On parenting

Let me begin by thanking all of you for your happy birthday emails. I really appreciated them and you all make me feel very loved.

I had a rough end to the week. Tommy is having more and more fits and in return I'm losing my temper (exactly what you're not supposed to do, of course, since that is essentially me responding to his fits with fits of my own and how is that supposed to teach him not to have them?). Anyway, after a lot of reflection, I've determined that parenting failures (which is what this feels like) feel so horrible because they are so personal. It feels like my fault when Tommy won't share, or when he won't let Angus get on the see-saw with him (yes, you read that right), or when Julie has to walk home separately from us because Tommy has made Angus cry. Yesterday, I went to the bookstore and bought a book called "Four Weeks to a Better Behaved Child." I have not read it yet, but I feel better having it.

But my birthday evening was nice. Eli made a delicious dinner and bought a delicious cake and I had TWO glasses of wine and it was nice.

I wish all the mothers reading my blog a happy day today!