I am a mean mom...

This past week and a half or so since Lizette has been sick has been rough on both of us. She has been throwing tantrums, which she rarely does. And I have been slightly short tempered due to a lack of sleep and being confined to our house so much.

I was very understanding of the tantrums the first several days because I knew she was miserable. However, when she got through the worst of the cold and seemed to be throwing tantrums just to get attention, my patience began to wear thin. I've been putting her in time out and getting on her case a lot more than normal.

I guess I didn't realize that she noticed the difference in my behavior just as much as I've noticed the difference in her's...

We went to the post office today. This was a pretty big outing for the three of us given that we've sort of been in lock down here lately. Plus, it's every mom's dream to take their infant and sick three year old to the post office. :) By the time we got back to the car, we were all ready to be done.

Once we were back in the car, Lizette started asking me about something and I didn't understand what she was talking about and probably wasn't listening as intently as I should have been. She got frustrated and started yelling at me. I then got frustrated and yelled back. This was her response:

"But Mom, I said a prayer last night that you would be nice today!"

Wow. Really? Has it been that bad? I could very well be a mean mom. However, I don't think that's all bad. She needs to know that I'm not going to put up with some things, right?

I remember telling my mom she was mean while we were driving down the road one day. I'll never forget that mistake. Her response was, "Mean, huh? I'll show you how mean I can be." As she pulled the car over. Don't get me wrong. There were no beatings involved. Just pure disappointment when I was disrespectful and discipline when it was needed.

I can only hope that by being mean now, I will have to be less mean when she is 16!