Temper tantrums, a tooth and banana cake

What I didn't mention in my previous post that all the while I was driving big trucks (ok, small trucks) across Glasgow, I was in agony with toothache. I'm one known for ignoring it but this one, well, there was no ignoring it, even with pain killers. So the following day when I had reached the point of almost starting to scream while at work, I reluctantly got myself to the dentist.

It was neither a pleasant nor interesting visit, but it threw all my work plans haywire, so close to the finishing line with two projects, where I need every available minute, instead I leave the office yet again without having had a chance to have lunch but most importantly I lost a full afternoon because of one useless wisdom tooth that is now no longer with my jaw.

And today, every attempt to catch up on my work was thwarted by a temper tantrum. I thought they'd only happen once the second year is rung in but oh no. I might have had the calmest baby ever but she sure has decided she'll have it her way in toddlerhood.

Funny how things go, my spirited first born never had a single tantrum and we fully expected a very hard ride. In fact at 2 she was the sweetest thing you'd ever met. Snowflake so far has been so easy going that I was sure we'd be the one family that may never experience a temper tantrum. Well, what are kids for but to prove your theories wrong.

It was hard work, me feeling under the weather after yesterday's extraction (or whatever else was up with me) and a 17 month old who doesn't speak, and is getting rather frustrated if she can't have things exactly her way. If Cubling holds an item, she's gotta have it. If she sees food, she's gotta have it (waiting for it to cool? No way jose!), mummy leaving the room to pick something up? Oh no, only if you take me along and carry my full 11kg. And then there are the 379 instances a day where she wants something but totally fails to communicate what this is, instead flings her head back and her body into an arch to start yet another temper tantrum where nothing I offer is good enough. I'm getting quite good at the head-fling-catch which is just as well as she might otherwise actually seriously hurt herself.

Next I'm being told off by almost 5 year old for being cross with her little sister. Correction: I'm not cross, just calmly and firmly explaining why the backwards head throw is not a good idea and doesn't exactly bring her closer to what she wants. Ok, I may have raised my voice when she had the carving knife in her hand but I think that's fair enough.

It's good to have my parenting controlled by Cubling though, keeps me on a straight line. I'm surprised though that she's still so supportive of her little sister, seeing that she's constantly trying to snatch things out of Cubling's hands.

So today is filed under I'm so very glad it's over.
On the plus side, there was a successful trip to a garden centre, two blueberry plants were transferred into their permanent places, and a banana cake was baked. Cubling surprised me again with fabulous pretend play ideas and told me how very much she loves me (which is really and truly unusual, and I'm still totally on a high from that one). I could just pretend all went swimmingly and look how yummy the cake has turned out to be. But that wouldn't quite be me now, would it.