Journal #2

Let’s talk raising a toddler. A spunky, opinionated, STUBBORN af toddler. From the first weeks of pregnancy, I knew my youngest daughter was going to be a handful. I fainted at week 6, acquired “chronic” high blood pressure at week 16, had to see a physical therapist for hip and abdominal pain throughout, and then there was the inner-womb violence. This child would listen for her daddy’s voice, wait for him to get closer and hug my belly, and then beat the ever-loving hell out of his face. I mean, how many people actually get throat punched through the womb?!

I always tell people that she will either grow up to be a CEO and run a company, or a terrorist. There is no middle-ground with this child. She is demanding in nature and does not take no for an answer. If you tell her to wait, she will simply get up and do it herself. When she was a mere 2 weeks old, the doctor noticed her trying to sit up already anytime she could. That determination has been there all along, and I believe that’s why she survived the car incident.

Laid up on the couch for a couple weeks, she’s been barking orders at us enough that I briefly considered getting her a service bell.

“Ding! Ding! Ding!”

I have never met a person- not doctor, lawyer, supervisor, no one- as self-sufficient and bossy as this little girl.

I mean, how many children can say they’ve had three broken bones in their foot, as well as deep punctures into their flesh and 17 stitches, and still be attempting to do flips off the couch as I type this? She’s a wild child, one-of-a-kind, absolutely insane, and as a parent it’s freaking awful sometimes. My first born was calm and cool; my well-behaved one. She was the child that made me want more children.

“I’ll have three, maybe four,” I’d tell everyone.

I thought I had it down. I knew how to sleep train, how to breastfeed, how to balance life and mothering.

Then I had Adelynne.

What newborn is even capable of staying up for fourteen straight hours? Mine. My child. Sleep training? Nope. She wouldn’t allow it. Nursing? Hahahahahahaha. That’s a whole other long ass story. Balancing life and mothering? Yeah, try Pine Rest instead.

Honestly though, as much hair as I’ve pulled out over it, I can’t imagine her any other way. That little girl is full of opinion, and wonder and has such a different perspective on the world around her. She makes me laugh. She makes me think. Also, she learned a few bad words (oops) and always uses them in the correct context.

Hopefully preschool is forgiving on that one.