Skip to main content

Terrible Twos

(People have been telling me that my blogs are a bit too edgy and negative for them, so I'm going to write about my daughter again. It's a happier topic)

So last week my wife and I went away and left my daughter with my father-in-law and his wife. We were worried about how she'd deal with being "on her own" but she did really well. I guess she was ready to start living on her own, and our trip away was her chance to play.
Trouble is, though, that while we came back ready to assume the role of parents, she continues to stubbornly cling to her independence. This wouldn't bother me too much if she would go out and get a job (let alone get dressed, fix her own meals and change her own "pishee"s and "poop"s), but she seems content to leech off of us while asserting her needs.

Apparently this is what is meant by "Terrible Twos", which is a total misnomer in this case because my daughter won't be two for another couple of months. Question are always answered with a reflexive "no", foods will inevitably end up on the floor and every attempt to go anywhere involves a spirited run around the house that usually ends with a screaming, whining child being shoved into a jacket, then a car and then a car seat.

This development is bad enough its own, but add to it my daughter's newfound appreciation for television. Yes, at first I though it'd be great. I figured, a few videos would be a wonderful way to keep her entertained while my wife and I needed to get things done around the house. But TV is a powerful drug, and it has quickly enticed my daughter into developing a full-blown addiction. No sooner than she wakes up, comes home from the babysitter or has a free moment to play is she asking for one of her videos.
Of course, her favorite video is a Barney video. And Barney is the biggest, purplest and most ANNOYING dinosaur you have ever seen. Why did I buy that video for her? What was I thinking? Hadn't my wife and I spoken about this? Hadn't we agreed? But it was on sale (damn you, Sam Walton!).
Yet things, could be worse. It could be a Teletubbies video (lo aleinu).

The silver lining, of course, is that my girl is growing up and one day soon (in the "Peace in the Middle East" sense) she will graduate from medical school, open up her own private practice and make enough money so that her mom and I can live off of her.
How's that for independence.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Don't listen to the people who are telling you you are too edgy. This is great reading - keep it coming!!
Anonymous said…
Just wait to you have another one and have to juggle two. You'll think that the terrible two was a breeze. Of course you know all this having spent time with the Greenstone clan:)
Deborah Langer said…
I really like your blogs. the edgier the better. if you can't get it out here...

Popular posts from this blog

Leaving Las Vegas

The title for this post is an analogy that says it all...   Much like Vegas, JDSs present their illusion as a reality, enticing people to risk their hard earned money on the promise that their bet will pay dividends. In reality, the house always wins and what happens at a JDS stays at the JDS.   It is for this final reason that I’ve decided to share this post.   Too often, when I share with people that I am leaving the JDS world they talk about how important my work is to the Jewish people and attempt to dissuade me from my decision. Unfortunately, many of these people have no idea what it means to be a day school educator. In this post, I will focus only on the financial aspect of being a JDS teacher… Last year I made $60K teaching six classes at a local JDS. Two of my children attended the school so, while I received the maximum financial aid allowed by the school’s bylaws (40%), about $25k went straight back to the school. In opting for the “subsidized” benefits offered by the schoo

More than me

It's the end of the week and I'm glad it's over. Being a teacher, parent and homeowner is stressful at times, so it's nice to not have to worry about one of those responsibilities for a little while. I haven't really written about my family at all since I've started this blog. I guess it's only fair to mention them every once in a while... My wife started working about a month ago. We realized that the single-income family thing wasn't exactly working for us so she applied and got a full-time job that started right after we got back from Israel. This changed a lot about our daily routine. For my wife, it meant rolling out of bed before 9 am and not having most of the day to take care of things around the house. As for me, I now pick up my daughter from the babysitter and watch her (alone!) for about an hour or so unitl mom gets home. I, of course, am supposed to be helping out more around the house to make things easier, but I've been a lazy ass thes

Try, try again

It's been a while since my last blog (the Israel trip) and, of course, a lot has happened since then. But it would take me too long to go back and recap the past month, so I'll just take it from the top. Israel expenses keep adding up: I was sick to my stomach for a lot of the time that I was in Israel. When I got back I went to see a GI and he ordered an endoscopy. Needless to say, these things aren't free. And since I got sick on the way to Israel, I decided to add it to the expense of the Israel trip (it's all the same back account, but mentally, it helps). Then came the credit card bills. Well, that was a bit of a shock. When it's on the card, you really don't feel it. Our most expensive days were those "second days" that we opted out of. Maybe G-d is punishing me for keeping only one day of Chag (or maybe I was just too irresponsible with my money). I just remind myself that spending money in Israel is a Mitzvah. Finally, despite trying to figure