Toddler Bipolar Disorder

If you don't have a sense of humor, please don't read this blog entry. It's mom satire, people.

I think my daughter has toddler bipolar disorder. This is a recent development. She can be perfectly happy one second, and then, poof. Temporary insanity strikes. The most recent example of this behavior happened today. We actually had a lovely day. No tantrums, a fun Little Gym class, and even a three hour nap. The madness struck unexpectedly after bath time. We'd had a perfectly happy dinner, a fun bath, and then it came time to put on her diaper and pj's. It took twenty minutes, and the two of us, to get her diaper on and then her pajamas. I have never seen more contorting, wiggling and screaming in my life. It was kind of reminiscent of The Exorcist, minus the vomit and 360 degree head rotations. She threw such a fit, that she literally fell asleep in my arms as soon as we sat down in the rocking chair. Our last episode with TBP was all day Saturday, culminating with dinner at El Fenix. Sophie was happily coloring one minute, sorting the sweetener packets the next, and then she discovered if she ripped the packets open, sugar would go everywhere. So when we took the packets away, a fit ensued. I don't think I even ate my dinner. Steven, of course, was able to finish all of his. But I digress.....

I think it's safe to say we've hit the Terrible Twos at 17 months. My friend Danielle told me other moms have told her they calm down at age 5. My response was that they go off to Kindergarten at age 5, so of course it must get easier!!!! Now I understand why moms of older children would look at me with pity when I would ask them when Sophie was a little baby if motherhood got easier. NO. It does NOT get easier. But it does get more fun. See, even though there are moments when I completely run out of patience and have to walk away, Sophie is wonderful. She is sweet, affectionate, loving, and fun. Her newest thing is when I tell her that I love her as I'm rocking her before bed, she reaches up and hugs me tight. It's like she understands what I'm saying, and the feelings behind the words, so even though she can't verbalize that she loves me too, her hug is a way of telling me. It melts my heart every time. We generally have a pretty good time. Taking her to the park has become a blast, because she can climb on everything and go down the slides by herself. She is giggly and takes pure joy in everything.

I've found humor helps everything. I try really hard to laugh when she is hit with temporary TBP. Of course, I'm not always successful, but usually I laugh. I'm grateful for my friends, especially Adriane, Abby, Jenny, and Danielle. I can be myself around them, and they always make me feel like I'm not alone in this journey called motherhood. Because motherhood is a WILD ride. But it's also the best ride ever, one I never want to get off!

Steven and Megan Do Disney

A view from The Beach Club

Well, we finally had a vacation, just the two of us. Our last vacation, just "us two", was May 2010, two months before I got pregnant with Sophie. Disney World is one of our favorite places, and we figured this was the last time we'd go without kids. Kinda hard to leave your 5 year old with her grandparents while you go see Mickey. I'm pretty sure that's child abuse. So, Steven and I spent five magical nights at the "Happiest Place of Earth". We had a great time. I truly had no idea how badly I needed a break from 24/7 mommyhood. My head hit the pillow Sunday night, and I didn't wake up until 9:00am. Nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. See, those of you without kids have no clue how dramatically your sleep will change once you have kids. Sure, you get past the newborn stage, the sleep training, and they're finally sleeping through the night. But from the moment you become a mom, you will always sleep with one ear open. When you wake up in the middle of the night, you'll check out the video monitor, just to make sure they're ok. You will have irrational moments of panic when you wait to see if they'll move, just to make sure they're still breathing. Toddlers are also NOISY sleepers, and since our room is so close to the nursery, each sound Sophie makes goes right to my ears. When she wakes up momentarily at 5:30 am, so do I. So- for five nights at Disney, I slept. Hard. It was great. I also didn't worry about nap time, wake times, is she eating, has she pooped, what time should I put her to bed...... I knew she was in very capable hands with my parents, so I just let it go. And it was great. We rode rides, ate long leisurely meals at our favorite Disney restaurants, swam in the pool, enjoyed cocktails poolside, I finished a book I bought in 2011 (silly me, who buys a book the year they have a baby), and we just enjoyed being "us two" for the first time in 16 months. Of course I missed her every second, but it wasn't overwhelming. We had fun figuring out which rides she'd like, and one of us was always exclaiming "Oooh, Sophie would like that!" By the end of the trip, I think we were both really missing her, because we began planning our next visit... WITH Sophie. We actually went into great debate over which hotel would be best for her, which park had the most for her to do, which parks to avoid, and where we could take her to eat. We may try and take her in the Fall next year.

Sophie had a fabulous time while we were gone, in case you were wondering. She stayed with Grammy & Granddad at Casa de Sparks. They catered to her every want and need. She went to the park, swimming, the Children's Museum, learned how to garden with Granddad, helped make grilled cheese, and played outside in my parents' great backyard. She and Hayley the Golden Retriever became best friends. My dad picked Steven and I up from IAH on Friday, and he described Sophie as "absolutely spectacular". Pretty amazing to be adored so much. Lucky, lucky, oh so very, very lucky!

My parents were both a little depressed when we left for Dallas the next morning.

Sophie and her new best friends, Mickey and Minnie.