For a mere $6, I had a very nice therapy session tonight. All it takes is a house margarita, a “Triple Chocolate Meltdown” (to share), and a couple of hours with three of my best friends to help take some of my worries and frustrations and put them on the back burner.
This was a frustrating afternoon and evening with my dear, sweet Caden. He has officially hit his “terrible twos,” though I don’t remember Noah acting like this. He is suddenly acting very defiantly. You ask him to do something, like getting ready for dinner or washing his hands or heading over to change his diaper, and he blatantly ignores you, choosing to start playing with cars or some other toy. He has a look on his face that shows he hears you, but is choosing not to listen.  It is pretty infuriating. And recently, he ends up with at least one time-out during every dinner, often because of throwing food on the floor. Seriously!
I really wish I could switch from punishment to positive parenting, but I haven’t had much luck with that. I’m going to look into a book called “Scream-Free Parenting.” Maybe that will help. I’m open to any other suggestions out there!
Anyway, my dear friend, Becky, is in town from Denver for the week, and we got together with Amy and Sandy at Applebee’s for some drinks (N/A for Sandy-she’s preggers) and catching up. It is always an enjoyable time with these girls. We have many, many evenings like this one in our memories, as well as weekends in Chicago or Madison, and days spent out at Becky’s parents’ lake house. Our visits are often few and far between, but they always make me feel better, and help me forget some stressors for a while. Thanks ladies!