Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Jule-Zilla

Holy Terrible Twos. It's here. In the flesh. Meet "Jule-Zilla". As Julianna approached 2 years old a month ago, her temperament was still pretty even tempered and mellow, just like it has been her entire life so far. Everyone kept telling me and warning, "Just wait, it's coming. Terrible two's". 

I ignored the 'warning' as I often do since I KNEW my child would NEVER turn into that horrible beastly creature that we have all seen in the store or restaurant and said to ourselves, "That will never be my kid!"  {Hysterical laughing here.  You can laugh too!}

WELL. Enter Age 2. I couldn't have been more wrong. It's here. It's here with a vengeance and it's kicking ass and taking names. "IT" is Jule-Zilla. Evil spawn. Once she starts getting wound up, watch out. Her eyes start spinning and she breathes fire - and can take out small towns with her wrath! 

I blamed it on a molar coming in last week but now we don't see what we thought was a molar last week, so who knows. It still may be she has one coming in, but I can't blame the last 20 tantrums on that silly tooth. 

She can go from zero to sixty in 2 seconds. She can be calm & playing happily one minute... and the littlest thing sets her off, like for instance, me trying to put her socks on. Or the dog sticks her snoot in Julianna's cup. Or her chair is not way she likes it. Or I breathe.  

Some observations of the Terrible Two Tantrums
  • I know the tantrums, kicking & screaming like a demon pass quickly {so far} and are often short lived. 
  • Once it's over, she goes back to being her normal self and I get a "Hi Mommy" with a big smile. (Really? "Hi Mommy"??? and your smiling? When 2 minutes ago you couldn't breathe from screaming so loud and you had smoke coming out of your ears while Mommy wanted to dig a hole and hide from you?!) 
  • This all will stop at some point. I have heard age 3 gets better. At least that's the rumor. 
  • Luckily God made Julianna so cute and adorable that all is forgiven & forgotten the minute she smiles at me or is back to her normal self. Her smile melts me and makes all the bad go away. 
  • My husband and I have gotten pretty good at ignoring the tantrums and waiting for it to end. I really focus on "my special calm place" when she is melting down. My husband says Julianna feels my anxiety and it makes it worse. Who knows. If you go near her, she screams louder and flails harder. So we back off, and wait it out. It ends. It's part of being a toddler & I totally get it. It's going to happen and you can't prevent it. 
  • We can tell when a tantrum is about to break loose. Right before IT happens, Julianna gives off signals like a quick growl and flail of the arms at you. Or a screech and turns away and whines to herself. Or this noise that sounds like something erupting from a volcano - and her top is about to blow. Yup. Those are the telltale signs. We step away abruptly from the child and lt her calm down, until the happy comes back to her.   
  • When she is melting down, I want to run far away screaming and never look back. 
  • When Julianna has an extra long tantrum, I can't help but ask myself "Why did I want kids????" but DON'T tell me that you don't say the same thing! Come on- for that split second in time, you question why you did this! But then the minute the rationale comes back to your thinking, you go back to loving this little thing that is making your hair stand up. It's called being a parent. 
  • Being a parent is not all golden memories, rainbows & unicorns. You take the few bad times with the incredible happy times, and it is still the best thing my husband and I ever decided to do. We both love being parents and wouldn't trade it for anything. Not even a million bucks.
  • The worst part of tantrums is when they don't happen at home or somewhere loud where no one else notices (like in a park full of kids). For instance last week when I posted HERE about Julianna melting down in Shoprite as I continued to shop like nothing was wrong, with this screaming thing in my cart. Them's the breaks. But, if it happens when we are out to dinner, which happened once so far, either myself or Brian will bring her outside until she calms down, which usually happens fast. Then we go back in, and everything is back to normal. 
  • Jule-Zilla is much louder and her claws come out much much faster when she is hungry or tired - of course. So if its nap time, close to bedtime or food time... and she gets pissed. LOOK OUT. Jule-zilla comes out in super rare form. As in 'Fire breathing dragon' rare. 
  • Sometimes, even though you get the signs a tantrum is coming, there is nothing you can do. You have to just roll with it. 

"Nooooo... I don't want to wear my swimmies, Daddy!!"



It does get to me sometimes - I feel like I'm on the edge and it's hard to not let it affect me. Most times I can ignore it and move on. Well - This past Sunday, I was in Kohls, and I Julianna did NOT want to be in the Kohls cart (Normally she loves that cart!). She was screaming to get out. Fine, I got her out. Then she's pushing the cart into the old lady with the cane, then into the rack of clothes, then running over my foot. Ugh! Then climbing up the side of cart to get back in almost breaking a leg in the process - screaming b/c she is stuck but then screaming when I try to help her. Oh man. Then she is whining the whole time, fake crying, trying to get in and out of the cart. Kill me now.

All I want is a few minutes to look for a pair of shorts. Please just give me 5 minutes without Jule-zilla?! Nope. AND as if I am not having enough anxiety already, I had 2 bitchy 20 year olds making snotty bitchy comments about my whiny child. I had to hold back with every ounce of energy from not telling them off in the middle of the store and punching them both out. So instead, I went in the Kohls dressing room and cried in the corner... It's official, my child had defeated me. Maybe I am going nuts? No, maybe just Mommy meltdown. I guess we have to be allowed too. It does take it's toll some days. 


The upside.
I could stare forever at her peaceful little beautiful face while she sleeps. 
All is forgiven & forgotten at that point. I love this girl more than life itself, even though she is the evil spawn.  All of you moms get it, right?? Been there done that? 


