Yep, that's us

You know those families in the restaurant who have the child that SCREAMS and CRIES while you are trying to enjoy you meal? Well, we're that family right now with Sarah. She has decided that the best way to get her way is to scream loudly and hysterically for it. No matter where we are. That means during the fireman's breakfast last weekend when she wasn't going to finish the last of her pancakes because she had been playing with those last 2 bites for 20 minutes but when we threw them out, all hell broke loose. Or in Culver's one night last week where she hadn't touched the last bit of her grilled cheese sandwich for quite a while, but acted like we were beating her up not just wrapping it up to bring it home with us. Lots of fun. Really it is. NOT!

It majorly stresses Nate and I out. We hate the stares (some sympathetic and some not so much) and the noise. It's embarassing.

At home, it's not such as issue because we give her a timeout for crying for no good reason or throwing a tantrum. She can get up when she stops. That works pretty well.

Nate and I also disagree about Sarah's use of the pacifier. I want her to only have it when sleeping or at the very worst in our home, but he would bring it along and give it to her whenever she is upset just to keep her quiet. I can sometimes see why that might make life easier and quieter, but... She speaks in 2+ word phrases and I don't think she should have it. It has always annoyed me when I see children in stores who talk through their paci. I don't want to be THAT PARENT. He says I am just worried what other people will think if they see my almost 2 year old with a pacifier in public. I am.

So, I am going to be taking out my copy of Happiest Toddler on the Block by Harvey Karp and giving it a second read. I think that mostly she doesn't know how to communicate what she wants and gets frustrated. Although she is very verbal for her age, she just doesn't have all those words yet and she can't get herself together enough when she's upset to stop and tell us what she wants. That, and I think she is a little bit like her dad in that she wants what she wants and she wants it NOW.

This is my payback for having an easy first child (and telling other moms that she way easy). Shelby can be a sassy smart aleck at times, but she has always been relatively easy. Sarah, not at all.

Anyway, wish me luck and send your motherly advice if you have any to give.

Also wish me luck on Monday when I take the girls to have their pictures taken for the first time since just after Sarah was born. I have been taking my own because I am always disappointed in the results, but have decided that it's time to give it another try.

This is Cinderella, I mean Shelby. She love, love, loves the movie and now has taken to dressing up and having us pretend to be the mean sisters (wicked step sisters) and wreck her dress so the fairy godmother can give her a new one. I tell ya, the imagination on this one just doesn't stop!
Here is the family (minus the picture taker) just after bath. They love to run out and have daddy wrap them up in blankets and towels while they wait for me to comb hair and put on lotion. I just love pictures of them all together!