Sweet Innocence...

My mother once said that there would be days like this... I never believed her until today...

It all started with a trip to the Mesa Public Library. Innocent enough. What should have been a sweet trip through education alley turned out to be just the opposite... a bitter journey through terrible two tantrums! Okay, so it did make me laugh.

We enter the library... choose our books... check out our books and all is going very well. (I only have four children with me for Nick is at gymnastics.) Then I decide that we should grab some books-on-tape for our trip to San Jose this weekend. Ben and Zach agree.

We re-enter the library (BIG MISTAKE) and Emma decides that she doesn't want the books that are in her bag. She begins winging them out onto the floor shouting, "I don't want these books!" I calmly say, "Okay." Then she struts around with the bag and finally tosses that to the ground too. I again say, "That's okay." I immediately reach down to pick up the bag and put the books back in when she starts shouting, "I want my bag. Don't touch my bag!" I calmly ignore her and continue as quickly as possible to get the books in the bag and GET OUT OF THE LIBRARY. I could feel that something was coming...

The spitting began. At first little droplets; soon raspberries and spews of spit; finally full on lugies! She KNOWS that spitting is not done in our home. Well, she knows that spitting "gets Mom's goat!" :)

BUT... I really was calm and she wasn't getting through to me. So, what is the next level after spitting? For a sweet innocent little girl of two-years old, wearing a sundress with turquoise undies... you guessed it! Right there, in the public library she begins shouting, "I'm going to take my dress off." I was still calm and when I heard her squeamish voice I just started laughing my head off - thinking to myself "this really isn't happening." "She won't do it."

Still thinking, "What would my calm husband do in a situation like this?" I was being so calm up to this point and I was very proud of myself. But then I just lost it and couldn't stop laughing. I had tears flowing and then I heard Zach say, "Mom, Mom, you need to come stop Emma quick!"

Of course I did get to her but was laughing so hard that I just couldn't get the dress back on as quickly as I thought I could. It did go on - backwards. I picked her up and she began shouting, "Put me down!"

So, we spent the rest of our lovely library experience with sweet little innocent Emma in my arms, pulling hair, scratching, hitting and spitting all the way to the car. What an adventure. If twos are terrible, what are threes?...