I forgot the cardinal rule of motherhood again

The most important thing I have learned in my nearly 3 years of motherhood is that if I think that I've got things all figured out, those things are about to make an abrupt, dramatic turn. I say that I've learned that, but really I must not have fully digested the lesson yet, because I continue to stupidly think I can say things about my children and expect them to still be true the next day. Wrong, wrong, wrong. There is no surer way to jinx a good thing than to give it voice.

It is for this reason that I am taking down my blog entry from earlier this week about what an easy child Julia has been to raise thus far. In the 72 hours since I posted it, Julia has refused to do as I asked her at least a dozen times, broken away from me in the parking lot twice, pushed her brother over three times, attempted to scale the furniture once and broken into hysterical, irrational tears numerous times (far too many to count).

Some might say that she is acting out because her father has gone to Vegas for a little four day pleasure trip and left us behind to muddle through (she did actually tell him on the phone last night that's she's very angry at him for going away). Lord knows that I would like to act out after a long weekend of muddling through as a single mother. But I know better than to think that this is what is wrong with Julia. No, I believe in karma. And in publishing the words "I have an easy child," I believe that I damned myself such that nothing about raising Julia may ever be easy again. I am thus removing the entry immediately in the hopes that this will reverse the curse I have unwittingly brought on my household. I pray it's not too late.

You can all stop giggling now.