Early Mornings

I remember the days when an early morning was 4:30 or 5am. Those days fade fast, like everyone said they would, and now an early morning is 6 or 6:30am. Its funny because I remember saying "If she would just sleep till 6am I could deal with that". Now that we've been to the wonderful world of 7:30am and even on occasion, 8am, 6:30am feels sooooo early!

I try to bring Stella in bed with us to catch a few more precious minutes of rest, but Stella has other plans and they usually include sitting on my head, no joke. Trying to get her to sleep in my bed just does not happen, she only wants to play. She enjoys jumping up and down on my stomach, its not very comfortable but at least its a good ab workout.

I must say that her greetings are pretty darn cute, she likes to say "hi" whenever we get her in the morning or after a nap. Its not just "hi" though, its more like "hieeeeeeeee", in a sweet little high pitch voice. So this morning when I brought her into bed we laid there quietly for just a couple minutes before she turned to face me and with big eyes and a big grin said "hieeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Even though I was half asleep I had to laugh. Not really a bad way to start your day, even if was a little early.

Oh The Terror!

What happened to my sweet little girl? Lately she is making appearances from time to time but more often she is a pinching, hitting, grunting, screaming little brute. She is even a little scary sometimes because of how rough she is. She gave me a fat lip twice in one day, once with her big noggin and the other with her foot. Yes, my sweet little baby kicked me in the face! I believe this rough and tumble persona she has acquired has been intensified with some incoming molars. You can only imagine the chaos in my home this last week. I think I even cried during her bath the other day. She is just darn right exhausting!

Thankfully, either her tooth has cut through or the devil has left her body because she has had many more moments of sweetness. Yesterday and today she has hugged me, petted my cheek and given me kisses. Do I dare say my sweet little girl has returned? It may be to soon to tell but at least she is giving me a break. She isn't talking much yet, but I have a feeling the words are just dying to come out. Maybe then the physical abuse will end. Then she can move on to repeatedly saying "NO" and "MINE".

Toddlers are amazing to watch, they are like little sponges soaking in the world around them. But they are also like angry foreigners cursing at you in a language you don't understand. I will have to make the sweet moments last in my memory to get me through the times when I want to rip my hair out. If I start going bald, please be kind.