can it, kid

So, I ran into some unfriendly kids at the playground today. My first encounter of many I assume. Scarlett and I tried a different playground that is really close to home. We were the only ones there for a while so she explored and climbed and tried the different slides. We walked around the field and she, of course, found a dirt patch to play in. We ran around a bit and just had a good time. I saw a few kids approaching on their bikes accompanied by a couple of ladies. Game on.

Scarlett was excited to see the kids and their puppy. The ladies put their bags and iced coffees down on a bench and had a seat. No hellos were exchanged. The kids ran to the playground. Scarlett stood smiling and enthusiastically saying Hi! to each of them as they ran past her. Okay, that's fine, they are kids, they don't know enough to - WAIT. Don't they know enough to say hi when someone speaks to them? What are they like 8? 7? They should know. Shouldn't they? Shouldn't their moms correct them? Am I being weird? Whatever, no biggie, let's move on. "Come on, honey, let's go back to the slide," I say as I grab her sweet little hand. 

The kids are now jogging off in another direction and Scarlett grins excitedly and starts toddler-running behind them yelling LET'S GOOOO!!!! She was so excited. They completely ignored her. They ran off and did their own thing. As I expected. Little bastards. Not one of them could acknowledge her??? And seriously, Iced-coffee Moms, you can't just say - hey my kid, can you say hello to the little girl? I know it's gossip time but please be somewhat aware that your kid might be a douche. "Come on, honey, let's see if we can find a four-leaf clover in the grass!" I say as I grab her sweet little hand. We head over toward the swings and one of the boys sprints to the swing in front of us. Scarlett smiles at him and says, HI!!!! and the boy shoots back a salty, "I'M USING THIS ONE!!" Ummm listen you rude little F*@C$#R, she was saying HI to you, she didn't want your GD swing. Hope that rusty chain is safe, jerk.

Again I took Scarlett's hand and walked away. Another child, a girl, began swinging as we walked past and I told Scarlett not to walk in front of the swing or she may get kicked. Scarlett was slow moving and the girl continued to swing even harder as I ran to grab Scarlett just in time before she was booted across the yard. Are they doing this on purpose?? It's like Children of the Corn out here! WTF with these little maniacs!! I realize children don't always pay attention and aren't looking out for little ones but come on. And honestly, by this point I was shocked that the mothers hadn't even glanced up from their chit-chat. How about reintroducing manners to your children? Maybe ask them to be mindful of others?

We were going to hit the slides one more time before leaving. I reminded Scarlett not to walk in front of the slides or swings or she may get kicked. I saw the boys listening as I told her. I took her hand just in case and was walking her toward the steps while one of the kids came shooting down the slide at us. You couldn't wait two seconds you little shit??? I'd had it. Clearly we weren't able to play with the older crowd. At least not a crowd with hands-off parents. We were outta there. We took a slow walk around the field - to distract Scarlett from the fact that we were leaving - and headed back to the car.

Yesterday, Scarlett dominated the playground. There were boys and girls older and younger and she had a blast with them - because their mothers were involved and paying attention. They were taking turns and being safe and playing with each others' toys. I'm realizing this whole mothering thing is going to be more challenging than I thought as I have to factor in the other parents - not just the other kids. Which is something I hadn't given much thought to - until today. I smiled at those boys and girls today while I wanted to knock the wind out of them... but really I was angry with their mothers. How can we make the world a better place if we are setting our kids up to be assholes? Sure, I am seemingly overreacting - it was just one instance. And I am a "new mom" and veteran moms will most likely scoff at this post. But it was a shitty instance and I hated it and I hated seeing Scarlett overlooked and I know it's going to happen a million more times. And I know it's not going to get any easier.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!!

Welp, Scarlett is 22 months now and we have hit the 'horror-screaming-tantrum-throwing-shit-fit phase'. I am not pleased. And apparently neither is Scarlett. She's a lunatic. It's that simple. She's a mini-maniac, no other explanation. I'm kidding (kind of) - she's still a dollie-face. But now that dollie-face has a wide hole where her sweet smile used to be and out of that hole comes a noise that is quite possibly inaudible to some animals. (I wish it were inaudible to me).

It crept up slowly - just over the past few weeks we noticed her temper becoming more and more ludicrous. She would fling herself to the ground and yell for a couple of seconds just to get her frustration out. That's fine, that's typical. But this past weekend she flung that same attitude on a breakneck escalator leaving Gregg and me speechless and knocking back Advil.

I assume it's a combination of factors that have collided at some crucial developmental peak moment to form this monstrous beastzilla. You know, her age, a growth spurt, the start of toilet training, the full moon, her distaste for macaroni and cheese, etc. Clearly a super-cell from hell. Toilet training seemed to be the starting gun for her alarming screaming fits. We started her on the toilet Friday night and she was fine... until she dropped anchor. Yeah, we were completely shocked too. She quickly went from relaxed to terrified. The next day same thing- sitting comfortably, 'reading' her books and then she peed and all hell broke loose. Since then she's refused to get anywhere near the toilet, screaming as if we were chopping her arms off - it is really unbelievable. We figured she isn't quite ready so we put that on the back burner. But now she is boycotting the bath tub. She normally LOVES baths. For two nights she's spewed blood-curdling screams while standing up repeatedly as I force her to sit back down. It's a battle of wills I am learning. She wants to control everything. Sorry, kid - that's MY m.o. If you wanna control something take over the finances for me will ya?

I have considered the possibility that she could be scared of being flushed down the toilet or sucked down the tub drain. However, this behavior shows up in "safer" areas and I know she isn't afraid of having her hands cleaned or waiting to get out of her highchair. But what can ya do? I keep telling myself every day comes to an end eventually.

Today she woke up way early and was - hmm, let's go with ill-natured. So I did what any loving mother would do, I gave her a long beaded necklace to play with. Sure, I was worried that it may break apart leaving seven thousand beads to be vacuumed up immediately before Scarlett digests them but I was willing to take that chance - and that thing has kept her occupied in so many creative ways today! Thank God for junk drawers...