Two Year Olds

I was doing some rush cleaning yesterday for a meeting my husband was hosting in the evening. As I whirled through the main floor of our three-level house, I kept tripping over my 9 month old (who hates vacuum cleaners) and my 2-year-old (who can't get enough of them and loves showing them to her sister). I thought as many happy thoughts as I could, but I ran out of them pretty quickly, so I started analyzing my oldest daughter.

She is a study in Jekyll and Hyde. Seriously. We'll be happily scrubbing the bathroom down together singing some Mary Poppins tune at the top of our lungs one minute. The next, she's lying face down in my bed with all my covers over her, crying at the top of her lungs. She won't speak to me or even look at me. If she says something, it's all gibberish. The only way I've successfully distracted her from these tantrums is by talking about waffles. She has the same penchant for waffles as I do. :)

For the record, she does a REALLY good job of scrubbing the toilet. The key is to take the brush away from her before she gets bored. Otherwise, she decides it's time to make mashed toilet paper in there, and you can imagine what that looks like in the toilet and on the floor.

I love her, I really do, but sometimes she drives me nuts. I'll ask her to do something, and she'll take her happy time doing it. I think the military was bad for me when it comes to that whole "instant obedience to orders" thing. That doesn't go over too well with two-year-old kids, I guess. I think it's my fault she dilly dallies, though. Sometimes she'll ask me for something very nicely (that is, she says "please"), and I'll get up to get it for her and get side railed by a few small things that leads to my own dilly dallying. I've got to work on that!!!

Something that fascinates me is how well she understands Spanish. I very rarely speak to her in Spanish. In fact, I only do it when I am frustrated with her and want her to do something now. So imagine my surprise when she seemingly understood everything at the bilingual story time at the library this morning: colors, shapes, alphabet, simple movements, etc. Amazing.

...There were a couple of other interesting points about my two-year-old, but I can't remember them now.

What is interesting is this whole czar business in the government. Last time I checked, we were a democratic republic who fought a civil war for states' rights. WHY is the government getting into everything? Has nobody noticed that the higher up authority goes, the more red tape is used to fasten everything? Why isn't there an outcry on this?

I am not particularly fond of our leadership right now...not because of their political party or their color or even their past decisions. I'm frustrated about their decision making processes. Does anyone really think that bailing out companies who have been dying since the 70s is a good idea? If so, why? Capitalism=survival of the fittest. It's a great system because it forces companies to create products that are worth buying. There's a preference for foreign-made items because of their quality.

Can you imagine how much greener the US would be (regarding money and the environment) if GM, Ford, and the other American vehicle companies had been left on their own to develop good cars???

That's about as far as my musings took me before it was time to start making dinner. I know I could rant more effectively if I had my husband here to conduct a same-sided debate with! Hope your musings get you through your rough spots in the day!

Domestic Goddess out.