The Long and Short of It

As I was sitting on the couch tonight thinking back on some of Amelia's antics from the day, I came across a great quote about parenting that made me reassess my views. The quote was "the days are long, but the years are short". Now, this is probably a famous quote that everyone but me has heard. For all I know, it is on coffee mugs, t-shirts, and minivan bumper stickers around the globe. That said, tonight was the first time I had heard it and I actually sort of needed it. I hate saying that because I feel like I am bashing my daughter. Trust me, I'm not. She's awesome. She's my favorite human on this planet. However, for the last 2 months or so, she has decided to continually test all boundaries and I'm pretty sure if we crack, she'll use that leverage to take over the house. So, yes, I'm viewing this like the hierarchy of the mafia. If I don't rule with an iron fist, either Amelia or Sophie will take over the family.

A good example of this from tonight was when she kicked at me and I asked her not to kick me or else I would have to put her in Time Out. I walked a few steps away to give her ample opportunity to do the right thing. Unfortunately, in her opinion, the "right thing" was to walk up next to me and kick me in the leg...now, I'd say maybe I was being hypersensitive and she wasn't really trying to kick me...other than the fact that she is still uncoordinated so it took her 4 tries to actually land the kick...off to Time Out we went ...Yep, an iron fist.

So, when I say I needed that quote tonight what I mean is it just reminded me to really savor every moment with Amelia no matter how she is acting. Yeah, she actually stood up and spit over the back of the booth unbeknownst to the people sitting there the other day ...that's okay, the years are short. Sure, she took her fork and scratched our new dining room table ...no problem, the years are short after all. Of course, the inside of the door on our 1 year old car is now colored all the colors of the rainbow... who cares?, the years are short....right? Hmmm, maybe that quote isn't so great after all.