The End of a Peaceful Era

I am dying, absolutely dying to post a political rant.  But alas, I know my sisters will kick my you-know-what if I do, so I will refrain.  I will instead, go on a “Two-year old Rant.” 

As all of you know, I have a two-year old.  I have four other children as well.  Up until the birth of Miss 2, I would label my children as fairly sedate.  No one has colored on walls, cut each other’s hair, or carelessly destroyed toys with wild abandon.  We have taken our first three everywhere we wanted to go and nothing has been able to stop us. 

Nothing that is until Miss 2 came along.  She has put a screeching halt to our carefree lives.  She chews up every book she touches, right after she rips off the covers and tears up the pages.  She ruins toys.  Poor Barbie Mermaid now has one arm.  The toy boxes are filling up with the unrecognizable remains of once favorite items.  There is pencil on the walls of my living room and marker stains on the floor in the family room.    She has a scream that makes you want to tear your own head off and give her anything she wants just to stop the terrible sound.  She throws her dinner plate down if you don’t refill it with the food that she already has.  (It is completely illogical, but there is no reasoning with her.)  She rips off her doctor-ordered glasses and eye patch 100 times a day.  She wakes up from nap, strips naked in her crib, and yells “I poopy” until you come get her out. 

I have cowardly begun to stay home from activites, simply because I know she will run amuck (remember the fishing/almost drowning incident?  *shudder*)  No way am I taking her backpacking with daddy, like I did the other girls.  No.  Way. 

Picture this.  The other day she literally went streaking through the living room, covered in dirt, hair flying in all directions, waving her little arms and yelling, “Run Free!  Run Free!”  Do you get what we’re up against over here???

Today she ripped down the living room curtains.  Ripped them right off the wall!  (I was sitting within a foot of her, helplessly nursing Tiny Baby and trying to grab her with my one free arm and saying, “No!  No!”)

You don’t need to tell me that all of this is perfectly normal two-year old behavior.  I know that.  I am perfectly up-to-date on two-year old development.  And I am well aware that I have been living a charmed existence up until now.  The point is, my charmed existence is over and I kind of want it back.

(I did put a little political cartoon on our *extra and interesting* page.  I just couldn’t resist. . . .)