Fit to be tied

I'm starting to wonder if the person who coined the title "Terrible Twos" was able to stick it out long enough to experience the "Horrible Almost Fours" (HAFs).  It is like some sort of terrible out-of-control monster has sunk its claws into our sweet little babyface and takes over her reins at the drop of a hat.  Lately, it seems like one minute she can be just fine, her perfectly adorable and reasonably polite self and then BAM! the lights start to flicker and the ominous music begins to play.  Next thing I know, I am in an all-out battle to keep my cool with this stomping, screaming, sobbing little HAF creature in front of me.

This evening at the store, I experienced the worst "episode" I've ever had with her/it.  I was standing in an aisle trying to find what I needed when Lilie asked me if she could have some of the candy that was displayed on the other side of the aisle (who puts candy in the soup aisle, I want to know).  I explained that we were not there for candy and would not be buying any today.

*flicker, flicker* She began to whine and beg.

I gave up on the soup I needed and began to quickly plan an exit strategy.  I started walking away with the cart, hoping she would follow and forget about the stinking candy.  She planted her feet firmly and the whining got louder and louder.  I turned back and instructed her to come with me.  Her reaction was to grab whatever she could from the shelf in front of her and act like she was going to throw it on the floor.

*DooDooDooDoo*

I tried to pick her up and put her in my cart to contain what I knew was coming.  However, I was no match for the whole "arch your back/ flail your legs/and attempt to rip off your mother's clothing" trick.  I put her back down and simply walked away.  (Don't call DCFS on me, I made sure she was never too far away). 

*DOOODOODOODOO*

I quickly maneuvered through the store followed by this tremendous shrieking, grabbing only one more essential item.  When she couldn't stop me/get my attention that way, she got in front of my shopping cart and tried to push me back while I attempted to get us to the checkout.  Clearly that didn't work out so well for her (although I have to say she put up a good fight) so she began reaching in the cart and pulling out items and flinging them onto the floor.  Mind you she was still screaming at the top of her lungs so we were attracting a lot of attention.  A couple of moms gave me encouraging smiles and one commented something about experiencing something similar with her child but I couldn't hear her.  Partly because I was trying not to cry from embarrassment, trying not to scream out of frustration, and partly because my daughter was so gosh-darn loud! 

I will spare you all the details of how the actual checkout went but we'll just say it was more of the same.  When we got out of the store and into the parking lot, I had to pick her up and put her in the cart for safety reasons and she purposely and defiantly HIT ME!  This was a first and - I'm hoping by the punishment I dished out - the last time she will hit.  I got her safely secured in her carseat and explained that when we got home, I would be putting all of her stuffed animals into a garbage bag and she would not play with them for a full day.  This clearly cut her to the core and was the worst possible punishment imaginable.  She pleaded for me to punish her some other way which was both heartbreaking but also strangely calming to know that I was regaining some control over the situation.

About 15 minutes later, all of her "friends" were put away in a big bag until they can be released in a couple days (she earned them another day in solitary by throwing her shoe).  When she eventually settled down, I sat down with her to talk.  She is pretty articulate and was able to tell me why she got so upset.  When I called her out on the hitting, I said, "I think the reason that you hit me is because you were feeling a lot of emotions bubbling up inside of you and you didn't know how to get them out, is that right?"  She looked at me with red, tear-stained cheeks and those big blue eyes and said, "Uh huh, I hit you because my lungs were trying to kill my emotions."  It's funny because I know what she means by that...mostly.

Heavy sigh.  It has been a rough night but we made up and got lots of snuggles in before she went to bed.  I feel confident in the parenting decision I made with the consequences I'm enforcing and hope this will head off - at least some - appearances of the HAFs for a little while.  Parenting is not always fun but it sure is worth it. 

Grandparents!

Lilie's Nana and Papa visited from Texas!  Lilie bounced up and down for about five minutes when I told her a few days before they arrived.

We picked her up from daycare and spent the next two very hot days hanging around the house and catching up.  Apparently Lilie was really looking forward to the fireworks on July 4th.  We were about ten minutes into the show when she gushed, "This is exactly how I wanted it to be!!"

Here are the photos:

Liliana grabbed the camera at one point.

...which explains some of the composition...

...and camera angles.

Pretty impressive self-pic, right?

We're thinking of giving her photography lessons, or a book, for her birthday ;)

She knows how to work with her subjects, though!

I'm sparing you - there were literally a dozen pics of Nemo.

And about that many pics of our living room. 

Loving on Papa.

It was indeed bright outside, but still...

...a pirate face *every time*?

We spent part of one day outside, believe it or not.

With shade, a sprinkler and popsicles, it wasn't that bad.

Liliana loved the water.

She shared it with the plants that weren't in range of her sprinkler toy.

Helping with breakfast...

The daily pattern: breakfast in back, afternoon in front.

Lilie wanted to prepare for the sprinkler.

Fireworks over Wentzville

Snuggled with her grandparents.

Papa let Lilie ride in "the big girls' seat" - from beside the mailbox to the driveway.

Post-visit coma

 Lilie did amazingly well with Nana and Papa's departure.  I was sure she would be a mess, but she took it in stride.  We had some lunch and then headed out on some errands.  Lilie insisted that Katie carry her at one point in Walmart.  The next thing we knew, she was asleep - during the middle of a shopping trip!  Try as we might to wake her, Lilie was all the way out for the next four hours!  You can tell she poured all of her energy into enjoying her grandparents while they were here.

Dad brought up some negatives from back in the day (okay, the 1970s and 1980s).  I had scanned a few family photographs once before; now I have five notebooks full of negatives to work with.  It's going to be interesting!  Here's an example - I'm on the left in this photo from a judo tournament in December 1981:

I'm looking forward to unearthing lots of family memories.

Thanks Nana and Papa!  We had a blast.

Brayden's Fourth

We headed up to Beach Park to celebrate cousin Brayden's fourth birthday.  He hosted a Pac-Man-themed party that really rocked out. 

Although the party truly rocked, our favorite memories include the chance to just chill with the Golwitzer family.  Here's how it looked:

Brayden's Aunt Jackie outdid herself!

Not only good-looking, but delicious too.

Katie's face-painting art, as modeled by Logan.

"Meow", says Emily.

Another tastefully-done cat face on Logan's sister, Piper.

Katie models a tastefully-done cat face.

...and Jason gets full-on Calvin-and-Hobbes tiger treatment.  Is this fair?

Lilie wanted a portrait of Brayden's pet dog Spike.

Beauty (on the left) and the Beast.

Lilie insisted that I add Spike's body to the portrait.

Lilie, Piper and Emily enjoyed some time in the trampoline.

Emily enjoyed getting her arms wet in the sprinkler with auntie Katie.

Photobombed by my own wife as Brayden's grandpa wonders about our family...

Strange... Lilie slept in the next morning.