Ayris is having a bad year...

"I wish I could open up my stomach so I could eat my food again"

~Obviously this makes sense...it would be far more difficult to just walk into the kitchen and get more of the same.

"I wish I were a dog...because then I wouldn't get timeouts or spankings"

~One might deduce from this statement that my child gets a lot of timeouts and spankings. This is not true. However, there might be more truth to this in the future as I'm going to start following through on my threats.

"I'M SICK OF YOU TELLING ME NO!"

~Well no kidding...I'm sick of you not listening (I didn't say that of course, but that's what I'm thinking)

"I swear to God..."

I then informed her that it was not nice to swear to God...although she's obviously heard me use that statement before...it generally goes something like "I swear to God Ayris, if you don't stop hitting your brother, you're going to get a timeout."

Usuallly there are no timeouts, just threats of timeouts. That's why I think the poor girl is confused. She wants to be a dog so she can get away from the THREAT of having a timeout. I guess threats in her mind are just as bad as following through. We're about to see which is worse. My cute little, intelligent girl is gone...she's morphed into the girl version of Junior from that movie Problem Child. She doesn't listen...throwing tantrums has become as big of a necessity as the air she breathes...she sabotages her brother every chance she gets and currently, she's sitting in a recliner howling like a monkey while throwing things across the living room.

4 hours later, Ayris has gotten two spankings, has told me that I'm bad and that she hates me. Presently, she is laying on the couch watching Sponge Bob...I just got done looking through pictures from the past...back when she was nice. Now as she's laying there, I'm envisioning her becoming a teenager. If her three year old behavior is any sign of what's to come...I'm thinking that I'll just let Chris deal with that stage...or maybe Chris' parents...since they have more experience...because I, afterall, was the perfect child. =)

Obviously I love my child to pieces. I want to point that out because it may not be apparent in this post. I will try and post something more positive when my daugther returns to normal. I feel it's important to make note of her ONE bad moment in life because just as I was/am, I'm sure Ayris is going to be so much of a delight from here on out, that 20 years from now, we'll need proof of the fact that she was ever slightly challenging.