16 months.

Mak is turning sixteen months tomorrow. I really don't know where the time went. Today was particularly challenging. He woke up with red, bumpy cheeks - a "tell" sign that more teeth are cutting through. Poor kid really can't catch a break! Only four teeth on his first birthday, and now, he's up to 12, just four months later. I'm lucky that he is a very happy boy, all I have to do is take him outside and he's great. But the tantrums are hard on me and I find myself wanting to just scream back. Instead, I close my eyes, take a deep breath and calmly deal with it.

I'm reading Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project" () and one of her commandments (for herself, which I find fit me very well) is "Act the way I want to feel." I always want to feel content, and calm, and find myself NEVER feeling either of those during the day lately. So I go ahead and fake it. I put a smile on my face and I use my indoor voice against the toddler's screaming, and I find that eventually (most of the time) I start to feel just a little calmer than I did an hour ago. It's working. It's such a big mental shift from my daily stressing out, so I expect it to take time.

Also, I'm making the switch back to cloth diapers. All this teething has been hard on poor Mak's bottom, which also lead to tantrums, and to save my sanity, and his, I'm going back to cloth. He's happier in cloth, which makes ME happier. Less rashes, and he's even more aware of when he's wet and he'll ASK me to change his diaper. How can anyone say anything negative about that? I'm not surrounded by too much support, even Brad isn't thrilled with it, because, honestly: disposables are "easier". But when I say, "It makes HIM happy, which makes ME happy." Well, who can deny us that?

I would like to make it my resolution to write here at least six days a week. I even have the App on my iPhone. No excuses. And it's thanks to Gretchen Rubin, because I know that writing makes me happy, and we could all use a little more HAPPY in our lives.

Much love,
The Dolfos