the one where I read a new book

"Parenting your strong willed child". That title really stood out to me at the library yesterday. There I was, every couple of minutes "Tori, this is not YOUR library, you have to share it with everyone"... you know, after we left toddler time early because she decided the songs were corny and the book wasn't interesting enough. I look over in the parent section of books and it was staring right at me. I had another friend who told me she was reading it so I thought hey, why not give it a try. I am about a quarter of the way through and this is what I have figured out so far:

-Kids are ALWAYS one step AHEAD of you. Especially mine.
-Letting kids watch tv while eating makes them fat.
-If your child is interrupting you while you are talking to other adults... (like mine does when she says "mom, mom, mom" over and over again until I look at her) you are supposed to ignore her.
-Praise over anything and everything they do the "right" way is necessary.
-Kids model everything they see. If they see other kids throw tantrums and get what they want, they will want to do the same thing to get their way.
-ADHD is genetic.
-There is no real test to see if your child has ADHD, more like doctors will observe their behavior.
-Tori has a low attention span.
-Tori needs to be moving and doing something at all times.
-I am still not positive that is any different than any other toddler.
-You must give children options.
-Lack of sleep (which Tori is experiencing right now since cutting out her naps) is very bad for a child in so many ways.
-You must watch how you respond to their bad behavior. If you get loud or upset then they think that making you loud and upset gets them what they want.
-Tori growls and says "oh my God" when she is annoyed. So do Dan and I. oops.
-Every child needs to be parented and disciplined differently.

I don't know where to start really. The tantrums are the worst. She hasn't been hitting as much lately, thankfully.. but the screaming, crying, throwing herself around is still very real. She currently doesn't want to nap because she is afraid of Cruella DeVil and everytime she sees a shadow is convinced its her. No naps are very hit or miss for Tori. Sometimes she can be ok without one as long as she is distracted and other times (like yesterday when we had to leave Costco after being there for 5 minutes) its a disaster. It can be hard to plan a day around that because you don't know what you are going to get. She is obsessed with dresses and HATES that she has to wear pants and long sleeve shirts right now so dressing her can be a real pain.
So basically, that's where we are at right now. One of the most challenging yet I guess exciting things about parenting is how it is always changing. No phases are the same and this is hopefully just another bump in the road that will pass.
If only I could drink my way through this phase, life would be much easier.