Thursday, January 7, 2010

She Runs Hot and Cold

After another fabulous night in the caramama household (you all know that's sarcastic, right?), my daughter woke up grumpy. This is not unusual lately, as she is going through some lovely stage of Twoness/almost-Threeness where tantrums abound and rudeness is unabashed. I'm exhausted and depressed (I do so hate the winter), but I'm trying really hard to get up every morning and get myself and the two kids ready for the day. So far, I've been able to do it every weekday (and Londo gives me some weekend days off from morning duty).

But this morning... This morning when I finally got out of bed because both kids were up, we all were in my bathroom starting to get ready. Well, the Pumpkin was playing with the Pookie while I was starting to get ready. I don't remember what set her off--could have been anything, and was probably the mention of needing to change her diaper/pull-up--but the Pumpkin started to fuss and cry and generally begin tantrum behavoir.

I did my usual I'm-here-when-you-are-ready-to-talk thing, but she started telling me to "Go away!" This started a few weeks ago and is now a regular part of her tantrum repetoire. I usually ignore it and go about my business. But this morning, she wanted me to "Go away!" from my own bathroom as I was washing up. That was NOT going to happen, which I explained.

She spent the next 10 minutes or so telling me to "Go away!" or "Leave me alone!" while I continued to get ready. I could just feel the love. Luckily, I don't take offence at this behavoir, but it is still frustrating.

Now, let's fast forward through another meltdown when her pull-up leaked and I had to wash off her legs, move straight through the improving mood as she picked out something to wear (out of options I gave her), and even beyond the smiles we had when I carried both kids downstairs at the same time and laughs at breakfast over the spoon "jumping" into the yogurt cup.

Let's skip to my favorite part of this morning. When the Pumpkin and I finally got into the car and were driving to her school, she asked me, "Mommy, are you my best friend?"

Another phrase she recently added to her regularly-repeated-phrases-depending-on-her-mood is "Are you my friend?" We are all friends in our house. And yes, you can have more than one friend. And yes, we regularly check that everyone is friends with everyone else in our house.

But this was the first time I'd heard her ask if I was her "best" friend. I don't know if she truly gets what it means, but I sure do. So of course I answered, "Yes. I'm your best friend. And you are my best friend." I smiled at her in the rearview mirror, and the smile she returned to me could have light up the entire planet! It surely melted my heart into a puddle of goo.

That's one of those moments that I'm talking about in my header. That's one of the "beautiful shining moments" that I live for. An impossibly bright smile from my best friend.

6 comments:

Geeks in Rome said...

so, soooo sweet!

I totally hear that nightmare twoish/threeness phase. Ugh. But even nicer knowing it's temporary.

Parisienne Mais Presque said...

We're in the middle of the two-and-a-halfs here, so I hear ya. Everything is wailing and screams of NO NO NO, "You don't wanna!" (he's still working on using "I" instead of "You") and then, all of a sudden, the sun breaks through the clouds and I'm getting a huge "mommy hug."

Last night, as I was getting him ready for bed, he went through the tubes of different creams I put on his face and body that I keep in a little tub next to the changing table, and one by one, opened them up and dabbed a bit on my face. He's expression was so cute and so loving that I just melted.

Cloud said...

What amazes me most is how quickly my Pumpkin transitions from screaming tantrum to sweet as can be. And I'm someone who gets over anger pretty easily myself...

Karen said...

Awww, best friends. *smile*

Anonymous said...

That's so sweet. Makes it all worth it.

Burgh Baby said...

I love little conversations like that. They are almost enough to make me overlook the sass and attitude and general buttheadery that comes with small girls.

Learning I Have Hypertension

This past winter, I discovered I have developed high blood pressure. This came as a surprise for me, since I generally had always had blood ...