Oh Christy, HUGE hugs to you matey. You're having a tough time right now - remember you too have been very unwell, you're pregnant, you work, run a household and are trying to raise a very beautiful little girl. Don't beat yourself up - you do an AMAZING job with Matilda - never doubt that for a minute. I always seek out your posts to find strategies that you adopt with Matilda and am in awe of the way that you are always kind and gentle and loving, no matter what the day has thrown at you!

We too have days where Jacob seems to fight me on everything - be it food, or whatever activity we are doing. He will challenge me in every way possible and some days I wonder if I have the energy to do all this all over again! I find myself getting upset that I'm introducing activities that I thought Jacob would like, only to have them cut very short because he has behaved in an unacceptable way, like Matilda did with the paint, and having to do the time out thing. It upsets me because I want to enjoy every second of my time with him and see him enjoy new activities, rather than spend the day battling. Sometimes I wonder if I know my little boy at all or if I've misread it all and got it all wrong! Deep down, I KNOW that I haven't got it all wrong and I haven't misread him - he's doing what OODLES of toddlers do, by pushing all the boundaries and trying to work out "What will Mummy do if I do X". It is sooo insanely tiring and it seems to me that some toddlers do this a lot more than others? Why I will never know (if I did I think I'd be a millionaire ROFL), but it just seems to be that some little ones always push the boundaries and need confirmation that they exist, but that you still love them anyway!

I too find myself out and about with Jacob and having 'eyes' upon us, and I find that really hard - I struggle with that a lot. I take it on board as a personal criticism of me as a parent and as though I don't know how to handle my own child. I doubt myself a lot just as you do, but at the end of the day, I know I'm doing the best that I can - we try to give Jacob appropriate stimulation and activity (physical and mental), we try to teach him how to treat other people and animals with love, kindness and patience, we try to provide him with a healthy diet and we provide him with all the affection we could ever provide and then some. The end result of that to date is that even though he challenges us on many things, he is by and large a very affectionate boy (cuddling and kissing us a lot, as well as his toys, pictures in magazines, you name it) who thrives on activity........remember, these are the same things you provide for Matilda and I KNOW she is a wonderful little girl - she's also a very intelligent little bean so she's challenging you more and more as she goes through developmental milestones and asserts her independence.

I didn't want to turn this into something about myself (apologies to have taken over) but I just wanted you to know that we're in a similar boat here, and that we seem to adopt very similar strategies and I think at the end of the day, having a cry and a vent is a very positive thing on your part, and is necessary to stay sane and calm! I also know how very much you adore Matilda and all the wonderful things she says and does, and they are all a reflection of you and Pete as parents!

Keep up the wonderful work Christy - you're raising a wonderful little girl with tremendous spirit and independence!