Sweetest Little Devil

When Aiden was born, the first weeks that followed left me wondering what we were in for, because it certainly seemed like I was unqualified. He was a bewildering creature that I was desperate to figure out. Then we got to know him, and life got easier. He could communicate a little, we developed a schedule, and he has been generally an easy going guy.

Then there are days like Tuesday, where I feel like I've been thrust back into those first weeks, feeling totally clueless as a parent. His last three teeth are all coming in at once, and it's been really hard for him, and in turn hard for me.

The day started out with him biting me so hard it nearly drew blood. This is a side effect of the teething, but still totally unacceptable, and it was one of those moments where I had to keep reminding myself that I'm the adult. I can deal with crying, messy diapers, and having someone cling to my leg, but being bit? Bit really hard? That's awful. Needless to say, it was a bad start to a bad day.

Then there was the awful scene of Aiden having an accident on the rug while I was trying to get his diaper on him. And, of course, mid accident he takes off running into the other room, leaving a horribly unsanitary trail behind him.

And then, while I was wrestling the chicken into the roasting pan before dinner, I turn to find him ripping up three packages of flash cards all over the rug. When he sees me coming to clean it up he starts ripping faster, and tossing the pieces with more vigor, as if he needed to get as much mess making in before I ruined it.

These incidents were just the creme filling in a day of screaming, tears and absolutely no nap taking.

When he was finally in bed I sat down, completely dazed by how strange and unpleasant the day had been. I was thinking back over everything that had happened, starting to wonder if this was a new phase, and what if tomorrow was like this again? The idea totally exhausted me.

Then I found this picture and it made me smile. It was taken over the weekend, when Sean was home, and everything seems much funnier and lighthearted when Sean's here. When I called him to tell him about the day it already started to feel like something I'd look back on and laugh. And luckily, he was an angel the next day.

Even though I know toddlers have bad days, they just seem much worse than everyone else's because, y'know, toddlers bite. So, next time you have a bad day at work be glad your boss and coworkers aren't teething.