Whine Phase

Before Hope, I used to give moms with whiny kids the evil eye, assuming that the moms just couldn't control their kid's whine. I apologize to all moms that I gave the evil eye to; I was sooo ignorant.

Hope has now come into el whine-o phase. She must have at least two 2-hour whine phases daily which end in a full blown temper tantrum, just to get mom or dad's back hair to rise taller than the Washington Monument. We have had moments of temptation, where we want to find the duct tape and gently place it over her beautiful lips. We haven't...yet.

Please pray we won't.

To those who have perfect kids that don't whine, we have indeed tried various "parenting" techniques that will help Hope to grow out of this very ungodly phase of life. We've tried: ignoring, getting eye to eye and trying to help Hope explain her "feelings", putting her in Time Out, placing her in her room to calm down. We haven't smacked her upside her head yet, but let me tell you that the temptation is great!!! It just seems that her whine must run its course, and she will come out refreshed and ready to be her happy self. This phase has run its course in the clothing section of Wal-Mart. A lady gave me the evil eye, and I gave it back to her. Hope just decided to start her whine/tantrum to see how many moms would look at her.

Another time, she did her whine/tantrum thing in the middle of the magazine rack of East Library. Moms were gathering their little ones, telling them that that little Chinese girl in the magazine area was NOT the way to behave in a quiet library. Hope proceeded to scream for a good 10 minutes before I took her home. She screamed another hour at home before she decided that her bladder was too full, so she stopped her screaming.

Will I really look back at this one day and say "Ah! How I miss those days..."????

Easter!!!

Dying Easter Eggs. Hope loves the mess from this task.

Writing on the eggs. We blew out the yolks to keep the eggs longer. Of course, two were quickly broken after the dying process. Dad broke one as well. Can't blame just the small kids.

Playing concentration. Hope likes this game and makes sure to get mom to play lots with her. Of course, when she sees the pair, she says, "Mom! No stealing my pair!"

Thank you, Uncle Matt and Aunt Arlene!!! What a great book!!! In fact, the Easter bunny didn't leave Hope any candy this year. She just left her lots of books that she quickly devoured faster than chocolate...hehe heh.