in a baby Easter basket? Peeps and crayons aren’t going to work for us. Knowing Emma she would draw on the wall with the Peeps and eat the crayons.  So I got down and thrifty with it and did a little thinking and here’s what I came up with:

Baskets: I guess my semi-hoarding tendencies come from somewhere because when I called my mom to ask her if she had our old Easter baskets from when we were growing up she said “YES! Two huge trash bags full. Come on over and pick what you would like!” So tip number 1. Ask around to see if anyone has some baskets they are willing to give you. Anything will do, even a basket that held flowers or was used for storage. If you don’t have a nostalgic mom like I do, or are creeped out by the idea of using 20 year old baskets then I did see some more affordable ones at Target and Walmart.

Contents: Obviously it’s a little too early to introduce Emma to the magical world of Cadbury but I wanted to include something budget friendly and fun for her to enjoy. I got a kit that included grass, eggs, and the shiny plastic wrap to go around the basket for $3 at Walmart. The price was so good I got two (one pink one green) and I still have some left over (guess what’s showing up next year). 

I plan on putting some dry cereal and dried fruit in the eggs for her (obviously I am waiting until the night before). I am hoping she will enjoy opening the eggs to find familiar snacks inside. For the actual basket contents themselves I ended up putting in some clothes which I folded to give an interesting visual. 

I also included some toy cars for her to play with (I saw her playing with some at daycare so I knew these would be a hit.) 

For her “big gift” I got her a set of puzzles which she has been more and more into. Lastly even though we had a tantrum incident before, I decided to include “bunny bubbles” because she does love bubbles and the bunny shape is festive (ok maybe I just have a thing for holiday themed bubble dispensers.)

Voilà Baskets! (I added the bows which I saved from our wedding presents and I will be recycling again!)The baskets aren’t overloaded with things because like at Christmas I went with the less is more theory especially since I know she will be getting baskets from both grandmas, but hey three baskets isn’t a bad haul!

I hope these sparked some ideas and inspiration for you creating your baskets! Let me know what you will be including in your baskets in the comments or send me a picture via Instagram @pearlywordsofchaos to show of your basket assembling skills! 

Lessons We Learned from Swim Class

Now that swim class has wrapped up I wanted to take a look back to see what we learned. Overall the experience was thrilling for me and somewhat amusing for Emma. I’m not sure she knew what was going on or the real purpose of the whole thing but she did get to enjoy chewing on some rubber duckies!

She started off slightly unsure of the big pool. Mommy and daddy can’t fit in her little bath tub so having both of us submerged with her was a new experience. By her second class she seemed to be more comfortable with the water. She actually did learn to reach her arms out to chase after a ball to simulate how she would be reaching her arms out to swim. She also became more comfortable extending her legs behind her as we moved through the water, another good foundation for swimming. She was also able to lean forward off the side and “jump” into the water into daddy’s arms. This only happened two times really but she seemed ok with it. I mean she is just a 9 month old. I did not have Missy Franklin expectations for her first swim class or really any other swimming event ever in her life to come. My reasoning behind taking the class was really threefold.

 1.     Her cousins were taking the class so some cousin bonding     time is always good

       2.     We all needed to get out of the house on the weekends during this never ending winter

       3.     To get her comfortable with the water

All in all I feel as though she did get comfortable with the water. If I had it to do again, I think that maybe we would have waited until next year to start her in the class (her cousin is 11 months older and was able to do more/ understand sort of what was going on.) I guess part of the reason I jumped the gun is because I am not a strong swimmer so I wanted a better swimming experience for my little. I also want to give her every opportunity to be exposed to a variety of different learning experiences and environments. Working out of the home gives me less time with Emma so rather than enjoy these kinds of mommy and me activities during the week it is nice to spend time together out of the house not running errands. I am not trying to defend my decision to put her in swim class I am trying to explain why I did what I did. I don’t consider myself a helicopter parent or a disciple of attachment parenting. I consider myself a mommy that likes to march in the fun parade, in fact I am the lead baton twirler of fun so either grab a glittery cape and march with me or don’t but don’t be a sideline sitting judger!  

Have you done a swim class with your child? How old where they? How did they do in the class? What age do you recommend enrolling in a swim class?

For more on our swim class adventures and a peak into my hectic Sunday schedule check out my old college roommate and now fellow mommy blogger’s page: Dimples About Life Be sure to follow her on Twitter @DimplesAbtLife! She posts such cute pictures of her little guy! 

The Beginning of the End?

All things have a beginning and an end. As mothers we have many fears and worries. Many are warranted and necessary, but there is that one thing we all fear that is totally unavoidable … the dreaded toddler tantrum! The meltdown, the outburst, the fit, the throw down, and otherwise known as the moment no mother wants to have to be a part of. Well, it happened to me. My sweet, happy baby girl had her fist tantrum the other day. Being only nine months old, Emma has hit all of her milestones early but this was one I was hoping would not rear its ugly head until well after her second birthday (yes wishfully thinking I know). I thought we would have at least a few more months of sweet baby bliss before toddlerhood showed up, but alas that bubble has been burst (pun intended later on).

Now don’t get me wrong, we have had crabby cries and general moodiness but this was different. It all started on a typical weekday afternoon, our special time together after a long day at work and daycare. This is our time to spend one glorious hour/ hour and a half together to play before dinner. I get on the floor with her and bang around with her toys and enjoy every minute of it. 

To back track a little, for Christmas, Santa brought some bubbles in Emma’s socking, so on this particular afternoon mommy thought it would be a good idea to play bubbles. Emma was so cute trying to imitate the blowing motion with her mouth. She was more fascinated with where the bubbles came from than the bubbles themselves. I let her examine the wand in my hand but I should have known what was coming next. She wanted to put the wand in her mouth! I quickly threw the wand back into the Santa shaped bubble dispenser and did my best to close the lid with my slippery fingers. Well needless to say that DID NOT go over well. Little did she know that I saved her from a rather unpleasant soapy mouth experience but I suppose when one throws a tantrum they have no other thoughts except for their ultimate goal in mind. Emma made the most discussed looking face, crinkled nose and all (yeah I think I saw the stink eye too). She definitely was not pleased. Then came the verbal whining, not crying, whining and a foot stomp! I was shocked! Sassing mommy already!?!? This followed by some form of arm flailing and a swift plop onto the floor.

It felt like my thoughts were moving in slow motion through my head as I processed what was going on. Everything flashed through my stream of consciousness from a future tantrum in 10 minutes at dinner; peas thrown everywhere, all the way to an evil glare from a teenager who is trying to leave the house in questionable attire. Finally I snapped out of it and realized the protest was still going on. I grabbed the nearest colorful object and waved it vigorously in the air and just like that, it was over. Her first tantrum. Ok it was not a 9.0 off the charts event or anything but still it was a small glimpse into the world we would be inhabiting in the near future and from the looks of it the nearer future than I was planning on. And now I am left to wonder is this really the beginning of the end of my sweet baby days?

I have included a picture of the jolly old bubble elf himself. Looking rather smug for having just started a tantrum.  

What was your child’s first tantrum? What was the worst one they had and how did you handle it?