My parents are in town, taking a mini-vacation. They’re both retired, but my dad, who spent his working career as a CPA with the IRS, has picked up a post-retirement job doing taxes… which means that he’s working more now than he did when he was working. Which really kinda defeats the purpose of retiring, right? Anyway…

They’ve already been able to see some extraordinary things while in the big city of Duncan, OK. They literally cheered when Emma crawled from the couch to the love seat. (Emma stopped, sat down, and smiled at the applause. Love it!) They also got to see Ana throw the worst fit of her life right before dinner. I would hate for you to think that Ana does nothing but throw fits. She doesn’t. But when she DOES, they are of epic proportions. Part of it is being nearly two, no doubt, but part of it is Ana. Ana, Ana, Ana. I remember how, as a newborn, she would get worked up into absolute fits of rage where nothing would soothe her. Screaming, flailing limbs, huge teardrops — yikes! Little maniac baby! I thought all newborns were like this until Em came along and was just cool and breezy with whatever. This past week, Ana has had a few fits which I’ve been able to handle, but tonight, I felt like I was falling apart under the screaming, flailing limbs, and huge teardrops.

Enter our hero — Papa Wes. He took our meltdown Ana into another room, and within just a few minutes, there was no more crying. A few more minutes passed. Then, Ana walked out on her own, told Gramps that she was sorry (with the few words she can use), told Gram that she was sorry, and with big tears in her eyes (and in mine!), told Mommy that she was sorry. (Wes told me later that he had discussed with her why she hurt Gramps, Gram, Mommy, and Papa with her actions and how she wasn’t honoring God. They prayed together, and she gave him a hug and kiss without even being asked to. She was amazingly well behaved for the rest of the night.)

Does this ever get easier? Am I going to feel like my heart is breaking every time we have to discipline our children? I know I’ve blogged about it before, but wow. What a hard experience today. I told Ana, as I held her after it was all over, that we’re just going to have to learn how to get through this thing together. This thing, you know — the next sixteen years of her childhood. AHHH!!! (Meanwhile, Em was sitting in the living room, cooing and laughing at her toys, never breaking her constant smile even though she still hadn’t eaten dinner and was well past an hour past due on her bottle. Lest you think that I think that Em is perfect, I realize that her “terrible two” time will come… right about the time Ana grows out of hers. Hey, at least we’ll be well-seasoned.)

Tomorrow will be better. Wes and I are leaving the girls with my parents, so how could it not be better? Ha! (I’m kidding. It’s only because I love them so much that all of this is so hard.)
On the bright side of things, once we finally got around to eating that dinner, it was amazing! It’s the best BBQ we’ve been able to find here so far. We have a ton of leftovers. Mmmm…

And yay for winning a book on Marla’s site!!! I really needed that today.