Crankypants toddlers. I've had my fill of 'em.

Woah! How long has it been, 6 or 7 weeks? 2 months? All I can say is, with the end of the winter season drawing to a close, it's been hell on wheels here with trying to keep these children happy and entertained. Damn Canadian 8 month long winters!

But! Now the snow has melted -->tangent: Jeff and I had a bet about whether the mountain of snow in the backyard would melt in time for Nicky's birthday on Saturday. Do I even need to tell you who won?

Anyway, the snow has melted. And with the melting of the snow comes the dreaded snow mold. I've never paid much mind to people bitching about snow mold and allergies and blah blah blah, but karma is paying me back for that one. It looks like the middle one has allergies. And since we've been outside pretty much every day since it's warmed up enough for me to be happy out there (they don't care, they're kids, I'm selfish), Nicky has started up with the red, watery eyes, the scratching at his face as if he's possessed, runny nose, sneezing, and just general crankiness.

Thank you Claritin. You are my saving grace, especially this morning. I didn't give him his dose last night because I started to doubt whether it was allergies and was thinking it could be an ear infection. In fact, I was convinced of it...for all of 24 hours.

Not anymore. After dealing with a miserable almost 3 year old for close to an hour this morning I had reached my limit. I gave him a dose of Claritin, which he spat out. Then I force fed him another dose and put him back to bed. 15 minutes later his door opened and he came out with a huge smile and told me he felt NICE. Damn kid.

Liam was standing beside me in the kitchen throughout all this and asked me if Nicky reminded me of him when he was little. Dudes, I almost had a heart attack at the thought of having a second child that was such a....handful, if we're being nice......in the mornings. I had to clutch the stove and remind myself that this isn't normal for him.

And then I had to give myself a big hug that I'm able to send a cranky child back to bed instead of having to wrangle him into a snowsuit and onto the bus, all the while making sure that his mittens are positioned just so in order to avoid a tantrum. Which happened anyway. The people on the bus shuddered when they saw me get on, I'm sure. I wouldn't have blamed them if they got off and waited for the next bus.

I'm glad I can laugh and joke about it now. Time really does heal all wounds!