Well, actually I probably can. My friend Cindy has a saying which I have adopted (nice word for stolen) as my own life goal these days. It isn’t the most articulate or eloquent thing you have ever heard. Yet, lately it has served me as a powerful and moving life attitude. Ready?
“I don’t want to be grumpy.”
Living out life with this as your guide is easy. Just don’t do anything that makes you grumpy. Now before you think that I have went off the deep end and no longer intend to pay taxes, eat fruit, or watch those weather predicting gypsies on TV, let me tell you that I am adult enough to recognize that yes, sometimes life makes us grumpy. Surprisingly working from home with no coworkers and just little man to steer the ship has not eliminated grumpiness from my life. And yet, since I took on this mantra as my own I have come to realize I can control most of my life and hence, my grumpy factor.
As the book Happiest Toddler on the Block states, Hudson is at the primate stage of emotions these days. Grumpiness is not something to avoid; it is a state he lives in. An unmet request will have him there for hours. If I walk out to avoid watching him transcend to tears, he will follow me around the house until I stop and then start crying.
At a recent trip to the fair with his best buddies, he cried for no reason after eating a cinnamon and sugar slice of local heaven (known as a Beaver Tail). Yet dealing with my flustered toddler will not make me grumpy. I am in control. Just like the poster in my classroom said, “The only attitude you can control is your own”.
Maybe I will put that on my wall.
2 comments:
I love your post. I got into grumpy stage since May and at the end of June I finally got out of it (a 9 hour drive by yourself makes you think ALOT). Cheers to you and your family.
Oh no, he can't cry after a beaver tail! Someday he will understand that he was crying for joy!
Lori
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