Although I’ve always said I wanted a big family, there have been moments lately where I have had second thoughts… Having babies is one thing, but dealing with toddlers is a whole other challenge. A friend recently told me, “I would have 10 kids if I didn’t think that toddler-hood would nearly kill me 10 times over!!” And I have to agree… My 2.5-year-old is really driving me crazy!

My friend, Shawn, in New York sent me this NY Times article, “Coping With the Caveman in the Crib”. It’s about Dr. Harvey Karp, the author of “The Happiest Baby on the Block”, who has now focused his attention on older children.

In his new book, “The Happiest Toddler on the Block,” Dr. Karp tries to teach parents the skills for communicating with cranky toddlers. He argues that we should try to get down to their level and communicate in your child’s language.

When your child says “I want cookie. I want a cookie. I want it now,” you’re supposed to say to them, “You want. You want it. You want it now.” So after I read this article last week, I thought I would give it a go.

Now here’s my problem. One, I don’t have enough patience to stop and calmly talk to him in this simple language. And two, I felt like such an idiot trying to talk to him like that– I was sure he was thinking in his head, “what in the hell has happened to my mom? She’s acting so bizarre!”

But I’m still trying to see if it works. After all, I’ll take any advice I can get these days…

-Courtney