Life has certainly become more exhausting now that Madison's older, 18 months to be exact. Tina and I spend most of our time saying things like "Don't touch!", "Don't eat that!", "You're gonna get an owie!', "Be nice to the dog!", "Where did you get that?", and "Calm down!" The ladder is usually said when Madison's now famous temper ignites. I know I've talked about that temper in the past, and it has grown just as much as she has. The big difference from the past to now is the mean faces we get right before explosion. For all of you Bruce Lee fans, find "Enter The Dragon". There's a scene when Bruce kills O'Hara via broken neck. When the scene cuts to Bruce's face and it looks like pain and anger all in one... that's the look we get from Madison.
I'll give an example of this multi-daily event.
"Madison, what is that?" Madison quickly shoves whatever it is she's not supposed to have into her mouth or tries to run with it. "Madison, Dont' EAT!" (or) "Drop It!!!"
We then catch her and remove the object from her mouth or hand. Now we've upset Madison, and she lets us know with this look (minus the nunchakus)...
She then runs and does a lot of naughty things, things she knows she's not supposed to do: runs to stand on her toddler sofa, slap the T.V. screen, touch the Christmas tree, etc. When we stop her from acting so foolishly, she then makes this kind of face...
This is followed by falling on the floor, kicking, screaming, and sometimes fists to the face. Sometimes you can tell she's going to throw herself to the ground, and you try to pick her up before she gets the chance. All that does is increase your chances of a slipped disc in your lower back from her flailing like a rabid piglet. I've learned that its safer for everyone to just let her fall, and my chiropracter agrees. Thankfully Madison has inherited her mother's short attention span, therefore after a minute or so, she forgets that she's angry and wants to play with you.
Oh, hey, have you ever tried to give a toddler antibiotics with a measured dropper? Pretty hard to do with one person isn't it? For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, I envy you. You see, as they get older, children's taste buds start to become more discriminating. By the time they're Madison's age, not only do they hate the taste of some of those medicines, but the sight of them turns a child into a screaming banshee! Tina and I work as tag team partners when trying to give Madison some medicine. It usually starts with me administering the liquid, while Tina holds on to Madison. Unfortunately, Tina's grip is not as tight as mine and Madison usually convulses until Tina has whiplash. At this point, Tina tags my hand and I take over with the child. Now, I've worked on my technique for a long time now, and I have a pretty good strategy. You need to take the child's arms and legs out of the equation, in addition to holding her head into place. That's why I use a combination sleeper/headlock. It keeps her still, and that's the most important part. Usually she's whining from being pinned down so we don't have to worry about her not opening her mouth. The good news is that soon she'll be able to take chewables. Until then though, its WWV, World Wrestling Villaloboses.
There's plenty of good to go with the...challenging, though. I'd like to talk about it, but right now I have to warm up and find my head gear...Madison needs tylenol from a dropper.
Merry Christmas and we'll see you in the new year!
