Now it is early morning, 4 AM on a monday. Woke up to mosquito bites, quickly checked my phone for emails and face book posts; one article caught my attention - an article on a toddler. The mom of the toddler writes about how she is being screamed at, bitten, scratched, hairs pulled and puked. This has been seconded by many more moms, makes me think, my toddler is an angel!! Let me describe my struggles with my toddler in a typical day.
Most of the time I single parent my daughter. Getting up in the morning, giving her food, running around for buying her supplies in case of emergency, getting her ready etc. When I say get her ready to school, it is no easy job. She does not want to take bath even after constant pursuasions. I try to put her in her new bath tub that her grandma bought. Putting all her choicest toys, spoons dabbas, anaything else she wants to take in, let her sit for as long as she likes - still does not work. End of it when time comes to put soap on her, there is always screaming and wailing. Then comes the real struggle to get her dressed for school. She does not like the thought of going to school, so she will run away before you manage to gather her and put her dresses, socks on. In between I have to manage to brush, take a 2 minutes bath, wear my (any) clothes to get ready to work. I only get 10 minutes every morning for myself. But the most harrowing of all is when you are about to lock your door, ready to leave, she will come up with her master stroke - want to go to toilet!! Many times, she will also tell you that she wants to do potty...So you remove all her clothes, put her in potty, wait patiently till she says she does not want to do any and get her ready all over again. This has been my life for as long as I remember with my 2 and half year old toddler.
Weekends are no fun. Morning, I have to take her to the park till she is done, then take her around the lake, run to buy milk, buy groceries, vegetables (all in different directions - managing time for each of these schedules while pushing her stroller), buy her school supply etc. In between, do my work intermittently and most importantly attend to her. The most difficult part so far has been her potty habbits. On many weekends, she will not go to toilet for potty, but will simply do on her pants. Day before yesterday, a saturday it happened for 7 times through out the day. The drama continued when she has the urge to go to toilet and has already soiled her pants, I take her to toilet. After waiting for 10-15 minutes, singing telling her stories, nothing comes out. Clean her bring her back and in another 1 hour, the same story repeats till you completely break down. Yesterday, a sunday another story erupted, where she refused to take bath!! Hair smelly, body smelly dirty but still does not want to take bath. Once in the morning I allowed her to cry as much as she can and she managed to do that successfully and fell fast asleep. I felt bad, although I could have done my work duirng that time, but could not do much. Then she got up, I fed her and pursued her to take bath all over again with many (inspiring :) stories ) and that resulted in nothing. Again crying wailing, screaming. I left her crying for sometimes till she calmed down. I gathered her, hugged her and asked whether she would take bath. She graciously suggested she can take bath in balcony.. It sounded like I won some lottery. I brought everything to balcony, but the sight of soap again triggered her anger. Anyways after a great struggle I managed to give her bath. When it was shampoo time, wailing ensued. She would just grab my legs, so washing her I get completely drenched. In any case, end of the struggle is good, because she is clean and hairs washed. This has been so for last 2 and half years every other day. Imagine the stress, but I manage to stay somehow sane by occasional meditation (like today when I get up really early) and contain my emotion. Today especially after reading this article, it occurred to me that how my toddler is an angel compared to what I read (touch wood! ). She does not pull my hair (yet), does not puke, does not bite me or scratch me... I dont know if she did all of this, what I would do and how I would react. She is now asleep by my side like an angel while I rant about her....
Most of the time I single parent my daughter. Getting up in the morning, giving her food, running around for buying her supplies in case of emergency, getting her ready etc. When I say get her ready to school, it is no easy job. She does not want to take bath even after constant pursuasions. I try to put her in her new bath tub that her grandma bought. Putting all her choicest toys, spoons dabbas, anaything else she wants to take in, let her sit for as long as she likes - still does not work. End of it when time comes to put soap on her, there is always screaming and wailing. Then comes the real struggle to get her dressed for school. She does not like the thought of going to school, so she will run away before you manage to gather her and put her dresses, socks on. In between I have to manage to brush, take a 2 minutes bath, wear my (any) clothes to get ready to work. I only get 10 minutes every morning for myself. But the most harrowing of all is when you are about to lock your door, ready to leave, she will come up with her master stroke - want to go to toilet!! Many times, she will also tell you that she wants to do potty...So you remove all her clothes, put her in potty, wait patiently till she says she does not want to do any and get her ready all over again. This has been my life for as long as I remember with my 2 and half year old toddler.
Weekends are no fun. Morning, I have to take her to the park till she is done, then take her around the lake, run to buy milk, buy groceries, vegetables (all in different directions - managing time for each of these schedules while pushing her stroller), buy her school supply etc. In between, do my work intermittently and most importantly attend to her. The most difficult part so far has been her potty habbits. On many weekends, she will not go to toilet for potty, but will simply do on her pants. Day before yesterday, a saturday it happened for 7 times through out the day. The drama continued when she has the urge to go to toilet and has already soiled her pants, I take her to toilet. After waiting for 10-15 minutes, singing telling her stories, nothing comes out. Clean her bring her back and in another 1 hour, the same story repeats till you completely break down. Yesterday, a sunday another story erupted, where she refused to take bath!! Hair smelly, body smelly dirty but still does not want to take bath. Once in the morning I allowed her to cry as much as she can and she managed to do that successfully and fell fast asleep. I felt bad, although I could have done my work duirng that time, but could not do much. Then she got up, I fed her and pursued her to take bath all over again with many (inspiring :) stories ) and that resulted in nothing. Again crying wailing, screaming. I left her crying for sometimes till she calmed down. I gathered her, hugged her and asked whether she would take bath. She graciously suggested she can take bath in balcony.. It sounded like I won some lottery. I brought everything to balcony, but the sight of soap again triggered her anger. Anyways after a great struggle I managed to give her bath. When it was shampoo time, wailing ensued. She would just grab my legs, so washing her I get completely drenched. In any case, end of the struggle is good, because she is clean and hairs washed. This has been so for last 2 and half years every other day. Imagine the stress, but I manage to stay somehow sane by occasional meditation (like today when I get up really early) and contain my emotion. Today especially after reading this article, it occurred to me that how my toddler is an angel compared to what I read (touch wood! ). She does not pull my hair (yet), does not puke, does not bite me or scratch me... I dont know if she did all of this, what I would do and how I would react. She is now asleep by my side like an angel while I rant about her....
