First of all, I'm terribly sorry for what your Mom did to you. That's awful.

For sure! And everyone has moments or at least, I assume they do. I have to just hope that fighting down my lizard brain urges will become more automatic over time, especially as my children get older and more into intentionally pushing my buttons. And every kid is different. Whereas I internalized all my Dad's crap…

Yeah, who knows how it'll work when he's old enough to throw it back at me with a grin on, but for now? Magic!

My Dad used to theorize that that's why kids' lifejackets had those handles on them. I should add that my entire family are proponents of gentle discipline... except my father, who is a proponent of freaking the fuck out and clotheslining you by your lifejacket handle thingy.

Thanks. What kills me is that my son can be so well behaved... around other people. I'm constantly told how good he is at daycare, and I'm frankly astounded at how well and promptly he responds to an initial, gentle correction when we're out in public or in someone else's home. At our house, though? He's Genghis Khan.…

Something to think about, FWIW: My Dad did this to me when I was a kid - he never hit me, but the shaking thing. As soon as you described it, I knew exactly what you meant. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it was fucking terrifying, not the least because it was so arbitrary - it was a response to him feeling overwhelmed…

We count in our house, and it's honestly magical. Of course, our kid only gets moving at around 2 because he knows we're serious about what happens after 3. It took months of 1, 2, 3, and now Mommy has taken your toy away, or 1,2,3, and now Daddy has carried you upstairs kicking and screaming because you wasted 3 good…

I thought the same. I'm a pretty no-bullshit kind of lady, but even I sometimes catch myself negotiating with my 2 year old to get him in the bath, or persuade him to take off his outdoor boots, or whatever. I have to remind myself that, oh yeah, I've got about 4 feet and 180 lbs on this kid, so if I want him to go…

Ouf. This was exactly what I needed to hear this morning - I'm so glad you shared. Our 2 year old is going through a particularly fractious time, and with very mixed feelings, I try to just ignore what isn't outright destructive (i.e. throwing hard toys at the wall gets you corrected and redirected, but screaming at…

A propos of nothing related to his heinous and unfeeling acts , this guy really reminds me of the similarly bespectacled Prime Minister of Canada. Anyone else?

I made the mistake of watching this this morning with my 11 year old sister. Right before the 1 hour drive to her school. You think you will never get this song out of your head, Mark? I am The Amazing Cat Song, now. It exists in me on a molecular level. It lives in the upholstery of my car, in the split ends of my…

This is so cathartic - I have had a hard core but conflicted hate-on for him for years. I mean, it seems meanspirited to actively loathe someone you've never met, nevermind someone who has experienced so much awful personal tragedy, right? And yet...

Mirena will put the hormones strictly in your lady parts (local release), so you shouldn't experience any exploding boobs or crazy mood swings. I have a metabolic particularity that means hormonal BC, even the low dose kind, can put me at a crazy higher risk of stroke. So obviously, my doc and I researched pretty…

Good grief, that is super horrifying. I wonder if IUDs are more common in Canada than elsewhere? My doc had her med student do mine, and in spite of only having 2 months in GYN, it was clearly not his first rodeo.

I had mine taken out about four months ago (aaaaand am four months pregnant this week - efficiency!) It seriously popped out like no big deal at all - less painful than sticking bobby pins in a tight updo. Apparently, it had been working it's way loose for a bit, and popped out "like the button off your Thanksgiving…

My long story is above in response to moriartysringtone, but Coles' notes version - I had a copper-based non-hormonal Mon Lisa IUD for a year or so and was generally pretty happy with it. Not a single one of the alarming side effects that there are entire terrifying message boards devoted to. Buuuuut... it did start…

I had one between baby 1 and baby 2 (a 3-year Mona Lisa copper-based model). I'd never had an IUD before, but like you can't tolerate hormonal BC or my husband's whinging about condoms, so it seemed like a good thing to test drive in the short term, knowing another baby would likely be on the horizon. I was overall…

... will be married in 20-25 years

My stepfather said the following to me at his wedding to my mother: "I promise to be hard on you, and hold you to account." Dude does not believe in over-promising, I'll tell you that right now.

Exactly. To make matters worse, my stepfather has a degree in philosophy and a fondness for argument, so in our house that would lead to a digression from Grandpa about the fundamental nature of a chair, whether the idea of a chair is merely a construct, and whether the only thing that matters is whether we…