Soap bubbles and a will of one's own

Who says you can play with soap bubbles only in the summer? The photos were taken a couple of weeks ago and Lotta still mentions daddy blowing the bubbles every time she sees a soap bubble. We had fun :). Now it is getting too cold and windy for them, I admit.

We've had an interesting two week period as our child decided she doesn't need naps anymore. Of course she does, but for some reason she couldn't get to sleep. We are now celebrating day nr 3 of taking a nap again. I was very worried for her and shamefully for me, too, since I REALLY need the time for myself. Mostly I was worried about her, though.

The culmination point for us came Monday when we went to the store. Silly mommy (and trust me I've called myself much worse, but this is a reader friendly blog) didn't realize that she had a tired (no nap), somewhat overwhelmed (fourth store) and hungry (snack hadn't been enough) in her hands. Not to mention a wet one although I think that happened when Lotta got angry with me.

I had a preview on what the terrible twos can be like. She yelled, she screamed, she squarmed she did her very best to make all of Southern Finland know she was NOT HAPPY!

Husband asked what started it all and I'm not quite sure. She wanted to look at everything and she couldn't, since I thought we needed to hurry, and then she wanted out of her stroller but I couldn't let her wonder around, since I thought we needed to be quick (there's a pattern here don't you think?)

The thing is that she doesn't stay with me anymore like when she was younger. Instead she'll run around happily touching everything. I understand her but it doesn't really do to let her loose in a store with millions of things to pull out and explore. The poor pet had two choices to stay in my lap (NOT GOOD) or go back to her stroller (EXTREMELY NOT GOOD). I'm surprised I still have hearing in my left ear. And that no one called child services.

I did remain calm (embarrased but calm) but that didn't help the least bit. The thing is the child needs her space when she's lost her calm and holding her is the very last thing she wants. This of course is what I couldn't do i.e. let her down because I thought she'd win and that would be bad for her as she needs her parents to set boundaries for her. Right?!

Probably not. I think things would have calmed down the minute I put her down and I could have picked her up and put her into her stroller after that. I learnt a lesson and I felt horrible for not being more sensible when it came to our timing and especially since I was so inept in helping her get through her anger.

That night she woke up at 9.40 pm and came to sleep in our bed. The whole night she pushed herself really close to me and woke up several times anxious. My poor little baby girl. In the morning, though, she was a happy little camper again and has remained so.

We are now back to normal and Lotta has been her loving little self. She is starting to have more opinions about things but I'm also learning to both give her time to realize what is happening next so that she is ready to move to the next thing and also to set limits. But, oh boy, this is the hardest job ever! I knew it was going to be but, whoa! God bless all of you moms and dads it doesn't get harder than to raise children. It's fun, extremely fulfilling and you love your children to bits but it is certainly challenging. And grandmas and 'pas THANK YOU!

Had my mom lived today would be her 67th birthday. I miss her terribly especially now that I have a daughter of my own.