Happy Family Fun Time (with Pumpkin)

Yesterday was the first day in many weeks when the sun was shining and it was not freezing rain. So I planned a spontaneous trip to the pumpkin farm after school. Yay, fun, right?

Fun for a bit ... and then we had an exact repeat performance of last year's after school trip to this particular pumpkin farm.

It's interesting how after doing this parenting thing for a few years, I can feel a meltdown coming on. There's just something in the air.

Dora was very on edge from the minute we arrived. After many, many warnings about controlling her temper, we ended up with a huge-mondo tantrum complete with screaming, hitting and foot stomping.

Dealing with a kid who has such powerful emotions is challenging on the best days and soul-sucking and emotionally draining on the worst. I second guess every decision - I spent the whole drive home critiquing my performance and realizing all the ways I could have handled it differently. And since she is the daughter of crazy screaming lady, sometimes I feel ill-equipped to deal with the flood of feelings going on in her little mind.









At least we got a few photos to remember this visit ... just like last year.