To be accurate, my daughter was actually in her 3rd year of life when the “terrible two’s” hit.  These fits of rage would send her sprawling to the floor, wailing like a howler monkey after a 6 pack of Red Bull.   During these inconsolable fits of rage I would take extremely deep breaths and on really bad days, lock myself in the bathroom for 5 minutes to talk myself down and regain some sanity.  To quote Frank Costanza “Serenity now!!!”

Flash forward 9 years and I now live with a 12-year-old child in middle school.  Gone are the pig tails and princess dresses.  I now live in a world consisting of flat irons. high lights, eyeliner (this is a new one, still adjusting to this one!), acne cream, braces and possibly even more drama than we experienced 9 years ago.  You might say “well, at least she isn’t rolling around on the floor like when she was 3!” but, alas, you would be wrong.  Some days she still ends up on the floor while I continue to take deep breaths, but now she’s the one who locks herself in the bathroom to cool down.

Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t a daily occurrence and I guess that’s the point.  As hard as those days of the “terrible two’s” were sometimes, I still miss my little girl in her princess dresses and bouncy pig tails running around the house sucking on her fingers and giggling.  And just as I miss my bouncy little girl, I too shall miss my sometimes moody, but generally quirky and energetic middle schooler when these years too have passed.

I am painfully aware of how fast the time is moving, how quickly my children are growing and changing.  I am also thankful that God only gives us one day at a time to deal with whatever that day has to offer.  I think motherhood above anything else in life has taught me patience and the ability to focus on the good in my children while trying to overcome the less appealing character flaws (although I’m not quite Mother Theresa yet!).  After all, I ain’t perfect by any means, so if I’m still a work in progress in my late twenties (ahem…..) I suppose that means we all are!