Postcards From the Edge

from the mom

Postcard 1

Dear Parenting Expert,

We are in Screaming Toddler Land. After reading everything I have already read on the internet I decided to revisit some getting your child to learn to sleep techniques. I spent two hours trying the Dr. Sears family bed method. Even while she slept a little, she flipped every 20-30 seconds and at one point was sleeping while standing up against the wall next to Ben's bed (where she and I tried this experiment). We ruled that one out. Next I learned that the "no-cry" method isn't really no-cry. Now we are back to hardball. Last night she spent three hours screaming. At the beginning of the night, only 35 minutes and we were hopeful. Then nearly 2 1/2 hours started at 1:15am and M and Ben moved to the guest bed. I checked on her at intervals to comfort and reassure her. At 3:41 I decided she was probably starving. Screaming that long should really wear a girl out. Currently, she's been at it for over an hour for nap-time. She has the reddest puffiest eyes. But we have to sleep. I don't like this but I don't see an alternative.

Signed,

Discouraged, Tired, Frustrated Mom

Postcard 2

Dear Car god,

Our car continues to disintegrate before our eyes. There is no second gear, some other warning light is flashing and yesterday the battery died (we didn't leave anything on) while we were test-driving another vehicle. And the headlight went out yesterday.

Meanwhile we have things to do and when we called to get an auto loan today, their credit report checker went down. We found the car. We want it in our garage before ours completely dies.

Thanks,

Car Shopper


Postcard 3


To Whom It May Concern:

My son is too fast, too smart and too sneaky for my sleep-deprived self. Today I tried to take a shower. He read an email from his grandma that had those cute animal pictures. He then decided to print the pictures and proceeded to use up my colored-printer cartridge while I was in the shower. Now I have a huge stack of adorable little animal pictures next to the computer.

Sincerely,

The Mother of the Smart Preschooler

P.S. How do people make it without preschool?