I've found a mom I really like. She doesn't know I exist, but she blogs and I like her blogs so I follow them. I love the one from today.It reminds me of many days with Rachael. Yesterday was a good day.. Relatively. I picked her up, and she was all smiles, and she even spoke in front of Ms. Aftab. Maybe Aftab is better than Shenaz. She seems to have more patience with Rachael. I do like her better. Anyways, after school, we went to church like I promised her. And she actually had 3 treats - a cupcake from Deerfield bakery which apparently is supposed to be really good, but which I find exorbitantly expensive - 75c for a tiny mini it's bitsy 1 bite cupcake. Wow! Then she got a chance to play at the park while I did my business with the church admin and then finally she got to play on her new slide. Okay second hand, freecycle slide.. but a slide of her own nonetheless. Of course it didn't translate into a calm wonderful princess for the night. Instead she had 2 tantrums.. my own recourse during a tantrum is to let her have it out. I have found that I have the ability to completely ignore that she is crying and thrashing about on the floor and go about my own way. Tantrums last about 5 minutes and then she's calm. My own view is that she needs to get her crabbiness and frustations of the world out, and if 5 minutes screaming and ranting helps then she can have it. I know there are days when I want to do it myself. On the other hand a sure way to prolong a tantrum is to talk to her during it to calm her down. All it seems to do is worsen the tantrum and prolong it. Nana ofcourse ALWAYS tries to talk her out of it, always fails, always gets frustated and then tells me she can't handle my stubborn children, which is really really funny. I have to admit that when a tantrum takes place out in the open I have no clue what I would do. Maybe Lawrence will be a wonderful boy and never have a tantrum. I often wonder what his personality will be like. Will he follow in his sisters footsteps. Right now he's really low maintainence. I wonder if that's true of second children. My ma always said I was happy just being fed. I wonder if second children are just more easy going, because well mommy just hasn't the time or the energy to deal with a high maintenance second child after finishing with the first one. The down side is that Lawrence doesn't get 1/2 as many cuddles, or talking time as Rachael. I try. I really do. And at night when I feed him I hold him close to me, trying to make up for the minimal attention he gets in the day. As June 21st draws near and nana leave I wonder how I will survive. I hope my children grow up knowing that I love them incredibly. Which brings me to another thought. I wonder what will happen as they grow up and go their own separate ways. I know Tom loves Cathy huge amounts but he barely talks to her once a month. Will Lawrence be like that. Will Rachael love me like I do my ma but be involved in her own life. It's very very eye opening - having children.