Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch ...

Despite all recent evidence to the contrary, we do in fact still remain in possession of that Very Small Human Female. She's just, you know, almost four years old -- so things have been kind of up and down and many different kinds of sideways lately. Exhausting, if you're her parent, but not especially exciting. (Although we do have that whole Disneyland thing to use for leverage, for now anyway. God help us all when that particular bribery-blackmail gambit no longer works, because at that point I will be officially Out Of Options.)

We had kind of a rough weekend. We apparently do not always have our Listening Ears engaged at all times, so there are occasionally Issues. And these particular Issues are not always resolved so much by positive reinforcement as they are kind of waited out, after all the yelling is over.

I hate being a Yelly Parent, but sometimes I just don't know what else to do. I know how hard she tries to be a good kid, and really she usually is absolutely wonderful, but we have Those Days, Those Terrible Horrible Big Bad Days, when being a good kid is just NOT on the agenda. On Saturday, in the car, I practically screamed myself hoarse because she Just.Wouldn't.Listen! and Just.Wouldn't.Leave.Things.Alone! and ... well, you all understand, I know you do. You're raising kids of your own, or you've raised your kids, and possibly one of those kids was me, so I know you know what I am talking about.

Definitely it was not my finest moment as a parent, and I know there will be days like this from time to time. Don't worry, I am plenty embarrassed about it, about the futility and stupidity of it all on my part. I apologized profusely to her, even though technically she was the one in the wrong, and she knows it. (Who's the Rules Lawyer now, huh?) We still fight over vegetables and bedtime and why it's just not appropriate to "go commando," even if you are only sitting at home watching Disney movies with your parents. Little girls need to wear underpants, parents need to make sure they do, fish need to swim, birds need to fly. Circle of life, and all that.

So in case you were wondering where my kid went: she's still here. We're all still here. We're getting older and smarter and more self-assured and more self-confident and boy howdy more stubborn by the day, but we're all still here. The Dudette abides.