Parenting At It's Finest

This whole 'parenting' thing is funny to me. I remember back when my kids were babies--back when they would just cry and cry and cry. I remember thinking "I can't wait until they are toddlers so that they can talk to me and tell me what they want." Now that they're toddlers, all they ever do is scream, yell at each other, and fight. Its great that they can communicate, but most of that "communication" is saying "no" and giving attitude. All I can think is "I can't wait until they are in school.. the terrible twos and threes will be over and they'll have mellowed out." However, in the back of my mind I know that that wont be the case.

I think of parenting like video games; you're stuck on a hard level and all you can think about is how much you want to get through that level and onto the next, even though you know the next level will be harder. Now, obviously my kids are only 4 and 2, so I'm not positive, but I feel like once they're in school it'll be a mellow couple of years until puberty hits and high school comes along. I'm dreading that time. Madison is already so dramatic about everything--it'll be so much fun once she starts puberty :/. And Maverick? It'll be so weird hearing his voice change and turn into a man. Luckily I am SO far away from that--I've got plenty of time to prepare.

I think back about how I couldn't wait for my kids to be toddlers when they were babies; and now that I'm out of it, I wish they were babies again! Those were such simpler times! This past week Maverick's attitude has gotten bad. If he isn't happy about something, he'll do a loud growl at you then scream something. Its as if he doesn't know what to do with all of his frustration, and it's very exhausting. Madison, earlier this morning, threw a 30-minute fit for I-don't-know-what. She was just screaming and crying for one thing after another. She said she wanted milk, I got her some, then she screamed at me saying she didn't want it. Uhh, okay.

I don't understand kids whatsoever. I understand that they are trying to learn the ways of the world and that everything is new to them, but I wish they understood that simply asking for something instead of throwing a huge fit would get them said-thing a lot faster. I know I shouldn't be thinking about how things will be when they are older--because there is no way for me to know for sure how they will be. I know that once I finally understand them and the things they do, they'll be onto the next stage in life where I'll have to start all over again at trying to figure them out. I guess that's what parenthood is :)