Grandma Says Goodbye:(

Grandma had to go home at some point I guess. The girls weren't so pleased with this notion. We decided we'd go to lunch and send Grandma off with a full belly and then it happened-again. Ava had another big blowout. She didn't want to go potty before we left followed with she didn't want to put her panties on when she finished. The terrible twos have arrived and decided to camp out for awhile.

These tantrums are getting worse. The screaming she directs towards Livy is getting worse. My ability to tolerate it and be patient with her is dwindling.

Ava has been getting the usual two minute timeouts. She is told how hitting hurts Livy and she apologizes when she is through with her timeouts but last night when she didn't get her way she reared her leg back and kicked Dave in his shin. She was immediately removed from the room and taken to hers for a timeout. My problem is necessarily how to punish her for her tantrums but how to prevent/ stop future tantrums. It's not like I can put her in a bubble away from the rest of society.

I know Ava is getting a grasp on her world, searching for autonomy, acquiring a sense of self control, expressing her frustration in the only way she knows how to, and I get it. Believe me. I get IT. But compounded with Olivia's never ending monologue, coping with losing a sense of myself, the stupid freaking doorknockers that come by my house everyday to impose their religious propaganda on me, and the "stuff" that I need to get done in the course of the day that gets thrown to the sidelines while breaking up these squabbles and tantrums I just want to have my own tantrum. So I did. I called Dave at work, explained that I'm going nuts, PMSing too, cried a little, and then left my office (the bathroom) with a smile on my face and went to entertain my kids.

Maybe there isn't some sort of special magic, maybe Ava just has to grow out of it, any which way you cut it someone is always on the receiving end of her tantrums. It sucks. But it is a big part of a toddler's life and I know that. Hopefully it will pass quickly and we can move on to something else. Maybe those nannies on TV can come and help us... they seem to do a good job.