Blame

Unsolicited Advice to the Peri-menopausal: If you run out of your hormones unexpectedly (as in you forgot to send in the new prescription), it is ill-advised to fly solo for a couple of weeks, as you may not realize the extent to which, unbeknown to you, the menopause symptoms have taken over your life.

Seriously. The hot flashes, night sweats, the insomnia.

Then again, maybe it's just the warm summer nights.

Or my cold. I got my first cold sore. Are cold sores a sign of out of whack hormones?

But then again, why have my children suddenly gone off the tantrum deep end?

Or is that due to my limited patience? Or maybe my irritability colors my perception.

Can I blame their father?

Haleluja, my happy pills have arrived in the mail.


P.S. I have to say that thanks to a great parenting book I'm actively reading (active as in I've been known to lock myself in the bathroom mid-tantrum with the book to talk myself down and brush up on tantrum coping skills before exiting and calmly dealing with the situation), I did manage, despite the multi-hour physically and verbally abusive tantrum, not to loose my cool. We have arrived this evening at bedtime, with no blood or bruises and with a mutually agreed upon set of consequences, and a 7-year-old trying his best to make up for his poor behavior with a happy and cooperative demeanor. I'd say it's a successful, if trying day of parenting.

P.S.S. I purposely did not mention the 4-year-old sobbing himself to sleep in the guest room.

P.P.S.S. But that is his own doing. I didn't lose it with him either.

P.P.P.S.S. I promise. I just denied him a popsicle. It doesn't take much.