I know why hamsters eat their babies...

Let me preface this by reminding ya'll that I love my boys. I really do. And as much as I have days when I'd like to send them to Siberia, I know my place right now is home with them. But lemme tell ya - today, I realized once more why hamsters eat their babies.

If ya get 'em while they're still small and cute, they don't stick around to make you TOTALLY INSANE!!

There must have been something in the water or the air or the atmosphere or the solar system. Something that got into their cute little heads and turned them into monsters.

Justin hit the terrible 2's in full force - - - and he has totally perfected the art of the tantrum. His favorite activity of the day was to climb on the dining room table and throw EVERYTHING off. I'd remove him and place him at the OPPOSITE end of the house, only to find him hauling his tush back down the hall, laughing all the way - and returning to the top of the table. But my favorite of the day? Chapstick art. Yup. Let's just say that I'll no longer start a load of laundry knowing my blessed Burt's Bees pomegranate lip blam is on the table... Still trying to figure out how to get that out of the nice couch...

Jake is too smart for his own good - I think we established that long ago. However, the smartness because a real issue when it turns into defiance. No parent likes to hear "NO!" from their child - but after today, I'd settle for something that simple! Jake couldn't just say the word - he had to demonstrate it in a number of ways. He'd cross his arms across his chest, harumph in the most dramatic fashion, and turn his back. He'd write N O in the air with his finger and go back to what he was doing. He'd stand rod-straight, draw a circle with a line through it (like a no-smoking sign) and shake his head. Or the best? A strong proclamation of "I WILL NOT PARTICIPATE!" It was almost 3 before I managed to get him out of his PJ's! I gave up trying to get him to put his Legos in the case when he started throwing them at me...

There are days when I feel like I'm not cut out to be a mom - that I'm dooming my kids to a lifetime of therapy. Sometimes I wish I was more like the uber-moms you see on TV or read about in books. I get sad when I feel so frustrated with the kids. But then I look at them... ...and I guess they don't seem to tasty after all.