Oh the dreaded years of toddler-hood. Everyone who has ever raised a child will tell you the horrors of all things toddlers. Their tantrums, their disobedience, their tendency to make giant messes, their sticky fingers, their constant ability to find trouble wherever they go. Any new mom who is quickly approaching the toddler-hood years would be scared to death of what they are getting ready to embark on…who wouldn’t after hearing stories like that?

I’ve been asked if I think this season is harder than having a newborn. I’ve been asked if I have enjoyed this season more than the first. I have been asked countless times to compare the two seasons together and I have said the same thing each time. I truly believe each season has it’s hard moments and it’s beautiful moments. The foggy sleepless nights of caring for a newborn are followed by days full of snuggles and baby smells. You can’t have one without the other. Toddler-hood is full of tantrums and whining and the biggest fits I have ever seen. But toddler-hood is also full of discovery, an unexplained amount of joy, and an incredible sense of wonder.

Every season will have it’s fair share of difficulties as well as it’s share of triumphs. Learning to embrace those seasons we are in gives us an entirely new perspective. Yes, even embracing toddler-hood. So much of our attitude through certain seasons determines how we make it through. I am learning that if I embrace this season of toddler-hood, the good, the bad, the funny, the sad, the times I want to pull my hair out, and the times I can’t stop laughing…all of those things, if I embrace each and every one of them I will be able to love this season.

I think one of the hardest things about toddler-hood is feeling like we are the only one facing what we do on a day to day basis. Is my kid the only one who throws tantrums like this? Is my kid the only one who screams when he is asked to share? Is my kid the only one who tests boundaries? This is normal. Every bit of this crazy season of toddler-hood is just a new kind of normal that we have to embrace. Once we embrace it we will be able to look at each situation knowing this is what toddler-hood is all about. Not only will embracing this season help us make it through, it helps us in dealing with all the ins and outs of raising a child through the toddler years.

Toddler-hood is messy, but it’s oh so beautiful. I can’t even bottle up the amount of joy this season has brought me. I’m embracing this crazy season and I know you can too!