Parenting 101

I wanted my kids to be people that I would enjoy being with. I have a lot of great parenting ideas and I will be writing about them from time to time. But one of my favorite stories comes from a day when I almost lost my mind.

I had three semi perfect kids. They slept, they ate, they played and they were calm and behaved well. Then came Sassy Lou. Daughter #4.

She was a giant even before she was born. She used to hold things over her head when she wanted to keep something away from us, when she was 2, she just knew was going to be big. I felt like my stomach was filled with baby from my chin to my knees. When she was born the doctor said " Wow we have a 10 pounder here" She was dense, heavier than she actually weighed. She was only 8 lbs 11 1/2 oz and 21 1/2 inches. In those days they wanted you out of the hospital as quick as possible. I was home before she was 24 hours old. But she was fourth and I was anxious to be in my own home with my kids and my own bathroom. So home I went.

She was a difficult kid from day one. She never slept and she was so big she ate all the time.

Skip forward about 2 years. I am in the kitchen and I hear this weird noise. Pop, zip, pop, zip, pop, zip and I dont see her anywhere in sight. So I find her in the den with a butter knife... popping holes in the screen door and then slicing down the screen. Pop... zip. So I take the butter knife away and I stand in disbelief as I try to figure out how I am going to fix this. Suddenly I hear another noise and I realize she is gone again. So I race into the kitchen and there she is with a steak knife now sawing the head off a Kermit the Frog pez dispenser. I cant remember if this was also the day she cut up my jeans because I had cut hers when she was a pirate for Halloween. Or the day I found a pile of fur in the living room and I thought we had a mouse but it was really her hair, her blonde curl that she had cut, right out of the center of her forehead.

Those blonde curls were the only thing that saved her life on most days. That and the 2 hours she slept now and then. The stories of Sassy Lou are endless and I will spend more time on them next time.

Parenting 101... just when you think you are a great parent you realize that genetics plays an important role and that sometimes you just maybe got a little lucky.