"I hate you Mommy!" - Ouch, that cuts like a knife!

Over the weekend I had a post about how I just feel like I can not even get 10 minutes to myself without some type of interruption from one of my kids.  How people have more than two kids is highly confusing to me at this point!  My internal anxiety is through the roof and I'm feeling a little too stressed.

This morning my son promptly wakes me up at 5am as he normally does, and I hit the ground running with high hopes.  We get all the necessary things done.  Work, breakfast, clothes and even the house cleaned by 8:30am.  We then are completely free to have our day, before I'm off to take Elle to school at noon.  

We have fun, spend time together, and even attend a morning music class, and the kids have a ball.  We are done eating lunch at 11:30am and I'm exhausted.  I tell both kids to entertain themselves for the next half hour, until it's time to go to school.  

After a little whining and crawling all over mom, I say fairly sternly, "Go have quiet time before school for 20 minutes or your going to your room."  We have no issues with time-out in our house, but before I can even threaten a time-out (sitting in a chair) I get the knife in the heart!  

Elle yell's out, "I don't want to be your daughter anymore!"  

Knife, Knife, Knife!!  

Me:  deep breaths.  Squat down.  Look her straight in the eye and say,  "Well, I want to be your mommy and that makes me sad that you don't want to be my daughter anymore.  Why did you say that?  You hurt me."  

Elle:  "I don't know.  I'm sorry, I do want to be your daughter.  I love you.  You're the best mommy."  

Me:  Still riled, but trying not to get externally agitated.  My internal blood pressure still a bit high, proceed to give hugs and make any crying disappear. 

Elle quietly goes upstairs to have quiet time for the remaining 15 minutes.  Which quickly lasts only for three.  

As I'm going to the bathroom she comes in crying and telling me that she's upset because her brother said he doesn't want to be her friend anymore.  

Knowing this is a lie, because our son can't even say a sentence like this yet. I think to myself, "What in the world is going on with this child?" Can I not get two minutes to even go to the bathroom?  The answer would be NO.  I'm just deciding the answer is no.  I need to give up the notion that this will ever occur as long as there is time on the clock between 5am and 8pm when a child is not sleeping.  

Then it suddenly dawns on me.  She is a drama queen!  I never thought of her to be a drama queen.  She's pretty well intended. Where do these kids learn to say these things?  I don't ever remember saying these types of things to my parents.  I know I'm giving her enough attention,  I know I'm patient with her and I know I'm a good mom.  So what am I doing wrong? 

Nothing.  

My husband assures me to not worry about this as I do realize I'm doing nothing wrong. But it's stressful.  And regardless, those words cut like a knife!    

As I'm trying to finish my bathroom break, I still have pint-sized curly Q munchkin looking at me, wondering how I can get her brother to be her best friend again.  I can hear him laughing and goofing around downstairs, so he obviously isn't thinking anything of it. (He's a guy, even if he is 2).  

It quickly occurs to me that my daughter is going to be the kid who runs away from home, but always comes back.  

I have a cousin who used to constantly run away from home (you know who you are).  She would run down the street at the slightest hick-up.  One second she was fine and the next she was running down the street, while we all looked on and thought, "Where the heck does she think she's going?  What is she doing?  This is ridiculously high drama!"  

She had no clue what she was doing.  She was just running to make a point and because she was drama.  And she ran away from home ALL the time!  This only lasted a few minutes as she quickly came back and the world was all peaceful again.  But, she constantly did this over and over much to my aunt thinking nothing of it.  Does she still love her mom to this day?  Of course!  She's her mom's biggest fan I'm sure! Did her mom put up with any of this drama?  No.  Did her mom think she was a bad mom because her kid constantly told her she hated her and wanted to run away?  Probably not.  

So, I'm taking a lesson from what I witnessed as a kid.  My aunt did not flinch a muscle.  I'm telling myself, muscles stay put.  Do not even crack a frown.  Do not let this little pint sized kiddo get the best of you!  She'll try again tomorrow and the next day, and the next.  Knife or no knife, I'll still heal her imaginary cuts, and my own with whatever bandaids mom's seems to whip out of their back pockets.  It's amazing how those magically appear sometimes.  Mom's always seem to have them.  I got a ton in my pockets.  I'll use them on myself, too.


Update:


This is what I got later that night.

I'm pretty sure we have a Shirley Temple actress wannabe living in the house.  The drama comes and goes.  I'm not sure I'm ready for the sequel, but I'll still watch it.