by Irena the Croatian

I came up with that statement a few months ago when a friend of mine called me and asked what I was doing. At the time, my toddler was running around the house naked, screaming, not wanting to get dressed, knocking everything over and throwing fit after fit after fit... I was flustered, frustrated, at the end of my nerves and ready to cry. So I took it out on him... he asked how I was, and I screamed it back at him. It stuck with me and it pops back into my head every so often.

Elaina is two, I've gotten used to this 'parenting' thing by now. This morning she ATE a cube of chicken bouillon. Yeah. She ate one. Not a whole one, obviously. I got to her in time, but she took off quite a bit of it. So she threw a fit when I took it away. I was in the kitchen attempting to make her something else to eat, I walked out in the living room and she had taken all her clothes off and was lying on the floor. I have hardwood floors. She was lying down naked. Disgusting, then she wanted to have a bath. So it's 10am, and I'm giving her a bath. She didn't want to get out until 11 am. By 10am I had already made 3 different things for breakfast. She didn't eat any of them and insisted on having her gummy fruit snacks the entire time. Now it's 12:30pm and I've cooked lunch twice.

The kitchen is a mess, and the living room looks like a tornado came through it. I still have about 3 loads of laundry to do, I need to go to work at some point, I have to re-design the Gothic Flyer for black/white printing, and I have to go stand outside of the Gothic tonight to promote. I turned in my notice at work on Monday so now I need another job. I need to move too, I need more space. I'm just gonna start screaming.

But the good news is Elaina is sitting about 7 feet away from me and eating the 3rd lunch. And her eyes are ever so blue, her hair ever so blonde, and she has the happiest, most content look on her face. And strangely enough, everything seems ok. :) She is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I am so grateful to have her, because without her, my mornings are boring; and, everything has a different light to it. Absolutely everything does.

Naptime...