Well, I never

You know how before you have children you mentally make a list of all the things your child will never do? And then once you do have children, that list goes flying out the window as soon as you realize that something on that list might just buy you a half hour of quiet time? Yeah, that is what I have been doing for the past three years. Here are (were) my top five things that my children would never do ~said in haughty tone of voice~

1. My children will never watch much TV and even then it will be PBS.
2. My children will never eat a lot of junk food. Only for special occasions.
3. My children will never throw tantrums. I will reason with them and they will understand why they cannot have the item they are tantrumming over. (is that even a word?)
4. My children will never play video games before the age of 10.

Alright so I can only think of 4 right now. But there were 5, I swear.

So let us now go down the list and see just how delusional I was.

1. This one was broken by the time the boys were 6 months old. This was when I realized that Baby Einstein would gain me 30 minutes of "me" time every day and allowed me to shower.

2. After their first birthday, the boys had little bits of junk here and there. By the time they were two, they were dragging a chair to the cupboard to reach the Oreos. My theory now is that by giving them junk food, I take the mystique out of it and soon they tire of it. They actually snack well now--grapes, rice cakes, crackers. Not too bad.

3. Just try reasoning with a screaming toddler. 'Nuff said.

4. This is the one I am struggling with now. Sean has PlayStation2 and bought them an age-appropriate game (Madagascar). I caved once I saw how good they were at it. Strengthens eye-hand coordination, right? Right?

So there it is. All is fair in love and war, I say.