Motherhood is beautiful, but it’s also loud, overstimulating, and relentless. Sometimes the only place you can breathe is behind a locked bathroom door. In that tiny pocket of quiet, you remember yourself again — not the perfect parent, just the present one.

Sour Patch Mornings: Life with a Moody Toddler

"Mom, I'm mad at you!"
"Why, MJ?"
"Because you didn’t let me feed the dogs!"
"You were asleep… if you were awake, why didn’t you get up and help?"
"Don’t tell me stories!"

That’s how we kicked off our Friday—moody toddler edition. Some mornings feel like an emotional marathon. MJ wakes up full of feelings—cranky one minute, needy the next, then irritated, and before I know it, he's wrapping his arms around me saying, “I love you, Mommy.”

It’s whiplash… but it’s also love. Parenting him sometimes feels like being in a mini, dramatic relationship. One where I constantly have to remind myself: he’s not giving me a hard time. He’s having a hard time. And I'm here to guide him through it.