Emma and I are clashing as of late. She is really pushing my buttons, and my patience is struggling. Today, for the first time ever, I think I might have spanked her had she not been sitting in a shopping cart. I am so glad she was, and I didn't, because that is not the type of parent I want to be. Getting to that point, however, has made me realize that I need to sort of regroup.

The problem is that ever since we took her binky away a couple weeks ago, she can't go to sleep. Naps are nonexistent now, and it's darn near impossible to get her to sleep at night as well. Understandable, I suppose, since she has never in her life had to fall asleep without nursing or using her binky. That is, until now. I'm so tempted to let her have her binky just for sleeping again, for my own sanity if nothing else. Perhaps having a preschool age kid who still uses a binky is better than having a ridiculously overtired, unpleasant little girl.

For her sake and for mine, I need to start tomorrow with a different outlook. I am going to forget about cleaning and laundry and the computer and whatever else and just concentrate on her. Maybe if we spend some good quality time together we can start to reconnect. For good measure, I think I'll also reread Playful Parenting.

So this post isn't a total downer, and because I haven't posted a picture of Noah in awhile, here is a picture of the kiddos.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a decent shot of these two? The vast majority of them look like this, mostly because Noah can't seem to go ten seconds without pulling someone's hair.