Feel like I'm annoyed with my daughter so much, feeling guilty about it...

[malayasmommy]

I love my daughter, who will turn 3 in a few weeks.  Love her SO much.  And I find myself feeling so ANNOYED so much of the time!  (Especially this week for some reason!)  I am sure she picks up on it, and it makes me feel so bad...I really do love spending time with her but I have a nasty case of cabin fever and she loves to just stay home and do the same things over...and over...and over...and OVER.  It's driving me nuts!  I have had some plans lately to get out, but 3 different times in the last week they've gotten cancelled due to bad weather.  I don't really know what I'm looking for from this thread...she's napping now and as soon as I lay her down I realize that even though I'm not losing my temper, I'm not getting angry, I'm just slightly irritable and not very interested in playing games with her.  Feeling like a poor excuse for a mommy.  :-(  I guess I'm looking for...ideas?  Empathy?  Been there done that?  Thanks anyone for your feedback...

[VTmamadownsouth]

I have been feeling this way as well lately.  I was just thinking the other day that I was saying "no" a lot more than I liked, and how it must stink to be my DS with such a boring, negative mama.

I think the name of the game is to stay ahead of the toddler.  Come up with some kind of activity (ours are very house-hold based like laundry, making beds, doing dishes, etc) and be very enthusiastic about needing their help/participation. 

Last week I read in a book about going around the house and reciting the "Old Mother Hubbard" nursery rhyme, but change the words to fit different store age locations, and what's inside.  For example "Old mother Hubbard went to the dresser to fetch some under ware.  She went to the top drawer, opened it up, and guess what she found in there."  He thought it was so fun to go around and look at his house in this new way.

Also, I recently toured a Waldorf School and I noticed that the nursery class teachers often sang their instructions and requests to the children, so I started trying it.  It really helps DS to engage in what I'm saying, and it helps me to feel a little better about having to say mundane things like "bend over so I can wipe your bottom." 

[crunchy_mommy]

Getting out of the house is definitely critical for my sanity -- days we don't make it out, I feel much more annoyed with DS, even if he's doing nothing 'wrong'. When we don't get out during the day, I have lately been making it a priority to get out by myself as soon as DH gets home (or if the weather is too bad or I'm too tired or something, I escape to another part of the house with a book or my laptop).... I need that down time if I'm stuck in the house all day with DS. Maybe some moms function perfectly without it, but I'm not one of them!! Sometimes it helps too if we do something totally different -- have a picnic in the living room, find a new song on youtube & make up funny motions to go with it, try to teach him to play a board game, whatever we haven't done in a really long time. I think part of it (for me, at least) is the need for mental stimulation & so the key is finding things you can do that will be really engaging for YOU, not just your toddler.

Anyway -- go easy on yourself, it sounds like you are a great mom. :)