losing your temper with your toddler

This feels like a confessional diary entry: Dear Diary, I lost it with my toddler today. Here’s to hoping tomorrow’s better! My little SuperBoy is as perfect as they come: he’s patient, sweet, listens well, plays well, and has never been nasty to his 8 week old baby sister. But even the perfect do fail, right? Or rather, behave like normal 23 month olds. I am far from a perfect mother. And having two children seems to have exacerbated my imperfections. Whereas with one child you can kind of always keep your cool, and respond to their needs in a calm and rational fashion, even when the needs involve irrational behavior, with two this task becomes impossible on occasion and difficult on a regular basis. 1) Case study. I’ve just gotten the babe to sleep happily in the sling while doing housework, and SuperBoy awakens from his nap full-bore and letting the world (and neighborhood) know that he’s AWAKE and wants out of his bedroom NOW. I traipse upstairs with SweetPea on my chest and approach SuperBoy’s room. I let him know I hear him, but that I need to put his sister down before getting him up and changing his diaper. He doesn’t like this and cries even harder. So I take her out of the wrap, lay her on the floor bed we have in his room, and go to his crib (yes, he’s still imprisoned in a crib) and talk to him. Reasoning doesn’t abate the tears,…