Who needs adrenal problems when you've got kids?

The toddler has decided that 6am is the best time to seize the day. This is a big change from her usual 7:45-8 am wake-up call.

So while 6am is not particularly early, it is if you haven't seen it in a long while. I've been visiting for about two weeks now and I'm ready to go home already.

Add in a regular rotation of 4 am crying because a lovey can't be found and blech.

So it's all catching up to me now and I'm a little tired (complete with headache), plus miffed about it, since, if we were sleeping like usual, I would be feeling great.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

We've tried a couple different approaches to try and get her to sleep longer*, but no dice. Apparently, I will be spending my summer rising (and setting) with the sun.

The big toddler news is....she's alternating legs going up stairs!!!!! HUGE improvement.

Now we have to get her alternating on the way down. But finally some good progress after a year of PT. I can tell she's getting stronger because she's not leaning on me as hard when I help her on the steps.

The sad terrible no good news is the toddler told me the other day "I don't have any friends and no one likes me because I'm mean." That's pretty much verbatim what she said.

Well, I don't know about you and your kids (if you have kids), but that kind of statement was not what I was going for when I sent her to preschool. So glad we (and my parents) could pay all that money to completely destroy my kid's self-esteem.

Where is the parenting manual for this one? If you've got it, can I borrow it? Because I am at a loss.

I can not imagine how she must feel about herself to be able to articulate something like that. It's just heart breaking. It makes me want to never send her out in the world ever again.

She is not a mean girl. She is a perfectly normal, lovely three year old. I see her in action enough to know this is true.

I've been telling her that she is not mean, she's little and still learning and we all make mistakes. I tell her those kids saying that crap to her are wrong and she should not believe what they say about her.

And then I sit on my hands and bite my tongue because momma bear? Wants to rampage.

We are definitely not sending her back to that toxic pit they call a preschool next year. I may actually keep her home just so I can be sure her social interactions are positive for a while.

These early years are so formative and it concerns me deeply to see her having such a terrible first experience with school. I hope the damage is not something that will follow her through life.


*Of course we bring her into bed with us, that's like Parenting 101, but she fidgets constantly and I end up with toddler toes in my butt crack. Cold toddler toes. Yes, I wear underwear and pants even, but it's like there's a magnet in my butt crack.

You try sleeping with wiggling toes up your butt and let me know how it oworks out.