The twos have been notoriously bad-mouthed for as long as I can remember. They even had a negative effect on me - my mom just revealed that I was a tantrum thrower (a piece of information that might have been useful when we were deciding to have children). My youngest sister, Steph, had a case of them too. I recall crying, screaming, minor (ha) meltdowns and family meetings.
You know how some people were "born to do something"? Example: I always did my homework on the chalkboard I had in my room and taught my stuffed animals... big shock that I actually became a teacher.
Well, Steph would call Family Meetings ... frequently.
This itty-bitty little girl would sit in the big blue duck chair that my parents have. She would sit Indian-style and lament all of her terrible toddler woes. Most of this was directed at me and Jack. Family Meetings were a time when we were allowed to complain about things that were bothering us without the fear of getting in trouble for 'speaking out against The Man'. I know you might be thinking, "That sounds fantastic!" Well, it wasn't exactly like that. I mean, my two year old sister started these meetings, ran them and pretty much used them to sister-bash. In short: the meetings sucked, and Jack and I did not take them seriously.
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| This is the youngest digitized picture of Steph that I could find. (She's in the middle) |
The tantrums were insane! Words cannot describe what she was like... And there appeared to be no pattern to what was setting her off. One thing was constant: she went ballistic when Shane or I told her to do something she, at that moment, had no desire to do. Once it was, "Rea, you need to get dressed. We can't go out in public naked." AAAAHHHHH! Once it was, "Rea, please pick up your toys." AAAAHHHH! Once, "You can't push your brother down." AAAAHHHHH! The worst was when she grabbed Ri's arm and bit down hard enough to leave an impression of ALL of her teeth (a forensic dream) but not hard enough to draw blood. Ri just looked up at her with a look that said, "One day I am going to punch you. Hard. And Mom and Dad are going to let me."
The day after the Big Bite, we had a birthday party to go to. Ri's girlfriend B turned one. The party was spectacular... until the Rea's Satanic side reared its ugly head. Shane told Rea that it was time to eat lunch and stop playing on the dock... that's when all Hell broke loose.
And we left.
My mom assured me later that I am not the first, nor will I be the last, Mother to have to make a quick get-away because of an uncontrollable temper tantrum. Although this is true, it gives me little solace.
And just so everyone can live my life, I videoed part of the ride home.
Fun. I know.
Anyway, I would like to thank my friend Carrie and her wonderful family for a great birthday party! We love little B and were very excited to see her on her big day!
Oh, and Jack... do you get the title?
Love the title. I was just talking about our buddy Jim Carrey in another one of our favorite movies "Batman Forever." But I do enjoy a good "Ace Ventura" reference any day.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Love the Stephanie back story, laughing just thinking about that little twerp (she was a twerp back then) sitting in that duck chair telling us how mean we were and mom actuakky making us listen to her absurd reasoning. And funny how the one person we wanted to talk about we weren't allowed to because he never made it for those oh so memorable meetings. I am beginning to think maybe he had something to do with that...Stephanie did always say he was the "funniest."
So true... I thought about our inability to complain... I think we could probably put an entire Blog together about Steph growing up. But that would give her a big head. =)
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