Happy July 4th & Have a great day!



10 comments:

  1. We're right there with you! Marshall is only 20 months and has already started the kicking and screaming tantrums. They usually occur when we take something away from him or he doesn't get his way. I hope that because they started before 2 with him that they'll end sooner. We haven't had the tantrum in the store yet but I know it's coming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We might have been spoiled with J, she was pretty good before she turned 2 lol - I guess we're making up for it now - haha! Marshall always looks so sweet and cute in his pictures, I can't imagine him acting up :) good luck - maybe like you said, earlier to start, earlier to end -crossing fingers!! Ha! Have a great day!

      Delete
  2. LOL I was laughing reading this. And I laugh when people give you stares as if THEIR kid never did that. PLEASE PEOPLE, you have been there before to. Mine is not with Brooke but with Lian 4, UGH. I just ignore the behavior. Welcome to FUN parenting. It gets easier in some areas then it will be something else. LIKE the TEEN YEARS :)Some days I think ONE more year then he will be an adult, then I think yes One more year then he can leave :( It goes quickly just enjoy it all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jen - Yes, the 'stare' .... I had someone say something really loud about Julianna whining at dinner one night (in a very kid friendly place) - some lady made a snotty comment about how her child never did that. Oh ok, so let me get this right lady, your angel of a child never cried, whined, yelled or screamed? Yeah ok - selective memory at it's best! I was hoping she got heartburn from dinner LOL. For whatever reason that stuff irritates me. All moms should sympathize b/c we've all been there. ANd in Julianna's defense, we were late to go out to eat and she was so hungry, so I can't blame her for being cranky.... and she was fine once the bread was brought to the table.
      Yeah funny b/c when you are up at 3am feeding your newborn baby, there is nothing else you think about in the world than being able to get the child to sleep through the night- like thats the worst thing you're going to go through. NOT. It's different stages of bad stuff to go through. You're right! This will subside one day... and then something else will be happening that is bad. LOL. Cycles.
      Havea great day!

      Delete
  3. Lol...Oh I SO get it mama! HAhaaa... this all made me giggle just a bit cause my little sweet angel Jaxy was also never going to go through "that" stage. Was I wrong-O.... heck yes I was. Jax-villa was born. The sweet joys of having kiddos, huh?! Good thing they are so dang cute, & we love them more than life itself, because... WOW! Lol


    I can maybe give you one little bit of happy advice Jax is 3 1/2 now... & he rarely through s "the fit" anymore. So it will all get better girl. Baby steps!

    Loved this post, btw) xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah … LOL I guess we all think that’s "never" going to happen to us. And we are all wrong! Haha! Funny b/c the past 2 days she's been a perfect little model of a child with an angel halo over her head. She even hugs me. WTH?! I'll take it while I can get it. We're going on vacation soon, doing a lot of fun things I think she'll like (pool, ocean, boardwalk, etc)…. So Maybe this 'good behavior' will carry over to then. Maybe not. LOL. It's good to hear t gets better! I like that advice! Have a great day! Glad you loved the post :)

      Delete
  4. I get it, been there done that, though I haven't had to hide in a dressing room crying YET. We did have a love/hate relationship just this past Sunday at Kohl's, luckily Chad was with me and I just basically ignored her. As for those young girls.....you totally should have punched them!!! Hmmm, maybe a short stay in jail would actually be a welcome getaway for you! ;) Sunday at lunch, Kylie had her first really bad meltdown in a restaurant. At that point I was refusing to take her out because that's what she wanted. I whispered quietly to her that if she didn't stop i was going to spank her right there, she seriously looked all around, saw no one was paying attention to her and then pretty much stopped. In my defense, she has only been "spanked" a few times and it involves a light tap over a diapered butt, no way that it hurts her, but it works and we've only done it for really serious things, like throwing blocks at my face! My brother has a grandbaby that turned 3 in May and he claims that the 3's are worse than the 2's.... :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It must be the Kohls store that brings it out in the kids LOL! Yeah - the restaurants don't seem to be too bad b/c at least you can stuff them with food to get their attention diverted - at least that works for us - french fries are always good to get rid of the beast LOL.
      I have had to smack Julianna on the hand a couple times - for something she really needed to know was wrong. But then I felt so guilty after that I honestly don't know if I could do it again - It makes me feel so horrible. But I do know sometimes, it is needed. Obviously you are not trying to hurt them, just put them in stun mode haha. I know thats a topic for another day - and so many opinions LOL.
      So 3 is worse- terrific. Can't wait. Maybe I should just run away now! haha! I hear Northern Canada is nice this time of year...

      Delete
  5. I don't mean to laugh at your misery, but girl you are too funny! I know exactly what you mean and seriously sometimes I just have to laugh at myself! It really does help! Livvy has her little tantrums too but so far they haven't lasted too long, so that's good! Yeah, I swear that God made them cute for a reason. He's so smart!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All you can do is laugh – b/c everyone can relate at some point haha! I like to laugh after it happens but I can never find the humor while its actually happening LOL! I go lucky, she did not start this behavior until the clock turned to her 2nd birthday! Maybe this will not last too long – maybe a year (yeah right!) - but funny b/c the last few days, she has been a golden angel and actually hunting me and she only wants me. Those are the things that make it ALL worth it and all is forgiven :) Have a fabulous weekend!

      Delete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...