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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Independent four

I was chatting with the daycare teacher this morning and was told that Lauren is very good at dressing herself, and that she's usually the first to get herself ready to go outdoors to play, and she has good manners (asking to be excused after lunch) and is overall very independent. Then said that  Lauren must be like this at home too.

My jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"No." Was my first response. "But I'm really glad to hear that she's doing so well here!"

C and I have been finding this year to be particularly challenging. We've seen all the symptoms of the "f***ing fours" and can't wait for this marvelous time to pass. There has been a whole lot of whining, crying, screaming, selfishness, sassiness, moodiness, impatience, you name it.

The fours came as a bit of a shock after such a pleasant year with three. But it's not just us that are experiencing sour behaviour. A few weeks ago I was talking with some other parents from daycare and a mom described her child's sass. Then another parent chimed in about "the terrible twos, tiresome threes and f***ing fours". "Oh yeah!!" We all said in unison nodding our heads knowingly.

I won't go into detail about all the annoying experiences we've had this year, but I will mention that getting ready to leave the house in the morning is not my favourite part of the day. However Lauren manages to get herself dressed at daycare seems to go by the wayside at home.

Ah well. C and I take it in turn to blow a fuse on any given day, but we need to remind ourselves that blowing up is not an appropriate response, and we keep telling ourselves to be patient. It's hard. Really really hard some days.

The chat with Lauren's teacher was definitely encouraging and something to keep in mind next time we feel like we're going to blow. "Independent four" is what I'll tell myself. After all, there have been a lot of fun and funny and sweet moments this year too.

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